The Argentina tango

Ralph Peters:

I was wrong. For years, I've argued that our government should pay more attention to South America. Now Hillary Clinton has -- and, boy, is it ugly.

With tragic back-to-back earthquakes dominating the headlines from south of the border, a desperate ploy by the hard-left Argentine government -- backed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez -- threatens to shake the continent's political landscape.

And Secretary of State Clinton, during her whirlwind tour down south, managed to outrage our British allies and assist despised President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in her family's assault on Argentine democracy.

Clinton's diplomatic malfeasance in Buenos Aires wasn't an accident. She spoke for President Obama, who loves Third World liberation rhetoric and seems to think Britain's still colonizing his family home in Kenya.

Here's the backstory that our media's ignored:

Longing to be another Eva Peron, President Fernandez resembles Eva Braun. And her would-be dynast husband, ex-Prez Nestor Kirchner, sees himself as a Juan Peron for the 21st century.

But the people of Argentina have caught on to the Kirchner mob's bid to subvert their democracy -- after this husband-and-wife team wrecked the economy, broke the agricultural sector and nationalized (the left's word for "stole") the nation's private pension funds.

Hubby wants to return to the Casa Rosada after wifey's term expires. The snag is that these crooks have the support of fewer than one in five Argentines.

Their solution? Wave the flag!

Previously uninterested in the Falkland/Malvinas -- where the Brits trounced the Argentines in 1982 -- the Kirchners suddenly discovered that the islands are an oppressed colony that belongs to Buenos Aires. (Forget that the islands' English-speaking population wants no part of Argentina.)

President Fernandez threw a "patriotic" tantrum, blocking commerce with the islands (which mostly hurts Argentina's business and shipping communities). Then she ordered a warship -- one of the few seaworthy hulls left to the Argentine Navy -- to probe the waters surrounding the Falkands/Malvinas.

A British destroyer sent the Argentine corvette packing. Which led another regional hustler to warn the Queen of England that "this time, Argentina will not stand alone!"

...

This is one of those "smart diplomacy" moves that makes even less sense than Argentina's claim to Islands that belong to Britain. Like the Honduras mistake, this one will not benefit the US while pandering to our enemies in the region. The reason the Kirchners are so unpopular is they mismanaged the economy and tried to screw the farmers and ranchers who export products.

Backing despots in not smart diplomacy. Screwing allies who are fighting and dying with us in Afghanistan is not smart diplomacy. There is zero to be gained by negotiations over the Falkland Islands, because there is no articulated basis for a legitimate claim by the government of Argentina.