Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's Falklands letter is a desperate ploy But do Argentines care about the Falklands, South Georgia and what is termed Argentine Antarctic Territory? If you were to ask the man or woman on the street in Buenos Aires you might well hear the answer "yes," if the question was a straightforward one such as: should Argentina enjoy sovereignty over the Falklands? But if you were to ask what are the most important issues confronting their country, my guess is that most would answer corruption, inflation and poverty. It was, after all, only two months ago that the press were reporting noisy protests (called Scacerolazo) and looting in major Argentine cities. While largely peaceful, the protests were a powerful reminder that all is not well in the country. The incomes and livelihoods of its middle classes have been severely damaged. President Kirchner is committed to the "recovery" of the Falklands. She and her late husband, Nestor, made the issue personal. She is the self-styled Presidenta Malvinera and is determined to make major progress on this project. Militarily incapable of threatening Britain and its presence on the Falklands, she has tried to co-opt Latin American neighbours such as Brazil or Chile (without managing to get them to do anything terribly hostile against Britain or the islanders), harass the Falkland Islands community (through disruption to its tourism) and pressurise the international community to take an active interest in the issue. But Argentina remains a country that is reluctant to confront its own colonial past. Then there are more recent issues to be faced, such as the violence associated with the military regimes of the 1970s. There are still people to be brought to trial: last month, Jaime Smart, a former interior minister, became the first civilian to be convicted for crimes against humanity. Falkland Islanders, among others, learnt about the kidnappings, tortures and murders of the "Dirty War" via the BBC World Service. A growing number of young and highly educated Argentines would rather have a social and economic future worth savouring than one to flee from. And the country faces the prospect of further economic uncertainty and possible expulsion from the IMF for failing to provide sufficiently robust economic data. Worse still, despite attempts to undermine the Falklands community, the prospect of oil and gas exploitation must surely raise the possibility of an increasingly self-sustaining British overseas territory. The open letter to David Cameron is actually a sign of weakness, and I suspect desperation, on Argentina's part. President Kirchner is attempting to amend the constitution to allow her to stand for an unprecedented third presidential term - but even if she succeeds, she is not going to "recover" the Falklands. Klaus Dodds is professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London and editor of 'The Geographical Journal