Argentina and Britain have endured a spat over the Falkland Islands since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The resentment from Argentinians has only increased with the discovery of the potential of oil in the region.

Matthew Omolesky explores the history of this bickering in his article “Behind a Quilt of Mist,” and explains the origins of Argentina’s psychological “longing for dominion over the South Atlantic archipelago variously called the Îles Malouines, the Islas Malvinas, and, in the English tongue, the Falkland Islands.”

From its origins in the 18th century up to the present day, the idea of Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands has yet to be killed off.

By all appearances, that day is dropping into eventide, though to British eyes the Falklands Islands are still visible in the midst of their Atlantic quilt of mist. And to the rest of the world’s occasional bewilderment, that “too famous” archipelago figures to remain, in symbolic and strategic terms, a coveted southern pearl, an early indicator of Britain’s geopolitical decline or resurgence, and a haunting manifestation of very real Argentine hopes and fears, misdirected or otherwise.

Read more: http://m.spectator.org/169477/show/1f89ab0aad3e7ae937274d6720c3395d/