He said Argentina was an "incomplete country" as a result of the British claims on what his government calls the Malvinas in the South Atlantic.

"I don't think it will take another 20 years. I think that the world is going through a process of understanding more and more that this is a colonial issue, an issue of colonialism," he said. "We don't support the occupation of foreign lands, and the Malvinas case is the occupation of a foreign land."

Timerman rejected the notion that the Falklands Islanders have the right to decide their own destiny:

While Mr Timerman also vowed to respect the "rights" of the 3,000 residents of the islands, he dismissed the need for their consent to a transfer of sovereignty.

"I don't have to persuade them. The United Nations says there is a conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina. I don't have to persuade anybody. We have to apply international law and accept the resolutions; if not the UN becomes a body that is only useful when it backs the powerful," he said.

The word "delusional" springs to mind after reading Timerman’s remarks. There is no prospect of Argentina taking control of the Falklands in the next two decades, or even in the next hundred years for that matter. The Falklands will stay British for as long as the inhabitants of the Falklands wish to remain under the protection of the Crown – which is likely to be indefinitely.

It is abundantly clear from Timerman’s rant that his government has absolutely no respect for the wishes of the Falkland Islanders themselves. This is a crystal clear-cut case of self-determination and sovereignty, and the Falkland Islanders will go to the polls in a referendum on March 10 and 11 (which Kirchner refuses to recognise) to vote on whether the Islands should continue as a self-governing British Overseas Territory. Argentina has never had a legitimate claim to the Falklands. There has been a British presence on the Islands since 1690 when sailors first landed, with the first British settlement in 1765, and its inhabitants are overwhelmingly of British descent.

Timerman’s menacing language is a reminder of what Britain and the Falkland Islanders face – an increasingly belligerent and desperate Argentinian regime that is sinking at home in a sea of socialist misgovernment, even resorting this week to price controls in supermarkets against a backdrop of spiraling inflation. Cristina Kirchner has all the hallmarks of a populist bully, trying to silence her opponents domestically while attempting to intimidate a group of peaceful Islanders who live 1,200 miles away from the capital city of Argentina. Her aggression, however, will end in failure.

Mrs. Kirchner should be in no doubt of the resolve of the Falkland Islanders to stand up for their liberty, or the determination of Great Britain to confront and defeat any threat from Argentina. The bully of Buenos Aires may dream of her country’s flag flying again over Port Stanley, but it will never be a reality. She should understand that the spirit of freedom is always stronger than the heavy hand of a demagogue, a lesson some of her predecessors were forced to learn three decades ago.