Some Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the War in the South Atlantic : Interview with Boris F. Martynov, Dr. of Sc. (Political Sciences), Professor, Head of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of Russia, MGIMO University. Interviewed by A. A. Eremin

Abstract

The 40th anniversary of the British-Argentinian war in the South Atlantic is a proper time to speak about some unresolved regional questions. One of them is how are the results of that far-off conflict connected with the present-day realities? To answer it, we turned to a renowned specialist in the region of Latin America, Boris Fedorovich Martynov. His profound regional expertise and extensive academic background helped to establish some logical connections that explain unobvious links between the Malvinas war of 1982 and today’s regional troubles. According to Professor Martynov, it was then that the “solidarity” between the United States and Britain first manifested itself so openly, outlining the true position and priority (or the lack of it) for Latin American countries in the so-called “Western” world. In the course of the interview we came to the conclusion that the present state of international relations doesn’t allow to expect much as for a peaceful resolution of this conflict between Argentina and UK in short or medium term. At the same time, there remains some hope of growing solidarity of the Latin American countries with the Argentinian case, which could provide the country with an opportunity to reshape the current balance of power in the long run. This interview suggests that the crisis in the South Atlantic has had a significant impact on the current state of world politics and international law.

Keywords

• anglo-argentinian conflict
• soviet-argentinian relations
• soviet foreign policy
• us foreign policy
• latin american nationalism
• security in the south atlantic
• principles of international law
• principles of conflict resolution