Posted on 04/03/2008 9:23:37 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
N.B. Apologies to Pink Floyd for my lyric thievery in the title…
The old adage that history repeats itself gets too much airplay and too frequently obscures the dynamics at work in a particular era. However, some things do seem to happen with a depressing regularity. Even when Thome has homered in the first and again in the 3rd, every roster in Major League Baseball has at least one idiot who would gladly pitch to him again in the 5th or the 6th instead of issuing the intentional walk.
Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner seems to be winding up and preparing to throw a fastball at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the Falkland Islands. The fate of Leopoldo Galtieri has done nothing to improve her acumen or her judgments.
She has again raised Argentina’s claim to the stretch of land in the South Atlantic that they refer to as Las Islas Malvinas. President Kirchner spoke on the 26th Anniversary of her nation’s invasion of the islands in April of 1982. She offered the following observation.
"The sovereign claim to the Malvinas Islands is inalienable,"
Her Vice-President had equally bellicose sentiments to express towards Her Majesty. He announced that "we must recover this territory that is ours, that belongs to us."
Like Galtieri, her martial threats against Great Britian have a certain Wag The Dog quality to them. Glatieri failed to provide economic prosperity to his nation. His political opponents accused him of operating death squads, and were causing unrest in the streets. His war effort against Britain was designed to use nationalism as a substitute for any intelligent plan or policy.
Kirchner faces similar unrest. Argentinean farmers are protesting a new round of taxes which her government levied against agricultural exports. Food has become increasingly scarce in Beunos Aires, as she levies the taxes to prevent domestic food prices from rising. The way they have in Mexico and The United States.
Kirchner’s saber rattling at the British belies her public image. Kirchner has been praised by human rights groups for her efforts to investigate atrocities in her country’s past. Her handling of Argentina’s latest economic crisis may indicate that she shares much more in common with Leopoldo Galtieri’s means of governing Argentina than she would ever like to admit.
Her speeches may be no more than the typical grandiose pronouncements of a politician in trouble. She may have no more intent to actually saddle up a posse and divest Great Britain of the Falklands than Barack Obama has of renegotiating NAFTA. She badly needed to talk about something other than agriculture and grocery shopping, and the Anniversary of The Falklands War just happened to pop up on the calendar.
However, with Great Britain heavily committed in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout at least the next two years, she won’t get many better opportunities to take on Great Britain and live to tell of the folly. Even given their current tie-down, Great Britain could field an array of weaponry that the Argentineans would have no answer for. The British could still respond overwhelmingly to any action Argentina chose to take against the Falklands.
Kirchner’s military advisors have probably taken the time to make her aware of the capability gaps and are no doubt urging her to stop at talking tough to Prime Minister Brown. However, to see Argentina’s new bright and shining hope for international leftism adopt the drunken swagger of Leopoldo Galtieri in times of economic difficulty does lend credence to the currently popular Zeitgeist that much of the philosophy behind modern Fascism has indeed found a home on the left.
Verdad....it’s too bad she does boring stuff like ruin developing countries....She has potential, definite potential.
Apologies for the title? No way. Got my attention.....C
NOT GUILTY
“NOT GUILTY”
forgive me but what do you mean?
It has nothing to do with the article, only her hotness. If she was ugly, she would be guilty.
If a Dem sits in the White House next time, Kirchner will have a good chance at forcing some concessions. Thatcher’s gone, so is Reagan.
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