STARK CONTRAST:

US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute (Giles Whittell and James Bone, 2/24/10, Times of London)

Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falklands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London and Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Despite Britain’s close military alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue. [...]

Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.