The main pub in Stanley, Falkland Islands. Photo: Flickr user WoolieDales

With just over 3,000 inhabitants, this small island archipelago in the South Atlantic recently made it back into the headlines, as Argentina and the U.K. dispute sovereignty issues surrounding oil exploration by a British firm.

Known in English as the Falkland Islands and in Spanish as Las Malvinas, we want to look at why this little-known place brought two influential nations to war in 1982 — a conflict that now threatens to reignite.

Martin Savidge hosts Juanita Brock and Professor Maria Victoria Murillo to discuss:

• Falklands history: 1982 war, Argentinian claims, British control
• Current dispute: Nationalism, oil resources, trade relations
• U.S./Big Picture: Hillary’s visit, Latin American diplomacy, American intervention

GUESTS:

Maria Victoria Murillo is a professor of Latin American politics at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She has done fieldwork in Argentina, Chile and Venezuela.

Juanita Brock is bureau chief for the Falkland Islands News Network, which is a part of the South Atlantic Remote Territories Media Association. She resides in Stanley, the capital city.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producer: Ben Piven

An RBS branch in England. Photo: ITN

In the U.K., the Royal Bank of Scotland has become the leading symbol of the country’s banking crisis.

RBS announced more big losses this week yet still found room to award its employees almost $2.5 billion in bonuses. That has sparked a good deal of outrage.

The bank’s rationale for the bonuses is similar to what many U.S. banks have said to justify big payouts.

Are the bailed-out U.S. and U.K. banks irresponsible for paying such big bonuses while still holding such a tight squeeze on credit?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

A report this week from a former senior C.I.A. official warns that al-Qaeda is being patient but has not abandoned its goal of carrying out another major attack on the U.S. — with a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon.

For more, Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

(View full post to see video)

The man who allegedly tried to blow up a U.S. jetliner on Christmas day spent several years studying in Britain.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was president of the at University College London’s Islamic Society — which has been under scrutiny in recent weeks.

Nadim Baba of Al Jazeera English reports from the university and interviews students who knew Abdulmutallab.

The ceiling of the York Minister Gothic cathedral in northern England. Photo: Flickr user NickGarrod

An Anglican parish priest in northern England, Rev. Tim Jones, has caused quite a stir.

Jones suggested in a sermon on Sunday that it is permissible for people facing tough times to shoplift from large national stores.

On the Church of England website for the Diocese of York, Archdeacon Richard Seed rejected the priest’s call to break the law.

Do you agree with Reverend Tim Jones’ comments about shoplifting in desperate situations?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

In light of the highly-publicized murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman in Germany, Gustin discusses Muslim immigration in France, Germany and the United Kingdom with Daljit Dhaliwal.

A mostly Bidoon slum outside Kuwait City.

Bidoon literally means “without” in Arabic and refers to a group of Bedouin, formerly nomadic Arabs, who are perceived as socially and culturally inferior to the dominant “merchant” tribes of the Gulf States. Around 100,000 Bidoons reside in Kuwait, and many also live in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

As competition for unskilled jobs has increased over the past few decades, the Kuwaiti government began a campaign to strip Bidoons of their rights. Many worked on oil rigs but have since lost many of their jobs to South Asian migrant workers.

Most are legally unable to attain jobs, own property or register a car.

As opposed to some other countries such as Bangladesh (where statelessness is also a problem), in Kuwait there are very limited legal means to change nationality and registration. The state simply does not entertain complaints about legal status.

Ashraf (whose real name we don’t use) is a Kuwaiti Bidoon who was born in Kuwait, just like his father and grandfather. Yet, he has neither marriage contract, access to formal employment, nor birth certificate for his child.

He resides in a slum in al-Jahra, 35 kilometers outside of Kuwait City. Historically, there was a wall around the main urban area of Kuwait City to keep out lower status social groups.

Ashraf talks with Worldfocus about how he traveled to the U.K. to seek better employment opportunities but was subsequently deported.

Worldfocus: How does statelessness affect you?

Ashraf: I don’t have any rights in Kuwait. First, I don’t have a job. If I want to look for a new job, employers say, “No, you can’t work because your ID card is just for six months.” I must go renew it every six months.

I don’t have a marriage certificate. My son hasn’t a birth certificate, ID card or any other proof of his existence. Also, medicine for Bidoons is not free. How can I get money for it when we are not allowed jobs?

Worldfocus: How has your situation gotten worse over the past decade — in terms of employment and housing?

Ashraf: I am now almost 28-years-old, and I feel miserable. I worked in co-operative society, and they did not give me my salary for three months. After one year, they fired me from the job and did not give me my final paycheck.

My salary was 150 Kuwaiti dinars ($524), and my flat rent is 100 dinars ($349). This means just 50 dinars ($175) for my wife, son and myself for many months.

I can’t make any legal case because the employer has Kuwaiti nationality, and I am stateless.

Worldfocus: Do you fault the Kuwaiti government agencies for your statelessness problem?

Ashraf: The government agencies are the first reason for the problem of stateless people. And the second reason is some of the members of the Kuwaiti parliament. Third, some Muslim clergy are at fault.

At the Executive Committee of the Illegal Residents, they wanted to put me down for Iraqi nationality on my marriage certificate. I took it up with the research and investigation office. Then I asked why they had put down Iraqi nationality. And I requested that they give me proof — because I wanted to go to the Iraqi embassy to get an Iraqi passport.

The clerk there said that it was up to me if I wanted to take it. Then I said to him that I wanted Israeli nationality because they’re better than Kuwait, and they grant all rights to Israeli people. He then told me to get out of there.

Worldfocus: What are you currently doing to resolve your statelessness situation? Have you sought the help of NGOs, media, or friends?

Ashraf: It is very hard to resolve this problem from Kuwait. Maybe it’s easier from America, the U.K., France or another foreign country to solve the stateless problem. I was in the U.K. to claim asylum, but they refused me because they said, “You have all your rights in Kuwait.” I asked them, “If I have all my rights, then why did I come to the U.K.?”

As for the Kuwaiti media, they’re just lies for us. And Kuwaiti NGOs - I’ve never tried working with them.

I want people to stand with us opposite the Kuwaiti Embassy in the U.K. to stop the injustice. Let’s solve this problem which has lasted for more than forty years.

Geoff Porter, the head of Middle Eastern and African affairs for the Eurasia Group, examines the extent to which the business relationship between the U.K. and Libya influenced the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber. Porter lists other factors that brought about the release, how the prosecution potentially mishandled the evidence and the damaged image of the U.K. and Libya.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Himel looks at how Protestants and Catholics are coming together in the classroom.

Watch another signature story from Northern Ireland: “Wounds still left open from Northern Ireland’s conflict”

For more background on the conflict, listen to our online radio show on violence in Northern Ireland.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Himel reports on how a decade of peace has not ended the pain for many families whose loved ones were murdered or vanished.  

The attack threatened the province’s fragile coalition government of Protestants and Catholics.The killings have caused so much concern that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a visit to the base today.

Niall O’Dowd, the founder of IrishCentral.com and the Irish America magazine, was active in the 1990s working out a ceasefire with the IRA and joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Real IRA’s background and their impact on the peace agreement.