By Reg Green
England v. Argentina again!
Memories of the Falkland Islands war come flooding back from 1982 when Argentina invaded the bare, windswept, daunting islands that have scarcely changed since the 19th century when they were colonized by a few hundred Welsh sheepherders and are still British Overseas Territories.
The war, which embittered both sides, reminded Jorge Luis Borges of the ancient Roman story of two bald men fighting over a comb.
4 Responses
I hate to come across as a contrarian but I’m afraid the Romans overstated their case. A comb can be sold — and so is worth fighting for, whether one is bald or not…
As to the sympathies for the parties — I, again, hate to say it but I would take Milei over Starmer any time of the day. But this is mere sports — so, as they used to say in less political times, “let the stronger team win!”
Lev, How about the two countries’ leaders at the time: General Galtieri, the military dictator v. Mrs.Thatcher?
Funny you asked, Mr. Green. At the time, I was a student in a Soviet engineering school (not that anything come out of it!) — and during a “political information” session (it must sound to you like an item straight out of “1984” but those were indeed mandatory, called “politinformatsia” in Russian) I ventured to make a snide remark in defense of UK (the official Soviet position was that Argentina was liberating its land). This did not go too well with the “politinformator” — who was just another student, but luckily he was not an “informer” and nothing terribly terrible happened to me. Just proves that at 17 I was a fool. And, I am sorry to admit, continue to be so to this day…
But oh well…
Mr. Tsitrin (since you insist on formality) Yes, I too am glad I asked, otherwise I would not have known of this creditable incident. But then iconoclasm, right or wrong, always does take courage.