The long-standing dispute over the Falkland Islands heated up this week, with both Britain and Argentina calling in each other’s ambassadors for a dressing-down, and Argentina commenced legal action against companies seeking to explore for oil near the Islands that Buenos Aires calls Las Mavinas.

Argentina summoned UK Ambassador John Freeman to answer questions regarding alleged spying.  The investigative news website The Intercept reported on documents smuggled out of the US by whistleblower Edward Snowden, which said Britain conducted an electronic spying program on Argentina from 2006 to 2011.  The operation reportedly included implanting computer viruses and circulating false information to discredit Argentina's claim on the Falkland Islands.

A day earlier, The UK Foreign Office summed the Argentine ambassador after learning Buenos Aires was threatening against oil firms operating near the Falkland Islands.  Last week, two British firms – Premier Oil and Falkland Oil and Gas – said they discovered oil and gas at a well off the south Atlantic islands, 300 miles from Argentina and 8,000 miles from London.  It’s their first discovery in a nine-month drilling campaign.

The discovery of oil has raised the stakes over control of the Southern Atlantic archipelago more than 30 years after Argentina and the UK fought a war over the islands.  Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez called the oil announcement “almost provocative”, and Argentina has now launched charges against three UK companies.