Sean Penn Accuses UK Of 'Intimidating' Argentina Over Falkland Islands

Sean Penn Steps Up Attack On Britain

Sean Penn has ramped up his criticism of Britain's behaviour over the Falkland Islands, accusing the UK of sending a "message of pre-emptive intimidation" to Argentina.

The Hollywood star writes in the Guardian that his support for Argentina's claim to the Islands "is not a cause of leftist flamboyance nor significantly a centuries-old literary dispute. But rather a modern one, that is perhaps unveiled most legitimately through the raconteurism of Patagonian fishermen."

He adds: "It is difficult to imagine that there is no correlation between the likely discovery of offshore oil reserves and the message of pre-emptive intimidation being sent by the UK to Argentina."

The actor ends his piece with the simple phrase: "God save the Queen."

However his intervention did not go down well with twitter users, with journalist Suzanne Moore joking:

And MP Denis MacShane said the article was "beyond parody"

Journalist Ian Birrell asked:

Earlier this month Penn launched a tirade against British "colonialism" as the dispute between Argentina and Britain over the sovereignty of the islands deepened.

Penn said the deployment of Prince William to the islands as a search and rescue pilot was "unthinkable" and that dialogue was the only way to solve the dispute.

The Commons defence committee recently confirmed MPs would make a trip to the Islands later this year.

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