Argentina’s new President Javier Milei has caused upset on his stance on the British territory of the Falkland Islands, saying it is time to “get them back”.
Despite this, British PM Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said on Tuesday that the Government would continue to “proactively defend the Falkland Islanders right to self-determination".
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston CBE joined Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello on GB News’ Breakfast to discuss Milei’s comments and whether Argentina poses a threat to the UK.
“Well, it's very much the case of same old, same old really,” said Weston. “Every new leader that comes into Argentina says the same thing.”
The new President of Argentina has vowed to take the Falklands Islands back, sparking pushback from UK officials.Getty/PA“The Argentinians and the politicians that have got to realise that their corruption and denying the military, their military of any funding to keep improving, to keep upgrading has degraded their ability to do anything.
“So saying he's not going to go and do any military action is pretty much a misleading thing because they couldn't anyway.
“They don't have an Air Force, they got about four serviceable fighter aircraft and their army and their Navy is very much downgraded.
“It’s a bit like Russia and Ukraine really. Russia robbed all the money out of their Ministry of Defence and the Argentinians did the same thing because they didn't want to have another junta. They didn't want to have a military come in and kick all the corrupt politicians out, so ending their gravy train.
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Javier Milei (left) and falklands war veteran Simon Weston CBE (right)
Reuters / GB News
“But the stable rattling is very unsettling for the Islanders and that's the biggest problem and and they have to live with this continuous threat that the Argentine and the bigger country is is going on about.
“But their claim, there's no credence whatsoever. You know, they say they occupied the islands. Well, they were never kicked out. There was never a war to kick them out apart from when they illegally invaded.
“You know, the British have been there for over 250 years before Argentina was ever a country. So how can they lay claim to it?”
Earlier this year, the Argentinian President said during a live TV election debate: “What do I propose? Argentina's sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands is non-negotiable. The Malvinas are Argentine!”
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston joined Eamonn and Ellie to discuss Britain's future in the region
GB News
Eamonn asked about Britain’s response to these comments, saying: “You talked about the decrepit military force that the Argentinians have, but what about the British presence in the Falklands now? Have we upped our game there?”
“Well, we certainly have better aircraft than they've got. We certainly have better trained pilots at the moment than they've got. And we certainly have a larger force than we had back in ’82.
“So for them to come across with antiquated ships that really couldn't stand up to the one ship we have down there - they certainly couldn't withstand the force of the six or eight fighter jets that we have based down there.
“And with the 1,500 to 2,000 soldiers we've got down there, I think they would have a much more difficult time of trying to invade than they did back in '82. And we have greater systems now as well as spy satellites and such like to know when they launch anything.”