camberiu
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As I spend my first day in Buenos Aires, I see all this non-stop national commotion about the Falklands/Malvinas War. As a foreigner, I will never see this conflict the same way the Argentinians do, but I thought it might be interesting to share an outsider point of view with you guys.
I was 8 years old and living in Brasilia when the news of the war first broke out. I clearly remember the feeling of absolute disbelief from my parents and all the adults around me as the evening news broadcast announced the invasion of the islands. Over the next couple of months, myself and the rest of Brazil were transfixed watching the war play out on our backyard. Completely new words such as frigates, destroyers, mirage, exorcet, harrier, skyhawk, vulcan became part of our vocabulary.
Many Brazilians had mixed feeling about the war. The vast majority of Brazilians sympathized with the Argentinian cause, even though they questioned the wisdom of the war. However, many also hoped for the Argentinian defeat. They knew that if Argentina lost the war, the military junta would collapse. They figured that if the Argentinian military government collapsed, the fall of the Brazilians military government would follow shortly after. This is indeed what ended up happening. So, in many ways Argentinia's defeat on the falklands/malvinas helped expedite the return of democracy in Brazil.
I recall a few years after the war, an interview with a formar officer of the Brazilian military intelligence was published. His comments about the war were fascinating. Back in the early 80s, Brazil and Argentina were going through a mini-cold war and arms race for the regional leadership of South America. The Brazilian military had Argentina tagged as its most likely opponent on any future conflict. Therefore they would conduct extensive military analysis and simulations of what-if scenarios in order to try to project possible scenarios and outcomes likely outcomes of a conflict between Brazil and Argentina. According tot his officer, the Brazilian military, after years of study and evaluations had concluded that an military clash between our two countries would end up as a draw. The Argentinians military had better training and more modern equipment. However Brazil benefitted from much larger number of troops, a stronger and more disperse industrial base and more resources to sustain a prolonged conflict. They concluded that these factors would cancel each other out and any conflict between the two countries would be inconclusive.
However, when Argentina decided to go to war against the UK, the Brazilian military concluded that they either had greatly underestimated the Argentinian military capabilities, or the Argentinian generals were batshit crazy and suicidal. As history has it, it turned out that the Argentinian generals were indeed batshit crazy and hundreds of Argentinian troops paid with their lives for their folly.
It has been 30 years and I still don't have an opinion of to whom the island should belong to. However, I do feel hat the Argentinian government does use the falklands/malvinas issue as political fodder, to distract the population from the many serious issues that current plague this country. And it never ceases to amaze to see so many otherwise highly intelligent, critical and well educated Argentinians fall for such a crude and basic political trick.
I was 8 years old and living in Brasilia when the news of the war first broke out. I clearly remember the feeling of absolute disbelief from my parents and all the adults around me as the evening news broadcast announced the invasion of the islands. Over the next couple of months, myself and the rest of Brazil were transfixed watching the war play out on our backyard. Completely new words such as frigates, destroyers, mirage, exorcet, harrier, skyhawk, vulcan became part of our vocabulary.
Many Brazilians had mixed feeling about the war. The vast majority of Brazilians sympathized with the Argentinian cause, even though they questioned the wisdom of the war. However, many also hoped for the Argentinian defeat. They knew that if Argentina lost the war, the military junta would collapse. They figured that if the Argentinian military government collapsed, the fall of the Brazilians military government would follow shortly after. This is indeed what ended up happening. So, in many ways Argentinia's defeat on the falklands/malvinas helped expedite the return of democracy in Brazil.
I recall a few years after the war, an interview with a formar officer of the Brazilian military intelligence was published. His comments about the war were fascinating. Back in the early 80s, Brazil and Argentina were going through a mini-cold war and arms race for the regional leadership of South America. The Brazilian military had Argentina tagged as its most likely opponent on any future conflict. Therefore they would conduct extensive military analysis and simulations of what-if scenarios in order to try to project possible scenarios and outcomes likely outcomes of a conflict between Brazil and Argentina. According tot his officer, the Brazilian military, after years of study and evaluations had concluded that an military clash between our two countries would end up as a draw. The Argentinians military had better training and more modern equipment. However Brazil benefitted from much larger number of troops, a stronger and more disperse industrial base and more resources to sustain a prolonged conflict. They concluded that these factors would cancel each other out and any conflict between the two countries would be inconclusive.
However, when Argentina decided to go to war against the UK, the Brazilian military concluded that they either had greatly underestimated the Argentinian military capabilities, or the Argentinian generals were batshit crazy and suicidal. As history has it, it turned out that the Argentinian generals were indeed batshit crazy and hundreds of Argentinian troops paid with their lives for their folly.
It has been 30 years and I still don't have an opinion of to whom the island should belong to. However, I do feel hat the Argentinian government does use the falklands/malvinas issue as political fodder, to distract the population from the many serious issues that current plague this country. And it never ceases to amaze to see so many otherwise highly intelligent, critical and well educated Argentinians fall for such a crude and basic political trick.
