Las Malvinas son Argentinas (Donbass is Ukraine)

Geopolitics and history often suggest that we consult the timeline of the past, to understand how it is possible that certain "absurd" facts happen and re-propose "black" facts, which seem to be replicated with carbon paper at a distance of forty ' years.

I am referring to the armed conflict between Argentina and Great Britain better known as the "Falklands War" which broke out in 1982 in the Antarctic region south of the Atlantic Ocean: the goal of the dispute, 200 semi-desert islets whipped by the cold wind of the Sur, inhabited by three thousand English and some sheep 2,000 km away from the Argentine coast.

The invasion by the armed troops of the then Argentine military regime led by gen. Leopoldo Gualtieri served to distract public attention from the profound economic crisis (which led the country to a large-scale civil dispute), and to ignite nationalistic sentiment, trusting in an operation, according to his "quick and easy", to claim the Malvinas sovereignty (Falkland).

Not having made the calculations with Margaret Tatcher, who did not think for a moment to send British troops with the support of the whole West to liberate that cold and remote region, Argentina lost the war in only seventy-two days and immediately after the dictatorship of the South American state he capitulated, exposing all the evil and wickedness perpetrated to his own people, including the thousands of dissidents of which no one knew anything anymore. Incredible how Argentina left internationally alone that time could only count on the aid of some Latin American country without great weight, and instead, unique case, there was the unexpected support of the USSR which, despite being sworn enemies, saw that time the Communists ally with a right-wing regime.

Now we are dealing with another war, but if one day I had to go to Kiev or Donbass, I would not be surprised to photograph a monument similar to this portrait in Rio Grande on the coast of Tierra del Fuego Argentina, 520 km away from the Falklands, with the difference that instead of the word "Las Malvinas son Argentinas", I would probably read "The Donbass is Ukraine", with a golden writing in Cyrillic.


© Luca Periotto 2022
NP April 2022