Yesterday's Guardian offered a nice roundup of history of the Anglo-Argentine Malvinas/Falklands dispute recently disinterred by Los K upon the arrival of petroleum rigs in the islands (oil sure would make those islands--whether or not you think they're populated by ovejeros tarados--very valuable). I've been there and written about the islands and it never ceases to impress how such a tiny and largely godforsaken series of rocks can fire up tensions between the two countries. You can never know what if, but you can't stop being amazed at the sheer stupidity of the Argentine dictatorship's Wag the Dog decision to invade to prop up the failed Galtieri regime. Maybe the islands wouldn't be Argentine today if they hadn't, but they might be on the way, a la the Hong Kong of the South Atlantic. With the invasion, and especially if they do find oil, I don't see them ever becoming Argentine (or returning to Argentina, depending on your view).

[Thanks for the headsup to Jim Danky]