Dog, cat, and mouse in the South Atlantic
By Colby Cosh - Friday, February 17, 2012 - 0 Comments
Argentina, the world press tells us, intends to rename its top soccer league the “Cruiser General Belgrano First Division”, in honour of the Argentine ship sunk by the Royal Navy during the 1982 Falklands War. Far be it from any outsider to prescribe how a country honours its war dead, but honour is not what the move is about: it’s part of a continuing, exhausting barrage of Falklands agitprop from Argentina’s Kirchner government. Kirchner is scrambling to keep Argentine economic growth rolling, barracking businesses and workers in the classic caudillo manner as inflation outpaces the dubious official statistics. She has tried, with some success, to close off Southern Hemisphere ports to boats flying the maritime flag of the Falklands and to weld traditionally UK-friendly neighbours into a regional bloc against “colonialism”. Tensions are high and the Falkland Islanders are feeling besieged. Continue…
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Faded powers still fighting over mostly barren rocks
By Richard Warnica - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 1:39 PM - 0 Comments
Argentina plans to raise Britain’s “militarization” of the Falkland Islands at the UN, the…
Argentina plans to raise Britain’s “militarization” of the Falkland Islands at the UN, the BBC reports. The islands, long a sore spot between two countries, have been the site of increasing tension in recent months. Britain recently sent their newest naval destroyer to the region (along with Prince William, a helicopter rescue pilot assigned to the ship). Argentina, meanwhile—along with other South American nations—closed its ports to ships from the islands in December. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner will launch a formal complaint over Britain’s actions at both the UN Security Council and General Assembly.
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Good news, bad news: Jan. 23-Feb. 3, 2011
By macleans.ca - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 10:10 AM - 0 Comments
Calgary speed skater Christine Nesbitt sets new women’s world record, while Syria’s civil war continues to cause carnage
Good news
A boy with cystic fibrosis is made an honorary firefighter in Indiana. (The Indianapolis Star/AP)
The virtue of clarity
Alex Salmond’s Scottish National Party unveiled the question it intends to put before voters in its 2014 referendum on independence. Scotland’s voters will be asked for a straightforward yes or no answer to: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent nation?” Supporters of unity complained that the SNP had given itself the psychologically easier task of defending the “Yes” side. Salmond has obviously learned from Canada’s successful experience fighting secessionism. His referendum question contains no mention of “sovereignty association” or “partnerships.”
We’re No. 10
Canada regained its hemisphere-leading place in the Reporters Without Borders global press-freedom rankings. The French-based NGO had Canada behind the U.S.A. in 2010’s league table, but Canada’s “almost totally” non-violent handling of 2011’s Occupy protests moved us into a 10th-place tie with Denmark. The U.S. plunged to 47th. According to RWB, Finland and Norway remain leading “engines of press freedom,” while North Korea and Eritrea bring up the rear.
