http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/12079614/Argentinas-new-government-says-it-will-press-claims-to-Falkland-Islands.html
The refalkening will begin
Don't they need to have a claim to the Falkland Islands before they can press it?
Imperialist pig! Malvinas have always been Argentine! Why else would God have placed them right next to Argentina?? (And by right next to, I mean 300 miles away)
As far as I can tell, their claim goes back to
de facto Spanish control of the islands from 1774 to 1811, when the British withdrew but left behind a plaque and flag basically saying "Ha! we still have a core on these islands, suckers". When Spain lost Argentina to revolution in 1811, the Spanish did the same thing, leaving a plaque that said the islands were still Spanish.
In 1820, an Argentine naval vessel wrecked on the islands and the survivors set up a flag and plaque themselves and claimed the islands for Argentina, then promptly got picked up and left the island.
In the late 1820's, the Brits and Argentines both tried colonizing the islands and by 1831, one of the Argentine expeditions had actually survived long enough to call it a colony, which was promptly sacked by a British frigate and declared
res nullius. The Argentines rebuilt the colony, there was a mutiny, and the British showed up with a warship and demanded the new colony governor change out the Argentine flag for a British one (at gunpoint).
Been British ever since.
So....it's a legit dispute, imho. I don't think you can argue that leaving a plaque and a flag constitutes de jure ownership, nor does gunboat diplomacy.
The thing is, it's one of the world's biggest dick-waving contests over a piece of land that nobody really fucking wants, unless there's a significant economic need for fish, squid and bird poop.