President Kirchner at the UN

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of the Republic of Argentina, used much of her speech at the UN on 24 September to attack the creditors that are still holding out for full payment of Argentina’s debt, despite the fact that Argentina is in default and has been summoned to explain why they should not be held in contempt of the US court trying to adjudicate the issue. She even took a swipe at Germany for taking a strong line against her handling of Argentina’s debt crisis in the IMF.
 
But she also criticised the UK for using its position on the UN Security Council to block attempts at negotiation over the Falkland Islands and argued that only reform of the UN to remove the veto of the five permanent members of the Security Council would allow progress to be made towards Argentine sovereignty. She also raised the usual falsehood that the UK has militarised the South Atlantic when, of course, the small UK military presence on the islands is there merely to deter any future attempt to repeat the Argentine invasion of 1982 (or other form of armed aggression).
 
Happily, Argentina’s membership of the UN Security Council comes to an end on 31 December 2014, after one more time in the rotating presidency during October.