Shady Newfound Alliance

I was quite a rude shock sometime ago when I heard that the Kingdom of Spain was joining forces with the Argentine Republic against the United Kingdom in order to gain territories which were never theirs in the first place, Gibraltar and the Falklands Islands.

 

To be honest I always knew that the Spaniards were desperate to gain control of Gibraltar but quite frankly I never expected that they would go as far as to support the Argentine claim especially since they like the rest of the European Union had earlier unequivocally supported the British claim to sovereignty, that was at least until earlier this year when a few European MPs stated that the position has changed and that the EU no longer accepted British sovereignty as automatic but rather they supported the Argentine position of arbitration and mediation. This statement is nothing if not a betrayal of the worst kind, what in the world could have lead the EU to support the claim of a outside entity against that of it’s own members, clearly the EU has it’s own agenda and in no way considers the position of the British Government and people as valid, no wonder the Brits want out, I don’t blame them. 

  

 So like the European Union, the Spanish Government is also changing its position and now supports the ridiculous claims made by Argentina as to why it deserves the Islands, as I explained in an earlier post the Argentine case had little validity (see  http://jamaicatory.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-madness-of-president-kirchener.html) . 

 

Argentina seems delighted with this newfound alliance, ever since Christine Kirchener took office the Argentines have been claiming that their position is supported by the majority of the world’s nations, the actions taken by the European Union and later Spain have only served to strengthen this claim. But even so,  this claim still does not stand up to the scrutiny of  international law as the UN Charter, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of  Economic Social and Cultural rights all uphold the principle of self determination, a  fact that neither Spain nor Argentina has acknowledged.

With this new found alliance I cannot help but wonder what does His Majesty King Juan Carlos has to say about all this, of course I already know that he’s a constitutional monarch not an executive one, I also know that the King is not as popular as he used to be  given all the scandals that have been rocking the royal family lately, personally I like King Juan Carlos but as a Jamaican my loyalty is not to him but to the reigning monarch of my own country Queen Elizabeth II, Who is also Queen of Great Britain. While there seems to be no sign that the King and Queen are at odds with each other personally this move by the Spanish government could put them at odds with each other, especially since Her Majesty is known to fully support the position put forward by her own government, it would be a real tragedy  if that were to happen especially since Latin American leaders are known from time to time to spout hateful statement about Spain and it’s royal family especially as it relates to colonialism.

    

To be frank Spain is doing itself little favours by joining forces with Argentina, this is a low blow on the part of their government and they will loose, to be frank I find their actions somewhat revolting, of course I am not naïve and am well aware that all states must act in their own interest even if they must make unsavoury alliance in order to do so, diplomacy is not all about  altruism and each side has their own agenda, Spain has no interest in the Falklands, Argentina has no interest in Gibraltar but they are still united in this effort anyway all because of their hatred of Britain which can only by justified by bad sentiment but never in the eyes of International Law, this action is nothing if not petty and childish, I for one find it hard to believe that all of a sudden these two countries are now ready to “hold hands and sing Kumbayah”  over this nonsense after all they came  at Britain head on time and time again and have lost, the very fact that they have resorted to this shady move raises eyebrows and it’s very telling here that both these countries are acting out of desperation and nothing more.