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The Spectacle Blog
Asked at a press conference Sunday in Colombia to comment on Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, President Obama made reference to “the Maldives.” This is a gaffe on top of a gaffe: The Maldives are in the Indian Ocean, and he obviously meant the Malvinas — the Argentine government’s name for The Falklands. But he shouldn’t have been trying to say “Malvinas,” either; that’s an Argentine nationalist propaganda term that implicitly denies the right to self-determination of the 3000 British subjects who live on the Falklands.
On the substance, Obama asserted a position of neutrality on the status of the Falklands, which Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has been banging the drums about lately. The Reagan administration tried for a time to maintain a stance of neutrality thirty years ago when the junta that ruled Argentina at the time invaded the Falklands, and there was serious discussion within the administration of tilting US policy toward the Argentine side; ultimately, Reagan approved military aid to Britain that helped win the Falklands War. One hopes that neutrality won’t become as practically untenable as it did in the 80s, and Kirchner’s Britain-bashing will remain confined to public statements and toothless UN initiatives. Still, as the Daily Caller’s Neil Munro suggests, there’s something unseemly about Obama’s unwillingness to stand by our British allies.
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More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/17/obamas-falklands-gaffe
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Freddie| 4.17.12 @ 1:55AM
No surprise really. He just can't stop himself from supporting anything that has the remote scent of "anti colonialism" or "anti imperialism". It permeates his world view. It's juvenile and toxic. Romney must make it clear to the public: he'll return the bust of Churchill to the White House. And he shall never bow to the Saudi king nor play nice with idealogues and proto fascists. Why just earlier today, the "honorable" Kirchner made a move to nationalize a big Argentinian oil company. Obama's jealous.
SpiralArchitect| 4.18.12 @ 12:38PM
+1
Vern Crisler| 4.18.12 @ 3:44PM
Dream on about Romney. It's remarkable how much faith conservatives put in this moderate to do the conservative thing.
Your Excellency| 4.17.12 @ 2:38AM
There seems to something unseemly about this idiots lack of geographical knowledge.
RJ| 4.17.12 @ 4:02AM
Britain has been a trusted ally of the United States, while Argentina has never been a friend of ours. Our support of Britain on this issue should be clear. As for Mr. Obama, he again shows his general ignorance and his disapproval of America's long-standing interests. The man is a condescending, narcissistic fool.
Zbigniew Mazurak | 4.17.12 @ 6:45AM
Exactly! It is IMMORAL that as thousands of British soldiers are fighting, and some of them are DYING, in Afghanistan, next to US troops, Obama is backstabbing Britain by using the Argentine name of the Islands (and incorrectly) and denying the Falklanders their right to self-determination.
Occam's Tool| 4.17.12 @ 11:36AM
As Zbig notes, the Brits are fighting and dying with us. It is true that Argentina makes much better movies than Britain does today, but the Falkland Islanders prefer to remain British citizens.
Barack Obama, like Ron Paul, is a moron of the first water on matters outside America's borders.
Occam's Tool| 4.17.12 @ 11:39AM
I threw in the non-sequitor about Argentine movies to show how nonsensical it is to support Argentina on this.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:29PM
Zbig,
but you see the UK is made up of Anglos, which means for obama it's obvious then that he'll throw his weight behind the Argentinians.
This is playing with fire by the way.
The Royal Navy no longer has any Carriers, and without Carriers, Great Britain would not be able to project any strength in the South Atlantic.
The Falklands are ripe for the taking, --- if the Argentinians are up for the job.
And everybody now knows it.
grant1863| 4.17.12 @ 5:51PM
Recently there was an article about Argentina can't even PAY its sailors let alone put to sea.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 10:37PM
Argentina isn't where they were in the 1980s, to be sure.
But it doesn't take a great deal to seize an undefended island, now does it?
All they have to do is secure the island, and after that, Great Britain, because they've become a third rate power by choice, will be forced to the diplomatic table, whereon they'll try to paper over a fait accomplie.
SpiralArchitect| 4.18.12 @ 12:40PM
They both are foreshadowing America in the very near future.
Out with the usurper.
Just Say No -to Marxism.
Mark MacInnis| 4.18.12 @ 2:15PM
By any means necessary.
cali| 4.17.12 @ 7:54AM
Pretty ironic coming from this guy; wasn't his father considered 'british'?
I forgot, it's pay backfor Great Britain, because they tortured and, imprisoned his grandfather during the Luo's Tribe uprising.
Obama is a very vindictive and, conniving, shallow little dictator; his phony 'show' hangout with PM Cameron just a few weeks ago at the basketball court, eating hot dogs.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:30PM
Who here doubts that obama's grandfather deserved it, every bit of it?
Skippy| 4.17.12 @ 1:50PM
I've said the same about Nelson Mandela for years.
As a Communist advocating violent revolution, he deserved every day he rotted in prison.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 2:37PM
I'm no fan of that jerk Mandela!
He was a commie, and even after the collapse of the Warsaw Bloc, after all the details emerged about what it was like to live in a surveillance society, such as East Germany, he was STILL a commie.
And look at what's happened to South Africa, which is now a place where the competent have fled and the criminals are run amok.
They've screwed up South Africa, just like the left destroyed Rhodesia!
SpiralArchitect| 4.18.12 @ 12:48PM
The usurper has similiar plans for the US.
Will| 4.17.12 @ 8:02AM
Let's not assume it's just a slip of the tongue. There are no accidents with this guy. When he said; "The police acted stupidly" it had a purpose. When he said the Muslim Brotherhood is a secular organization, it has a purpose. When he said; "If I had a son..." it has a purpose. By referring to the Falklands as anything but that, it has a purpose.
John - TMF| 4.17.12 @ 8:03AM
The correct thing to do to defuse the situation is to:
1. Send quiet but firm communication via the Ambassador to Argentina to their Nuevo Evita that she backs down or the Argentines end up on the wrong side.
2. We then take an MEF, offer a third of the births to the Royal Marines.. and have a nice joint South Atlantic extended Joint Exercise based in the Falklands. Maybe even toss in some ASW trips, and have an Atlantic based carrier battle group support some "activities" like practice air cover and joint SAR sorts of things.
3. You quietly tell Cameron that he gets his act together and stops scraping his Navy or we are going to start charging him for the assist. (We wouldn't do that, but it would feel good, and the Royal Navy and Army are being dangerously crippled, too. The good guys can't quit or we all lose.)
Of course the Obambi Regime is to anti-western and too self-interested (Leftist Isolationism was the second leg of the stool that allowed the 20th Century fascist dictators to reach the cupboard.) to make such a smart effective set of moves.
Argentina has always been a mess. How such a cosmopolitan and supposedly European Western nation can be so backward and crippled is beyond me.
r/John - TMF
Occam's Tool| 4.17.12 @ 11:37AM
John-TMF. Beautifully stated, as usual.
W| 4.17.12 @ 8:24AM
Argentina is a mess because the government has involved itself more and more in controlling the economy, starting with Juan Peron. It should imitate Chile which allows personal retirment plans instead of the government run pensions (SS)and free enterprise.
chuck| 4.17.12 @ 8:47AM
America is a mess for the same reason.
JP| 4.17.12 @ 9:13AM
At least he didn't say Gilligan's Island.
Occam's Tool| 4.17.12 @ 11:38AM
It would be more accurate to refer to Gilligan's Island than the Maldives.
Tina B| 4.17.12 @ 11:39AM
This is what ya get when they won't give him a teleprompter everywhere he speaks. Malvinas was the intended slap in their collective face, Maldives was his plain ignorance. SSDD.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:32PM
Exactly!
He intended to insult Great Britain, he intended to overturn 20 plus years of settled American foreign policy on the issue, --- and he screwed it up.
Instead of insulting the British he only made himself appear more the jackass he truly is.
Richard Baker| 4.17.12 @ 2:26PM
JP:
Is that coming soon?
SpiralArchitect| 4.18.12 @ 12:50PM
Not sure Gilligan's Island was available where he was at that time.
Mike Warlick | 4.17.12 @ 9:32AM
Over ten years ago, the 23 million dollar (2 years) of comprehensive research was completed by numbers of leading economist, at our leading universities. HR-25, known as the FairTax was born.
So, if it has so much logical research behind it, why are we all still slaved in the Income Tax World? There are two main reasons. (1) We the people do not writing the rules in side the beltway in DC, they do. (2) Not enough Americans know or understand the bill. For if they understand it, they will demand it. There is not a Fair Tax, we all can agree. There will never be a perfect tax bill. HR-25 / S-13 is just the most researched tax [reform] bill ever. Words of wisdom about the bill can be found here: If you agree and like this letter feel free to share it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/17X9-qwX2zD2V7cqGsybkHCtcorMX3PhYTFKb87gXrgY/edit
FastJohnny| 4.17.12 @ 10:28AM
"Still, as the Daily Caller's Neil Munro suggests, there's something unseemly about Obama's unwillingness to stand by our British allies."
That is because England is symbolic of western and 'non diverse' power in this administrations mind. Anything to do with countries that were at one time colonial in any way is negative. Obama and his administration has a big, big chip on its shoulder when it comes to anyone or anything that might have been a world power at one time....or more accurately, in the last 2 centuries.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:37PM
Obama is riven through with animus, animus towards the West, towards Christianity, towards the white man.
And the white man must pay!
Zimmerman must pay.
Great Britain must pay, {which explains the effeminate displays of sending the Churchill bust back as well as deliberately violating protocall when visiting the Queen}.
And of course America's white middle class too must pay.
This guy is determined not just to set class against class, but race against race.
He's truly wicked.
ncatty| 4.17.12 @ 11:02AM
I hope you are watching Taiwan - you are next.
SCS| 4.17.12 @ 11:13AM
Ain't that the truth.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:25PM
Taiwan needs to go nuke, as do the Japanese.
America's nuclear umbrella hasn't any credibility whatsoever.
And anybody relying on us needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 12:23PM
DID he really mean the Malvinas?
This guy is an idiot, and I'm pretty confident that if a staffer hadn't clued him in on what the Argentinians called the islands, he wouldn't have known about it.
This guy is painfully provincial.
And this isn't, not by any stretch, an anomaly. He frequently reveals his widespread ignorance about a great many things.
And we all know it.
But still, we still give this guy the benefit of the doubt. He "obviously meant ...."
Like Hell he did.
JP| 4.17.12 @ 2:46PM
"DID he really mean the Malvinas?"
Yes, Malvinas is right next to Iraqistan
Mimi Mayes | 4.17.12 @ 5:29PM
I hear they speak Austrian there.
Martin Owens| 4.17.12 @ 1:46PM
It's this simple:
The United States government is in enemy hands.
Richard Baker| 4.17.12 @ 2:27PM
Martin:
Most affirmative.
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 2:41PM
Which is why he and his wife hate the White House.
And it's no big mystery that one of the first things he did was eviscerate NASA, and turn it into the muslim outreach agency!
What makes America great he's against.
Achievements that distinguish this country, he downplays.
Allies and friends of the country, he ridicules and disparages.
He's a fucking asshole!
Drek| 4.17.12 @ 2:42PM
When our troops were closing on Baghdad, we allowed the British to move on Basra, confident that they were fully able to take care of that city which might have threatened our right flank.
And now that asshole obama insults those men and their country because he wants to play footsie with South American leftists!
hook| 4.17.12 @ 3:54PM
Imagine if Bush made such a gaffe. The msm would headline it.
Tina B| 4.18.12 @ 6:56PM
Not to mention poor Dan Quayle and his spelling. That laughter went on for months. The media are leftist pigs. Oops, there goes my BP again.
Davod| 4.17.12 @ 6:37PM
"The Royal Navy no longer has any Carriers, and without Carriers, Great Britain would not be able to project any strength in the South Atlantic. The Falklands are ripe for the taking, --- if the Argentinians are up for the job."
When the Argentinians invaded the last time the Brits had at most a platoon of Royal Marines in the Falklands. Now, the army navy and air force are represented.
Mike Rogers | 4.17.12 @ 8:48PM
He's still The African Colonial, and he still hates all Western powers, especially Britain.
And we called Kerry "Unfit for Command"? Beside Obama, Kerry looks like Churchill!
PCP Smoker| 4.17.12 @ 9:23PM
Reminds me of his little toast to the Queen (UK) a while back. I bet Christopher Buckley must be proud of voting for this idiot.
Drek| 4.18.12 @ 12:01PM
Throw in Michael Smerconish.
Or David Brooks.
Or David Frum.
Derek Leaberry| 4.18.12 @ 12:11PM
What's the surprise? The United Kingdom is European and was the greatest Empire on Earth until 1914. Argentina is Third-World, a failed state for the past century. Of course, Obama wishes Argentina to gain control of the Falklands no matter that the people of those islands wish unity with the UK.
On another topic, does anyone wonder why Obama hasn't asked for tyrant Robert Mugabe to step down in Zimbabwe? Mugabe's demise would be beneficial to the people of that sad land. Yet Mugabe is anti-white. In Obama's eyes that is a good thing. So Obama says nothing.
Mark MacInnis| 4.18.12 @ 2:17PM
Perhaps we could petition Old Blighty that the Falklands become the permanent home of all future Western Region GSA conventions.....
That should scare off the Argentines....
Mark MacInnis| 4.18.12 @ 2:19PM
Hey Barrack, smooth it over....send some of your speeches to the Queen....on an I-Pod.
Blimey!