It appears however that Argentina considers the entire South Atlantic continental shelf to be its territorial waters, despite the victory Britain had when the Argentinians invaded the Falkland Islands.
All is not as it appears.
Is this decree anyhting to do with the fact that several British companies are about to start offshore exploration? Desire Petroleum has licensed six areas where it predicts around 3.5 billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be recovered.
The submersible rig Ocean Guardian is on its way to the Falklands and drilling for oil is to start in the next 6 months.
Is the President of Argentina firing a warning shot by issuing her decree?
Gordon Brown, in his New Year message to the Islanders said:
“no doubts about United Kingdom’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and that the principle of self determination underlies this.”
Oil always guarantees greed, let's hope President Fernandez isn't getting greedy.
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It is doubtless related to oil but the Argentinians have always been aggressive over territorial claims; even to the extent of requiring passport clearance in Antarctic territory under their administration.
On a seperate matter, let us hope that Falklanders have learned some manners: they have been notoriously inhospitable to oil workers in the past.
This'll be confusing to the "it's all about oil" brigade. Given the number which sided with a fascist junta in 1982 over British civilians, it will be messy.
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