Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Argentine President Javier Milei’s renewed push for the Falkland Islands, clashes between the Houthis and government forces in Yemen, and international airlines halting flights to Russia.

World Brief will be off on Monday, Sept. 7, for the U.S. holiday of Labor Day.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Argentine President Javier Milei’s renewed push for the Falkland Islands, clashes between the Houthis and government forces in Yemen, and international airlines halting flights to Russia.

World Brief will be off on Monday, Sept. 7, for the U.S. holiday of Labor Day.

 Falklands at the Forefront

In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Argentine President Javier Milei threatened to sanction companies drilling for oil near the Falkland Islands, a British-controlled territory that is also claimed by Argentina. Milei also announced new funding for a naval base in the country’s southernmost province, which would increase Buenos Aires’s military presence near the islands.

“Any further advance on the Malvinas Islands will be considered a violation of our national security,” Milei said, using the Argentine term for the archipelago.

The sanctions threat is aimed at halting development on the Sea Lion project, a deep-sea oil field operated by the U.K.’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum. The companies intend to start drilling in the next few months and begin pumping oil in 2028. Rockhopper said in a statement that it doesn’t expect Milei’s announcement to have a “material effect” on those plans.

U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting, meanwhile, affirmed Britain’s “absolute and unshakeable” commitment to the Falklands on social media. “The Falklands are British because Falkland Islanders choose to be British,” he said, referring to a 2013 referendum in which the islands’ residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining in the United Kingdom.

Britain has ruled the islands almost continuously since 1833. In 1982, the Falklands War erupted when Argentina seized the islands. The British military retook the territory after 74 days, but the dispute over the islands’ sovereignty remains contentious. When Argentina and England met on the soccer pitch during the World Cup this summer,........

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