I pointed this out earlier. The 1982 war is pretty much agreed upon as being the junta's way of distracting attention away from the situation back home. They expected that following the invasion they'd be able to force the UK into talks and thereby give themselves a huge patriotic victory at very little cost.
Unfortunately they completely miscalculated what the British response would be and didn't expect a declaration of war followed by a British task fleet to almost immediately start sailing south. Ironically their attempt to hold onto power actually made their fall from it much more likely.
So now Argentina is in a economic crisis and what happens? Well it's not a military response this time but I really suspect that the real reason behind this being brought up again isn't actually that different.
Well, calling it a crisis is going too far. The main problem with our economy is inflation. The rest is doing fine (it could do better, but it's fine). Inflation is still under control, but we have bad memories about it. That's why I said I'm being a bit pessimistic.
The main objection about the Kirchners is political. People dislike their methods. Peronist behaviour, adapted of course to the 21st century.
They are, however, political geniuses. They are not going to begin a war, especially when everyone opposes to one and know it's lost before the first shot. But a small diplomatic conflict can distract the population and prove beneficial to regain the votes of those old school hypernationalists. If, along the way, they reaffirm the claims, well, that won't hurt them either.
Your politicians surely know this. The fact they are giving this such undeserved importance is indicative they don't mind to use this political smokescreen too.
