Falklands Flap

Apparently an Argentine Navy vessel has harassed a Falklands fishing vessel in waters claimed by the Brits surrounding the islands. This sounds like an echo of a recent run-in a Chinese fishing vessel had with Japanese patrol boats. This article in MercoPress has the bare outlines.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are political problems afoot in Argentina. Poking the British lion is a great way to get chauvinistic Argentinians to forget about domestic issues. If the Brits react, as they have every right to do, it generates street cred for Argentina among the anti-colonialists in Central and South America.

New Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru alleges that the Kirchner government in Argentina is corrupt. In a second MercoPress article, Vargas Llosa observes:

It’s hard to understand how a country like Argentina, that we all know what it has meant culturally and scientifically at world level, has chosen a president of such intellectual and cultural poverty.