Thirty years after: Argentina and the United Kingdom towards a new Falklands war?

The rhetoric on the sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (or Malvinas), an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom disputed by Argentina since the XIXth century, has recently grown up as the 30th anniversary of the war of 1982 approaches. In February, the Argentinean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hector Timerman, asserted that the defence of British sovereignty is «the last refuge of a declining power». Last year, the President at Casa Rosada, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, stated that Britain «continues to be a crude colonial power in decline». David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, responded that Argentinean claims are «actually far more like colonialism». Fernandez de Kirchner found these words expression of «mediocrity and stupidity». The Falklands dispute – and its related sub-issues – is the only, but influential, source of disagreement which affects the relationship between the two countries.