Argentina and Russia

Argentina currently has good relations with Russia. And Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Argentine President Cristina Fernández to thank her for publicly complaining during her recent trip to Europe about the double-standard of countries like Britain and the US complaining about the illegal and normatively invalid referendum Putin held in the Crimea as a prelude to re-annexing it to Russia, while Britain held an equally invalid referendum among the British colonists of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands while the US tacitly approved of it. The Malvinas are a long-standing claim of Argentina and large undersea oil reserves go with possession of the Malvinas. So it's a big issue in Argentina and South America.

And there are broader concerns, as well. Fernando Cibeira, Una llamada para apuntarle a la doble vara Página/12 26.03.2014 reports on the conversation:

Es que Argentina evalúa lo sucedido en Ucrania como otro caso de los llamados "golpes blandos", iniciativas motorizadas por partidos opositores minoritarios junto a grupos económicos y mediáticos afines con las que buscan desestabilizar a los gobiernos democráticamente elegidos. Evalúan que así cayó en su momento Fernando Lugo en Paraguay y que ahora una movida por el estilo busca voltear a Nicolás Maduro en Venezuela.

Y no es sólo eso. En la Cancillería destacan las similitudes entre el caso de Crimea y lo sucedido años atrás en Kosovo. En aquel otro conflicto europeo – Kosovo se separó de Serbia, que respondió con una invasión militar –, Occidente respondió de forma inversa. Estados Unidos no sólo no apoyó a Serbia como ahora lo hace con Ucrania, sino que la bombardeó durante más de dos meses. Esa discusión ya se dio en los últimos días entre los diplomáticos que se desempeñan en los organismos internacionales. Lo que dicen los norteamericanos es que Serbia estaba llevando adelante en Kosovo una limpieza étnica que urgía detener. En la Cancillería aseguran que en las resoluciones que se votaron sobre Kosovo nunca figuró la limpieza étnica como determinante para el ataque.

Ya en el detalle del derecho internacional, en el gobierno argentino hacen una distinción más, referida a la cuestión de los dos referendos. Así, señalan que en las Islas Malvinas existe una población – que no es originaria sino implantada – mientras que en Crimea hay un pueblo, por lo que incluso tendría derecho, de acuerdo con lo que determinan las Naciones Unidas, a un plebiscito para decidir sobre su futuro, cosa que no podrían realizar los kelpers.

It is that Argentina evaluates what happened in Ukraine as another case of the so-called "soft coups," motorized initiatives by minority opposition parties together with economic and media groups close to them with those who seek to destablize democratically elected governments. {Argentina} considers that in his moment, this occurred to Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, and that now a move in this style seeks to overthrow Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

And it's not only that. In the Chancellery {Foreign Ministry} they emphasize the similarities between the case of Crimea and what happened years before in Kosovo. In that other European conflict - Kosovo separated from Serbia, which responded with a military invasion - the West responded in an inverse form. {The West backed the Kosovar separatists.}

And in the details of international law, in the Argentine government that make one more distinction, in reference to the question of referenda. So, they signal that in the Malvinas Islands exist a population - that is not original but implanted - while in the Crimea there is a people, for which there are also had the right, in accord with those the United Nations has determined, to a plebiscite to decide on their future, a thing that the kelpers could not achieve.

The last is a reference to Argentina's contention that Britain's referendum in the Malvinas was invalid, not least because Britain restricts Argentine immigration to the Malvinas. This is a colonial tactic Britain has also used in Gibraltar, which is controlled by Britain but also claimed by Spain, in a situation under international law very similar to that of the Malvinas.

Tags: argentina, crimea, falklands, malvinas, malvinas, russia