An Old Foe Comes Calling: Kirchner Asks Pope to Intervene in Falklands Row

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner meets Pope Francis at the Vatican - Photo: AP

Cristina Kirchner, the kleptocrat, socialist leader of Argentina, has an approval rating in that country that only Jimmy Carter might envy.  She also has had a contentious history with the new Pope over social issues such as same-sex "marriage" and abortion.  Kirchner's late husband referred to then Cardinal Bergoglio as "the Leader of the Opposition," and the Kirchner's once leaned on the new Pope's Jesuit superiors and had him exiled to a small northern village where he served as a Math teacher.  But what a difference a Conclave makes.  Today, swathed in black, Kirchner appealed to her one-time adversary to help her gin up international pressure on Britain, that she might surrender to Argentina territory that was never Argentina's.

We have every confidence that a smart Jesuit sees what so many of Kirchner's countrymen have come to see - that all the noise coming from Kirchner is merely the political death-rattle of a corrupt politician attempting to divert attention from her nation's real problems.  She seeks  to rub raw nationalist resentments and anger about the defeat meted out to Argentina's murderous military junta when they launched an unprovoked invasion of the Falkland Islands thirty years ago.  

The Pope is surely aware that in recent weeks 99.8% of Falkland residents voted to remain British.  As head of a worldwide church of 1.2 billion souls, the Pope must also be loathe to offend and alienate The Commonwealth of Nations, a peaceful, positive force for good in the world, and a family of 54 nations comprised of 2.2 billion souls, that also happens to be headed by the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

All of this saber rattling on the part of the Argentine regime could easily be ignored were it not for the fact that 256 British, 649 Argentines, and 3 Falkland Islanders have already died as a result of selfish and desperate politicians in Buenos Aires.  

The Pope should intervene in this controversy.  Indeed, he is in a wonderful position to discredit the third-world autocrat who came calling today, along with her undemocratic and anti-Christian agenda.  He could end a corrupt and oppressive regime while defending the self-determination of Falkland residents, including the 10% who are Catholic.  It would be a small but meaningful step toward a more just and peaceful world.

Argentina Once Again Provoking War Over the Falkland Islands

Is President Cristina Kirchner Counting on Marxist Friends in the Hemisphere?

The corrupt socialists that head the government of Argentina must once again be facing domestic political problems. It has become routine for precarious regimes in that dysfunctional country to rally public support by provoking their neighbors and international crises.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner is an Obama kind of gal. A former member of the Peronist Youth Movement, Ms. Kirchner has allied herself with Hugo Chavez, restricted the activities and movement of the U.S. ambassador, imposed confiscatory taxes and levies, attacked farmers for their "abundant" profits, and in 2008 proposed the transfer of $30 billion in private pension holdings to the government run social security system. Meanwhile, the net assets of Ms. Kirchner and her late husband increased by 572% since the couple came to power in 2003.

She has allied the country with Venezuela, and has what her government has termed a strategic relationship with communist China. She has hostile relations with Brazil, and this year seized an American military plane.

The Kirchner government is no friend of free speech either. Unions, allied with the government, have prevented the nation's most widely circulated newspapers from being delivered to newsstands.  This week the Argentine government has seized control of newsprint.

The Kirchner regime is now disrupting shipping to and from the Falkland Islands and threatening to cut communications links to those islands.

In response, Prime Minister David Cameron today assured the Falkland Islanders that their right to self-determination is guaranteed:

''Whatever challenges we face in the UK, the British Government's commitment to the security and prosperity of the overseas territories, including the Falklands, remains undiminished.

''So let me be absolutely clear. We will always maintain our commitment to you on any question of sovereignty. Your right to self-determination is the cornerstone of our policy. 

''We will never negotiate on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless you, the Falkland Islanders, so wish. No democracy could ever do otherwise.''

Perhaps Ms. Kirchner feels emboldened because the current American President is contemptuous of America's long-standing special relationship with Great Britain and is likely to side with a fellow Marxist.  It would seem that if Argentina is going to once again seize British territory, it will do so soon, rather than when Obama is gone.  Perhaps an effort to reclaim the Falklands will have to wait until there is an administration in Washington that is friendly with our traditional allies and the cause of freedom and self-determination in the world.  But whenever this matter comes to a head, if Britain must once again liberate the Falkland Islanders, she  should ensure that Argentina pays a memorable price for their outrageous and criminal behavior. 

The lives of thousands of British troops should not be put in danger without lasting regime change in Argentina, reparations, British controlled naval ports, and a military presence on the Argentine mainland until a lawful government is established.