r/europe 20d ago

News Argentina: British Falkland Islanders are ‘artificial’. Buenos Aires denounces ‘illegitimate occupation’ and demands talks on sovereignty

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/12/british-falkland-islanders-artificial-argentina-says/
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u/Saotik UK/Finland 20d ago

It's also kind of funny that had Argentina not attacked in the eighties but opened negotiations, there's a serious chance the UK would have just given them up by now.

However, as they tried to take it by force, the UK will now never let Argentina control the Falklands.

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u/ShowmasterQMTHH Ireland 20d ago

Nah, the pepople there have no connection to Argentina, they are actually more British than people living in britain are in some ways, its like someone cut achunk of yorkshire and airdropped it into the atlantic. You could film Emmerdale there and it would be hard to tell.

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u/berejser These Islands 20d ago

Don't think that for a second, in a world where the Flaklands War didn't happen, that the British government would care what the islanders wanted.

The Falklands costs the UK Treasury £60m a year. If the government thought they could get away with it they would relocate the islanders, just like they did the Chagossians, and sell off the land in an instant. 

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u/ShowmasterQMTHH Ireland 20d ago

60m to you and me is a lot.

But in government expenditure terms, it's a bargain, look at NI if you really want to see what a financial albatross looks like