Jumat, 04 Mei 2012

The Argentine video: Unsophisticated, Unmanly, Unacceptable

The Argentine video: Unsophisticated, Unmanly, Unacceptable

By Allan Mallinson

PUBLISHED: 14:21 EST, 4 May 2012 | UPDATED: 17:26 EST, 4 May 2012

In 1806, as Napoleon re-drew the map of Rhineland Germany, Prussian army cadets marched to the French embassy in Berlin and ostentatiously sharpened their swords on the steps of the ambassador’s residence.

They were young and green, and fired up, no doubt, by the rhetoric of their seniors.

Indeed, their colonel, watching, is supposed to have said: “I regret our brave Prussians are armed with sabres when all they need are cudgels to chase off these French dogs.”

Unsophisticated? Certainly, but it was a long time ago.

'An absolute insult': Argentine Olympic hopeful Fernando Zylberberg is seen running 'step-ups' over the steps of the British Great War Memorial in the Falkland Islands

'An absolute insult': Argentine Olympic hopeful Fernando Zylberberg is seen running 'step-ups' over the steps of the British Great War Memorial in the Falkland Islands

The Argentinian “athlete” â€" hockey player â€" Fernando Zylberberg (poor chap: what a name) who sharpened his running shoes on the Port Stanley War Memorial is a pale imitation of those Prussian cadets, who did at least go and fight afterwards, but I’m not inclined to dismiss his antics as merely juvenile. The whole affair, orchestrated by President Christina Kirchner’s government, is unsophisticated, unmanly and unacceptable.

Besides, it reveals a callousness towards the war dead that betrays a fundamental lack of respect for human life â€" the hallmark of the junta that killed so many of its own young men in the Falklands, as wells as ours, and disposed of countless dissidents at home.

Ironically, President Kirchner’s late husband, President Nestor Kirchner, was notable for bringing many of those responsible to book.

The video is not an isolated crudity. The new Argentine ambassador to Britain, Alicia Castro, set aside the usual diplomatic decencies earlier this week when she launched into the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, as he spoke at the FCO’s annual world review of human rights at Lancaster House:

“Seeing that the United Nations and the international community and a large group of Nobel Prize winners urge both countries to (start) negotiations in order to find a pacific and permanent resolution, my question is: Are you ready for dialogue? Are we going to give peace a chance?"

Interesting. There’s been peace for thirty years, and Britiain is not, so far as I know, planning to initiate military action against Argentina. So why is there doubt that peace might not continue?

This is pure sabre rattling â€" and the Argentinians’ sabres are very rusty indeed.

Mrs Kirchner is manifestly not up to the job. Her Bismarckian approach to di plomacy is both risible and dangerous: dangerous because, being internationally laughed at increasingly for her lack of sophistication, she might just do something lunatic and end up getting more of her countrymen killed.

There are some fine men in the Argentine armed forces â€" there always were â€" and they deserve better than to be treated in this way, their forfeit lives the stake in her vain and desperate politicking.

Indeed, I suspect they are appalled by the treatment of the war memorial.

Dramatic pause: After the first caption fades out, the most incendiary comment follows: 'We are training on Argentine soil'

Dramatic pause: After the first caption fades out, the most incendiary comment follows: 'We are training on Argentine soil'

The video is unacceptable, and I hope we are using the proper diplomatic channels to say so. We might even get to the stage where we say “Enough!” â€" and ask the EU to impose sanctions.

Besides, it is unfair to the other members of the no-doubt splendid Argentine hockey team who will now almost certainly be booed on their big day in London. Who knows; perhaps the whole team will get a frosty reception.

And it’s no good saying “let’s keep politics out of sport”: President Kirchner has already put it firmly in.

You do not dishonour men who have given their lives for their country â€" of any nationality. We sent some twerp called Charlie Gilmour to prison not long ago for swinging from the Union Flag on the Cenotaph. That is how seriously we take the debt of honour.

President Kirchner: be warned, and grow up.

 

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