Falkland Islands vote to remain British territory

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An interesting thing occurred recently, the Falkland Islands held a referendum on whether they wanted to remain a British territory, or whether to become a part of Argentina. The vote was held, and turnout was 92% of the populace. The results: 99.8% voted to remain a British territory. Only 3 people (not 3% - literally, 3 people) voted to become part of Argentina

A short history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tfvfsZaMsY&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=MxB6Y6FUMis&feature=endscreen

raisindot

xmacro:

An interesting thing occurred recently, the Falkland Islands held a referendum on whether they wanted to remain a British territory, or whether to become a part of Argentina. The vote was held, and turnout was 92% of the populace. The results: 99.8% voted to remain a British territory. Only 3 people (not 3% - literally, 3 people) voted to become part of Argentina

A short history:

Ummm, should this be a surprise? The Falklanders never have considered themselves anything other than British subjects. Just as I would suppose Bermudans and Bahamians never considered themselves to be anything other than British subjects, even though they're less than a couple hundred miles off the U.S. coast.

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Not really, just thought the story was interesting

Amos_Umwhat

xmacro:

Not really, just thought the story was interesting

It is interesting, I thought this was settled a couple decades ago.

rzaman

It is a economic decision not political. Someday if Argentinian economy performs better than the United Kingdom then Falklanders will vote to join with Argentina. This is a reality and the commerce.

rzaman

One more thing, now a days economy dictates foreign policy over political ideology. The example is our so-called strategic relationship with China no matter whoever is in power- Democrats or Republicans . At the end, we need Chinese Market for the continuous growth. China needs us to export their goods and continue their growth. Once in a while, both governments start arguments over different issues but at the end nothing change. This is a way both side utilize public opinion to continue their political grip over average citizen. At the end- rich get richer and middle class or poor people get poorer. The same equation- economic interest over political ideology. Few people realize that when average citizen argue about US-China, Warren Buffet and Chinese richest man Li Ka Shing enjoy dinner then talk with the policy makers and sell their idea to double their market share with a newly implemented government policy.

rzaman:

It is a economic decision not political. Someday if Argentinian economy performs better than the United Kingdom then Falklanders will vote to join with Argentina. This is a reality and the commerce.

raisindot

rzaman:

It is a economic decision not political. Someday if Argentinian economy performs better than the United Kingdom then Falklanders will vote to join with Argentina. This is a reality and the commerce.

No, it's actually a cultural decision not an economic decision. Nearly all the Falklanders are descendants of the British settlers who came to the island, whose main economic activity is sheep herding. They have about as much of a cultural affinity to Argentina as Singaporians have to mainland Chinese.

phobicsquirrel

rzaman:

One more thing, now a days economy dictates foreign policy over political ideology. The example is our so-called strategic relationship with China no matter whoever is in power- Democrats or Republicans . At the end, we need Chinese Market for the continuous growth. China needs us to export their goods and continue their growth. Once in a while, both governments start arguments over different issues but at the end nothing change. This is a way both side utilize public opinion to continue their political grip over average citizen. At the end- rich get richer and middle class or poor people get poorer. The same equation- economic interest over political ideology. Few people realize that when average citizen argue about US-China, Warren Buffet and Chinese richest man Li Ka Shing enjoy dinner then talk with the policy makers and sell their idea to double their market share with a newly implemented government policy.

rzaman:

It is a economic decision not political. Someday if Argentinian economy performs better than the United Kingdom then Falklanders will vote to join with Argentina. This is a reality and the commerce.

Good points you make there. I have no facts to back this up (herman cain quote) but I would surmise that if the incentives to bring our manufacturing back to the US rather than offshore as well as more emphasis on "protectionism" was brought back to the US, then our economy would not be dependent on other countries, such as China. I almost would think that China has more leverage against us than we do with them. Sure their country has massive problems but they do hold most of the manufacturing for gadgets.

BTW, that's funny only 3 people voted against.

rzaman

Singapore is a country with Chinese, Malayan and Indian decendants. In fact Singapore was a Malayshian province before the independence and a former British colony. Malayshia kicked them out from the Malayan commonwealth. I do not think Falkland and Singapore are a good comparison.

However I take your cultural affiliation in certain extend but not completely. Falklanders distinctively feel different than Mainland British. Culturally they feel more clost to the South America. South America is a continent of immigrants from Europe, Africa and the indeginious. many of us think that they all think they are Latin though the culture has been seen as Latin because of the widely seen Hispanic culture. However, country like Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay are very different than other South American nations. many of their citizens still believe they are European, African or native. At this moment the Falklanders believe they are connected more close to the Argentenian European decendants rather than particularly British. The main reason is economic and dislike of the present Agrentenian socialist government with poor economic performance.

raisindot:

rzaman:

It is a economic decision not political. Someday if Argentinian economy performs better than the United Kingdom then Falklanders will vote to join with Argentina. This is a reality and the commerce.

No, it's actually a cultural decision not an economic decision. Nearly all the Falklanders are descendants of the British settlers who came to the island, whose main economic activity is sheep herding. They have about as much of a cultural affinity to Argentina as Singaporians have to mainland Chinese.