Come and Visit the eFalklands!
Day 1,961, 20:42
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Major Lee Hung
EDIT: If anybody gets a similar article in to Argentina's press, (or Ireland's if you're feeling dangerous) I'll pay for votes to take it to top 5
To detract us from current wars and such with Argentina, I decided to post this unrelated article for those of us who like to pretend all of our sovereign territories are also included on eRepublik.
This is a Tourist's guide to the eFalklands.
What Are The Falkland Islands?
The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands are a very good representation of Britain itself; multi-cultural and free. The people here decide their own destiny.
Who Are the Falkland Islanders?
61% Falklanders
29% British
2.6% Spanish
0.6% Japanese
6.5% Chilean and others
Contrary to what you'll hear from distant countries in the south of South America, the inhabitants are not 100% British immigrants.
A Short History
The islands weren't always inhabited by the rightful British rulers. They were once uninhabited, just some islands that lay in the Atlantic. They were discovered by European explorers, before finally being settled. Many European countries fought over them, but all eventually settled on the fact that they were rightfully British.
On a random and unrelated note - at no point did Argentina play any part in their history.
Politics
The islands are currently also claimed by the Argentinians - based on the logic that the islands are 'near by'. Following the same logic, Britain is the rightful owner of most of the world's G8 countries - those situated in Western Europe.
Obviously, this would be a ridiculous claim because those countries would resist such a dumb rhetoric, just as the Falklanders have rejected Argentina's claim and chosen to remain British - an entity they're proud to represent.
Economy
The Falklands has a lot of oil. This oil is also proudly British. Extraction is due to begin in 2016. This will be a great boost for the Falklands' economy, and Britain as a whole.
Military
The Falklands has a strong, technologically advanced military presence on the islands and surrounding waters. This military too is proudly British and will fight to the end to protect its core value - freedom.
Las Malvinas
The Las Malvinas are fictional islands based upon the British Falkland Islands. Argentina often confuse this fantasy realm with the real islands that sit in the same location.
The Falklands in eRepublik
Argentina timed an air-strike in eRepublik to coincide with their invasion of the Falklands, 2nd April 1982. Unfortunately, their air strike hit the East Midlands instead. This was a very easy mistake so please do not laugh at them for this - it is very easy to confuse sovereign British territories.
Why Visit?
Visit another part of British terriroty, meet other proud British citizens and do typical British things - only here, you'll be in the southern hemisphere instead!
Other than this, and their natural beauty, there is no difference to the rest of Britain's territory.
All is good in Britain.
Writing to you from the British overseas city of eStanley,
Joshua Whelan
xoxoxo
😃
To detract us from current wars and such with Argentina, I decided to post this unrelated article for those of us who like to pretend all of our sovereign territories are also included on eRepublik.
This is a Tourist's guide to the eFalklands.
What Are The Falkland Islands?
The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands are a very good representation of Britain itself; multi-cultural and free. The people here decide their own destiny.
Who Are the Falkland Islanders?
61% Falklanders
29% British
2.6% Spanish
0.6% Japanese
6.5% Chilean and others
Contrary to what you'll hear from distant countries in the south of South America, the inhabitants are not 100% British immigrants.
A Short History
The islands weren't always inhabited by the rightful British rulers. They were once uninhabited, just some islands that lay in the Atlantic. They were discovered by European explorers, before finally being settled. Many European countries fought over them, but all eventually settled on the fact that they were rightfully British.
On a random and unrelated note - at no point did Argentina play any part in their history.
Politics
The islands are currently also claimed by the Argentinians - based on the logic that the islands are 'near by'. Following the same logic, Britain is the rightful owner of most of the world's G8 countries - those situated in Western Europe.
Obviously, this would be a ridiculous claim because those countries would resist such a dumb rhetoric, just as the Falklanders have rejected Argentina's claim and chosen to remain British - an entity they're proud to represent.
Economy
The Falklands has a lot of oil. This oil is also proudly British. Extraction is due to begin in 2016. This will be a great boost for the Falklands' economy, and Britain as a whole.
Military
The Falklands has a strong, technologically advanced military presence on the islands and surrounding waters. This military too is proudly British and will fight to the end to protect its core value - freedom.
Las Malvinas
The Las Malvinas are fictional islands based upon the British Falkland Islands. Argentina often confuse this fantasy realm with the real islands that sit in the same location.
The Falklands in eRepublik
Argentina timed an air-strike in eRepublik to coincide with their invasion of the Falklands, 2nd April 1982. Unfortunately, their air strike hit the East Midlands instead. This was a very easy mistake so please do not laugh at them for this - it is very easy to confuse sovereign British territories.
Why Visit?
Visit another part of British terriroty, meet other proud British citizens and do typical British things - only here, you'll be in the southern hemisphere instead!
Other than this, and their natural beauty, there is no difference to the rest of Britain's territory.
All is good in Britain.
Writing to you from the British overseas city of eStanley,
Joshua Whelan
xoxoxo
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Comments
o7
nicely done. 🙂
o7
Martin Buzzi, Argentine governor of the Chubut providence, said, "For us Patagonians, the Malvinas cause is something very close, something which is in our hearts – as in that of all Argentines. But for geographical reasons it is something which we lived through very directly."
Hmmm I wonder if he experienced it as directly as the Islanders themselves did 31 years ago when many were taken to be questioned by Argentine military police and were unaware of their fate and if they were to be killed. I wonder if he experienced it as directly as the residents of the islands did 31 years ago when Argentine tanks drove past their houses and were held at gunpoint fearing for their lives.
The Agrentine claim to the Falklands is absolutely baseless and if they truly believed in their rights to the islands they would have taken it to the ICJ by now. But they haven't do so because even they, themselves don't believe their own bullsh*t and know they would be laughed out of court.
99.8% of the people living on the island voted to remain a part of the UK and their wishes are all that matter here. The Islanders are living under the government of their choosing and that should be respected. Argentine President Christina Kirchner and her government constantly complain about the "colonialism" of the UK when, in fact, herself and her government are persistently shouting in support of colonising the Islands and lambasting the British government, asking them to "hand over" the Islands. If she wants 'em, she better be prepared for another war and to get her a$$ kicked... AGAIN!
The Falklands are BRITISH!
we can probably assume the 3 voters who opposed leaving the UK probably support Falkland independence as a separate nation considering the wording was pretty much 'do you want to be British? Y/N'
Yeah, I know right.
The Argentines just want the oil reserves there and to gain what little dignity they had before the war, which wasn't much to begin with tbh.
If the UK were to have given the Falklands over to Argentina, it would be as big of a sh*t hole the whole of Argentina currently is and probably would have ended up being deserted once more with a couple sheep herders left... not even that. It would probably look more like it did in the 17th century. : P
Instead, with hard work and BRITISH ingenuity, the Falklands has become a modern, entirely democratic and vibrant society with a bright future.
/me ends rant.
To be perfectly honest, the Argentine claim is far more credible than our claim. Does no one realise that the only reason UK keeps the Falklands is because of the oil?
The islands were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans. That is a fact. Tensions have risen recently mostly because of the discovery of the oil reserves. However, in the 80s the islands still relied very much on tourism and fishing. The UK kept it then despite not knowing if there was a significant amount of oil surrounding the islands. Why give it up now? Especially when such an overwhelming majority of the population supports remaining a territory of the UK. If the people wish to remain British, then it is their decision ultimately and it should be respected.
As I said, if they feel their claim to the islands is more credible, why have they not sought to bring it before the ICJ? If they truly believed they would be successful, then they would pursue it. They obviously don't really believe their claim to the islands is more credible than the UK's given they have not attempted to do so.
Absolute bollocks. The first exportation licences were granted in 1992, ten years after the Falklands War. The Falklands are British for the same reason Gibraltar is British....it is the will of the inhabitants.
First of all, there is not much oil there.
Second, we've had the claim far before any discovery of it.
Seriously, it's not for any economic reasons or some stupid thing. It's about honour and history. Anyway, let's not fall to this level, and we are not going to debate history, or anything like it. Let's play this GAME, and have some fun.
Good luck.
@lancer450 "...if they feel their claim to the islands is more credible, why have they not sought to bring it before the ICJ?"
Good point. The claim is in already in the UN. It's been there for a long time. Since the sixties (60'), the General Assembly of the UN is telling both countries (UK and Argentina) to sit down and negotiate. UK is not complying and the resolutions cannot be enforced because UK has a veto in the Security Council. But, hey, I understand that may be you didn't know that. The guy who wrote this article says the islands are in the Pacific, so...
1947: Britain first offers to take the sovereignty dispute over the Dependencies to the ICJ. Argentina does not accept.
1948: Britain again offers to take the sovereignty dispute over the Dependencies to the ICJ. Argentina declines.
1955: Britain unilaterally refers the sovereignty dispute over the Dependencies to the ICJ. Argentina indicates that it will not accept any judgement.
Those were the times listed that the case was attempted to be brought before the ICJ.
Argentina never take their 'claim' to the UNICJ, because they know their 'claim' will have to be investigated..
For example - their claim to South Georgia etc.; the UK offered UNICJ arbitration to Argentina not once, not twice but at least four times...
Guess what happened...?
Argentina ran, ran as fast as its little legs could carry it..!
Why was this..?
Because Argentina knew that its claims would have to be investigated in the public glare..
To read more about this:
www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/26/2157.pdf
www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/26/9065.pdf
Britain refuses to negotiate after a certain issue from 1982...
I think you are mixing things up. Those cases where NOT about the Falklands, they where about territory that UK denominated "Falkland Dependencies", but not the Falklands themselves. The presentation of the case by the British government clearly states that they only accept the jurisdiction of the Court about those territories (Dependencies) and not the Falklands.
Argentina considers the islands (plus the nearby territories of the South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Islands, South Orkney Islands and British Antarctica which it added on when no one was looking) to be theirs, though is understandably loathe to take it to the ICJ, favouring the technique of pleading for "moral support" as a way to give a fundamentally illegal and immoral dogma the illusion of legitimacy, while also spewing North Korea style condemnations of British "Imperialism" whenever the Garrison does anything. The British argument is mainly based on the wishes of the islanders (there are no 'indigenous' populations), though given the history of both its claim and Argentina's claim, it would likely have full legal right whether or not there was a population.
Practically however, Argentina's efforts to take the islands since the war can best be summed up as "impotent". In the decade after the war the Argentine government focused both on blockading the Islands, and on forcing through multiple UN resolutions requesting negotiations (which the UK was legally required to decline due to the UN charter). However, in the 90s the Argentine government had the bright idea of trying to win over the islanders.
Their way of doing this however was just plain stupid. One might think they would have apologised for the war, lifted blockades, recognized their basic human rights and begun building trade, cultural and political relationships with the islanders. Instead of any of this, the Argentine government redoubled its claims that the islanders had no basic human rights, and that they were "owned" by Argentina.
To offset this the Argentine Government believed that sending the islanders toys, Christmas cards and videos saying how great Argentina was would be enough to convince the islanders to instantly switch sides, and when this failed, they simply offered to bribe the islanders.
However, when these painfully contemptuous and insulting attempts to "buy" the islanders failed, Argentina reacted in the mid 2000s by breaking off any former deal it had with them and with Britain, and began trying to simply bully them into submission. However, this ended up backfiring when oil was discovered shortly after they ripped up the oil treaty which would have given Argentina a share.
In the end though Argentina has about as much chance in blackmailing the islanders as it does militarily attacking the islands, due to the massive and still growing military, economic, political and diplomatic disparity between Britain and Argentina, and even the last bargaining chip of cutting off flights to Chile will be obsolete as soon as the airport in St Helena (another British Territory) is complete.
The one chance Argentina had to take the islands was through winning over the Islanders, but after 50 years of bullying, intimidation, attacks, blockades, an armed invasion, and decades of insults against their very humanity, basic rights and identity, Argentina has lost whatever hope it had to win the islands.
In short, the entire issue is little more than a case study for the dangers and insanity of extreme nationalism. Argentines were convinced by their Fascist leaders that somehow the islands were theirs and the Argentine people have this crazy form of manifest destiny instilled within them by their corrupt leaders. Stop acting like North Korea.
I concur with many of the things you say. But I think you are wrong again when you say: "...the UK was legally required to decline due to the UN charter". I don't think the charter prohibits to sit down and talk with other countries. Regards.
o7 very good.
Great article and rightly voted my good man O7
Oh Argentina...why you so funny?
Good to have you back Josh, good article.
I wonder if Argentina lays claim to Ireland too, that's another relatively nearby island. Maybe that's the master plan for CUA?
In a way the bunch of you lot have all revealed yourselves to be hypocrites the last few days. "We would claim the Western World" - Remind me again why we have Northern Ireland, or even had Ireland for that matter?
Britain only wishes to keep the Falklands for their oil, much like with Scotland.
Apart from with Scotland it also gives them a place to keep all their deadliest weapons as well.
Prof..were on the same wave length. I hear you brother.
Pacific? When did they move and how?
The oil is proudly British?
Is it blue, white and red or something?
Just reminding people that the Falklands and everything in them are completely British 😃
First of all, there is not much oil there.
Second, we've had the claim far before any discovery of it.
Seriously, it's not for any economic reasons or some stupid thing. It's about honour and history. Anyway, let's not fall to this level, and we are not going to debate history, or anything like it. Let's play this GAME, and have some fun.
Good luck to you all.
The original British discovery & claim are dated from 1690... there is no debate...
I must have missed the memo. I was unaware that Argentina predated the Spanish (who colonised that area) and not only this, but this not yet born nation had developed open sea technology and then magically landed on the Falklands.
History, logic and most of the world disagree with you, your only actual argument is that they're closer to Argentina than they are to Britain. Does this mean Hawaii should go to North Korea?
I appear to have responded to the wrong comment. But my point still stands!
What do the Japanese do on the Atlantic? lolz How did they get there?
como se nota que en realidad no saben nada de esas islas que estan a 17000 km de inglaterra de seguro ni si quiera deban salir en el pronostico del clima de la bbc. Con respecto a que si queremos las islas por intereses economicos estan muy equivocados, el pais que tenga la soberania debe afrontar terribles gastos para mantener una poblacion en la islas por el clima hostil y la falta de recursos naturales para la explotacion, ni que hablar si sumamos los gastos de la bases, aviones y barcar militares asentados. Muchos estan discutiendo sobre si argentina lo unico que quiere es el petroleo de las islas y la cruda realidad es que hay muy poco como para ser rentable extraerlo y muchos menos sin un puerto donde abastecerse de provisiones y materiales para la produccion, no es el mismo caso de la patagonia argentina donde se sabe que se encuentra una de las mayores reservas de petroleo no convencional del mundo, asi que a todos los que hayan comentado y esten por comentar INFORMENCE acerca de la situacion REAL de los islas de los VERDADEROS INTERESES sobre ellas, con los mayores respetos, saludos y buenas tardes/noche
P😨 Mas respetos a los 200 soldados inglese y 600 argentinos que murierno defendiendo sus banderes a pesar de una vieja que lo unico que queria es seguir siendo primer ministro y un viejo borracho que no sabia que hacer para que no lo cuelgen en la plaza como a mussolini..
if you're going to respond, respond in ENGLISH please! Google translate made your post complete gibberish ... oh, hang on ...
The same for u, Neil. Like u say, traslate is too easy in these days...
vote
The islands doesnt was "empty" when you people come to conquer... Read a little of hystory...
That's right, it was occupied by France in the 1600s. Before this, they were just islands very far from South America.
The people native to the Falklands wish to remain British, as proven in a recent referendum.
Its was occupied by the spanish crown. Again, read a little more...
el. it was found by the French first. If anyone gets to play "Finders Keepers" its them...
France give the soberany to Spain.... (april 1767)
Firstly, it was found by the Portuguese. They couldn't be bothered with it. Then John Davis shipwrecked there and claimed it for Britain. Again though, other than that did nothing with it. Then the Dutch came along and ignored it. Finally, in 1764, France established a colony, at which point Britain decided in 1765 to set up a colony on the other side of the island, with both sides unaware of the other. I could go on, but I've already covered four nations that discovered the island before the Spanish did. Just saying....
Oh, and the name "Malvinas" Comes from the French name of "Iles Malouines". Kind of weird that the Spanish would choose to adopt a French name for the islands they discovered, don't you think?
The people from Argentina that were put on the island in the LATE 1820's were stepping on soil that was already British claimed.
Your government is twisting the truth and brainwashing your nation on this matter to take attention away from domestic issues.
If the Argentines claim to be the legitimate owners of the Falklands and that Britain is acting as a colonial power, then they should probably start by giving up their own country to the Incas and the other populations their ancestors played a huge part in exterminating. They should also stop claiming large sections of Antarctica.
In the 1830s, Patagonia was hardly inhabited - and the part that was first inhabited was by Welsh settlers with permission of the United Provinces in the Chubut region. The Falklands were a good thousand miles away from Argentine settlements...
To be honest guys having done 2 tours there it better be worth it for the oil. Because the Islands are a barren shit hole covered by sheep, penguins and the shit they both leave behind.
I would take my hat off to anyone who actually wanted to live there. The ONLY reason we have poured 100's of millions of GBP into that whore of a place is for the oil.
There's a principal too!
The people don't want to be just handed over to the Argentine oppressors. It's all about allowing people to be free.
Josh,
I don't deny that the current people there have wants and/or rights but Britain is the last place to be talking principals. We (government) only have them when we get something out of it.
Having seen what I've seen in my life (most of it war related or terrorist) the only pride I have left is in Scotland and even at that we have a long road ahead.
good article