Argentina launches bid to join forces with NATO: Chainsaw-wielding President Milei continues his pivot towards the West – but remains defiant over the Falkland Islands

Argentina today launched a bid to join forces with NATO as a “global partner” – as President Javier Milei continues to push for stronger ties with the West.

Firebrand Milei has been accused of playing ‘two different games’ as the famously unpredictable leader recently promised to draw up a diplomatic ‘road map’ towards Britain that would involve handing over the Falkland Islands.

The controversial issue was raised during a meeting between Milei and British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron in January, with the pair saying “they would agree to disagree, and do so politely,” according to the Foreign Office Affairs.

As the Argentine government tries to improve relations with the US and its allies, it announced on Tuesday it would buy 24 US-made F-16 fighter jets from Denmark, a deal backed by Washington.

Today, Argentina’s Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri met with NATO’s Deputy Secretary General to submit the country’s formal request to join the security alliance’s list of ‘partners around the world’ .

German and British soldiers move tanks and armored vehicles via the Vistula River during NATO exercise Dragon-24, part of the large-scale exercise Steadfast Defender-24

The famously unpredictable leader recently promised to draw up a diplomatic ‘road map’ towards the British transfer of the territory. He is pictured brandishing a chainsaw as he campaigns for president in September

Petri met with Mircea Geoană in Brussels, who wrote about X: ‘It is a great pleasure to welcome Minister of Defense Petri to NATO Headquarters.

“Argentina plays an important role in Latin America, and I welcome today’s request to explore becoming a NATO partner.

‘NATO works with a range of countries around the world to promote peace and stability. Closer political and practical cooperation could benefit us both.”

According to NATO, global partners work together with alliance members, for example by sharing intelligence and participating in military operations.

NATO’s current global partners include Australia, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. As it stands now, Colombia is the only South American country that cooperates with NATO.

It comes as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that Ukraine had an “urgent, critical need for more air defence” as he attended a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy.

While NATO allies’ recent pledges of military support had been “encouraging”, he said: “We should have given them more sooner.”

“Ninety-nine percent of military support to Ukraine comes from NATO Allies, and it is critical that NATO Allies maintain and expand their support,” the Secretary General added.

During a meeting with NATO officials, Petri reportedly discussed Argentina’s continued support for Ukraine. President Zelensky is a supporter of Milei and attended his inauguration in December, calling it “a new beginning for Argentina.”

Argentine Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri met with NATO’s Deputy Secretary General

Meanwhile, Milei’s rhetoric on the Falkland Islands has remained strong throughout his presidency.

At a recent ceremony marking the 42nd anniversary of the start of the conflict between Argentina and Britain, he told the audience: “I want to reiterate our unwavering claim to the islands.”

Ian Shields OBE, a retired RAF officer who served in the war and is now an academic, told Express.co.uk that stoking emotions over the Falklands “fits well with a nationalist, right-wing agenda and also distracts people from domestic economic problems.”

President Zelensky attended Milei’s inauguration in December, calling it ‘a new beginning for Argentina’

Perhaps surprisingly, Milei is a self-confessed Anglophile, having admitted in the past that he was a fan of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.

He previously said that when, as an 11-year-old, he criticized the Argentine military junta’s invasion of the islands in 1982, his father beat him for being unpatriotic.

However, during his presidential campaign, Milei insisted that Britain’s return of the Falkland Islands was “non-negotiable”, adding that the area, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, is Argentinian.

He stopped short of saying he would go to war against them, instead comparing it to Britain handing Hong Kong back to China.

The Falklands were the subject of a brief but brutal war after Argentina invaded in 1982, killing 649 Argentinians and 255 British soldiers.

Britain repelled the invaders after sending a naval armada, but the issue was never considered resolved in Buenos Aires.

Argentina still claims the islands, while Britain says the Falklands are a self-governing entity under its protection. A referendum in 2013 resulted in a 99.8 percent vote to remain British.