Obama Calls Falklands Malvinas - Well, He Tried to

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9207183/Barack-Obama-makes-Falklands-gaffe-by-calling-Malvinas-the-Maldives.html

In demonstrations both of his staunch support for our British allies and his impeccable knowledge of geography, Obama referred to the Falkland Islands as the Malvinas.

Well, he didn't quite use the Argentine name for the Falklands. What he actually said was "Maldives". The Maldives are on the other side of the world. Now, I can hear the chorus of his supporters jumping in to defend the highly intelligent, high-IQ having, smart (Did I forget anything) President they admire like a 17 year-old High School girl may admire the Varsity Quarterback from her school. They will say “The Malvinas and Maldives are not that different in the way they are pronounced” or, "He was just trying to say it in manner that would be understood by the attendees of the Summit". Firstly, the names of the two different places are pronounced quite differently. Even if you are speaking in English, the Malvinas winds up being pronounced very closely to the manner in which it rolls off the Spanish-speaking Tongue - Mahl - veen-ahs. The Maldives are pronounced Mal- Deevs. Not even close. Thirdly, please do not pretend to be under the impression that educated people in Latin American are not aware of the British (And world’s) name for the islands. In addition to that, if he wanted the Spanish-speakers to understand, then maybe he should have taken a few practice swings with pronouncing the name.

As noted in the post which is linked below, Argentina has been back on the 'reclaim the Falklands/Malvinas wagon' for some time. Leftist President Cristiana Kirchner had tried to get the topic put on the agenda of the Cartagena Summit but failed in her efforts, in part due to the vetoes exercised by the US and Canada.

True to form for a Leftist, Kirchner also recently nationalized the oil company YPF, which in majority-owned by the Spanish Repsol Corporation:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9714000/9714254.stm

Back to our Obamian move and the resulting gaffe, (They are related but not the same thing - other Obamian moves are still stupid but are not accidents), in short, the man is an embarrassment. I am not going to go into an historical discourse on the history of the political control of the Falklands; you can read it briefly on the post below or look it up elsewhere. The facts of the matter are these; Britain has controlled the Falklands, (Without any real military conquest) since before the US civil war, Argentina made no real issue about the islands until the early 80's, and the inhabitants are all English speakers and British by culture. Obama is fully aware that, by intending to go with the Argentine name, he is attempting to lend credibility to Argentina’s claim. Now, in truth, the last thing you want for your cause, if you desire that it have any credibility, is for Obama to speak in favor of it. A statement of support from Obama puts your cause, by association, in a junk pile with a whole lot of other foolish, false, or plainly wrong positions.

Argentina, not having any interest in the place until oil reserves were believed to be in the area, invaded the islands without warning in 1982. The British retook the islands after a sometimes ferocious (At sea - on land the Argentine soldiers were not equipped well, nor did they show much interest in fighting) but brief war. At some point, Argentina needs to realize that national borders are what they are. We can’t go about renegotiating who controls what on every parcel of land in the world. Fernandez' weak accusation of British "colonialism" does not work - Argentina too is every bit the creation of Spanish colonization. I also have not been made aware of any plans for the Argentines to start giving the country back to the indigenous of the region.

I have tried to think of a US President whose lack of knowledge of the world, the US, or any other subject of which a head of State should be at least familiar, comes within a thousand miles as that of Obama. He does not know anything.

Not only does he insult our British allies (Again**) by trying to use the Argentine name for the islands, he can't even do that right. The man, aside from a Leftist-controlled primary school curriculum devoid (Thanks to other Leftists) of any appreciable information and what he gleaned from his Law and Critical Race Theory classes in college, knows about as much of the world and its history as I do about the Hadron Particle Collider. Not only that, but he seems to be perfectly fine with this.

As I noted in an earlier post, his qualities are those of a peasant who is ruled by a clannish hatred.
http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2011/11/obama-and-return-of-winston-churchill.html


I generally avoid posting about Obamian gaffes as they are just not news. It's like saying that is it hot and sunny in Phoenix Arizona:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/45996


Lastly, this link has two videos of Obama and his gaffes. The second video of the Gates of Vienna link is made by Danes. Even I could not believe the statements that he makes to foreign leaders. No matter which Head of State is sitting next to him. Obama tells him or her the same thing. Recall the old line "I'll bet you say that to all the girls". Over and over, he utilizes the boxing phrase of "punching above one's weight" to indicate that a smaller nation exercises more influence than can be expected of a nation of that size. After those, we are privileged to find out how many "best or most important allies" that we have. It is quite a long list

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2012/04/double-vision-more-of-same.html

OK, one more link. This one is classic "Newspeak". It is a site dedicated to supporting Obama but, strangely, also about getting the facts straight about Obama.  The name of the site is "Truth Team".
I would think that, if one wanted to support Obama, the last thing that the supporter would want is to make sure that people knew the facts.

....Newspeak is upon us.

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team

It is sad that the most generous thing that one can say about Obama is that he is "in over his head".


Cristina Kirchner, the Argentine president, has renewed her country's sovereignty claim to the Falklands in the build-up to the 30th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the islands, which triggered the Falklands War, on April 2.

She has accused David Cameron of maintaining a "colonial enclave" in the South Atlantic and taken Argentina's claim to the UN.

But Mrs Kirchner left the summit – attended by North, South and Central American nations – earlier than expected last night as Colombian press reported she was unhappy that a declaration of support for the Argentine claim to the British-controlled territory was not included in the summit's final document, which went unsigned after the USA and Canada used their vetoes.

Mrs Kirchner, to whom the Mercosur trade-bloc and the Union of South American Nations had previously confirmed their support in the diplomatic dispute over the islands, was seeking further backing from the Americas.

During the summit, she said Cartagena was an ideal place to talk about the Falklands since the wall that surrounds the city's historic centre was built by the Spanish crown to protect it from "English pirates".

Mrs Kirchner also reprimanded Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president, for failing to mention the islands in his speech.

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2012/01/britain-possibly-without-aircraft.html