When Argentina sent a military garrison and, in 1829, appointed a governor, both the U.S. and Britain took it as an act of aggression. Daniel Hannan, one of the leading strategists of the Brexit campaign and director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has warned in the Washington Examiner that a change in the US position on the Falklands would put the Atlantic alliance at risk. His column responds to one by economists Walter E. Block and Ege Fakkusoglu defending Argentina’s claim to the archipelago.
The debate has gained ground on the American right since Trump said on August 31 that Washington could reconsider its position on the islands’ sovereignty. In a later interview with GB News, he sidestepped whether the US would help Britain in a new conflict over the territory, and said he reviews every position.
US administrations have stayed neutral on the competing Argentine and British claims while recognizing Britain’s de facto administration. US Ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas has said that policy is unchanged.
The alliance at stake
Hannan, a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2020 and a member of the House of Lords, describes a steady erosion of the Western alliance. He recalls that Britain, Canada and Denmark joined the US in Afghanistan after 9/11 without having been attacked themselves. Since then, he notes, Canada has faced a tariff war and Denmark threats to annex part of its territory. “A switch in the U.S. position would destroy the Atlantic alliance,” he wrote.
According to the author, Trump’s doubts unleashed a wave of pro-Argentine commentary among US conservatives. He contrasts this with 1982, when the Reagan administration sided with London after the Argentine invasion. That year, the Senate voted 79-1, with Republican Jesse Helms the lone dissenter, for a pro-British resolution sponsored by then-Senator Joe Biden.
The Block-Fakkusoglu argument
The original column is titled “Sorry, Britain, the Falkland Islanders are just 190-year-old squatters.” Block is an economics professor at Loyola University New Orleans, and Fakkusoglu is a researcher focused on the Austrian School. The authors argue that Britain took the archipelago by force in 1833 and expelled the small settlement living there. In their view, the passage of time does not turn that occupation into valid title. “A seized parcel does not become res nullius again,” they wrote, drawing on John Locke’s theory of original appropriation.
The historical rebuttal
Hannan counters that Britain never accepted the Spanish claim from which Argentina’s derives. In his account:
- In the 1760s, France and Britain founded settlements within a short time of each other.
- Spain later bought out the French rights.
- Both powers eventually withdrew, each leaving a plaque asserting its title.
He adds that Washington and London regarded the dispatch of an Argentine garrison and the appointment of a governor in 1829 as aggression. He also says the US warship USS Lexington dismantled the colony in 1831, and that in 1833 HMS Clio removed the garrison without a fight.
For the columnist, however, the decisive argument is self-determination. If 190 years of settlement confer no rights, he contends, much of today’s map would be invalid, including US sovereignty over Texas, Kansas or Colorado. In the 2013 referendum, 99.8% of voters backed British sovereignty on a 92% turnout.
Milei and Israel
Hannan says he knows Javier Milei personally. He recalled that, before taking office, the Argentine president argued the country should win over the islands’ residents with a more successful economy. He also argued that successive Argentine governments, going back to Juan Perón, have used the cause to divert attention from economic failures.
He also sharply criticized Israeli politicians who have backed Argentina’s claim. Among them is National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who urged his government to recognize the islands as occupied Argentine territory.
Argentina maintains that it inherited sovereignty from Spain and that Britain has illegally occupied the islands since 1833. Following Trump’s remarks, Downing Street insisted that Britain would not yield sovereignty over the archipelago.