Argentina's government of thieves tries to criminalize its dispute with UK over Falklands

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix:

The U.K. and Argentina summoned each others’ ambassadors as Britain stepped up its defenses of the Falkland Islands and the South American nation filed criminal charges against oil companies operating in the area.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry said it called in the U.K. ambassador to explain the defense spending and revelations by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the U.K. had spied on the Argentine government since 2009. Argentine ambassador Alicia Castro was questioned by the U.K. after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the islands will be Argentine sooner or later, the Telegraph reported, citing a Foreign Office spokesman it didn’t identify.

The Argentine government “expressed its discomfort” at recent comments by U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon in which he alleged “a supposed and improbable Argentine ‘threat,’” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The U.K. will spend 180 million pounds ($270 million) over the next 10 years to refurbish defenses in the Falklands after a review found there’s a continuing threat from Argentina to the territory. The two countries went to war in 1982 after Argentine forces invaded the islands.

Argentina filed criminal charges Thursday at the general prosecutor’s office in Buenos Aires against oil companies Rockhopper Exploration Plc, Premier Oil Plc, Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd, Noble Energy Inc. and Edison International SpA, the Foreign Ministry said in a a separate statement. The energy companies are charged with carrying out exploration activity without the permission of Argentina’s Energy Secretariat, according to the statement.
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Argentina's poorly run government would like nothing better than to steal UK assets in the Falklands.  The Argentine government has a history as a dead beat and has made bogus claims to ownership of the Falklands in the past.   There are no Argentine citizens on the islands and no rational basis for a claim of ownership.  The cases being brought are probably an attempt to stop developments in the insland that would increase their value and the prosperity of its citizens.