News of James Neilson

James Neilson

Former editor of the Buenos Aires Herald (1979-1986).

A president without money to spend

02-12-2023 09:56 For any government, whether populist, neoliberal, Trotskyite or flat-earthist, catering to the pressing needs of the millions of people who are on welfare would remain a huge problem.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Javier Milei has a steep mountain to climb

25-11-2023 14:25 Is a “change of mentality” taking place? We should soon know the answer to that particular question – much will depend on how people react to the hard times that are barrelling towards us.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Who is the scarier?

17-11-2023 00:27 Seeing that from the very beginning whoever wins will be forced to take measures that make life even more difficult for many who voted for him, he could become very unpopular indeed well before he has settled in.

by James Neilson

As I see it

What Israel is up against

10-11-2023 14:42 While there can be no doubt that on October 7 the Israelis let their guard slip, the complacency many had evidently come to feel now belongs to the past.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Mauricio Macri’s takeover bid

04-11-2023 05:36 Why did Mauricio Macri decide to throw in his lot with a certifiable nutcase? One reason is his contempt for Massa. Another, presumably the main one, is his belief that he can take advantage of Milei.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The chameleon versus the dog-man

28-10-2023 04:14 On Sunday, much of the electorate let Bullrich and her backers know that the last thing it wanted was a dose of realism, no matter how small, and sent her packing.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Judgement Day finally arrives

20-10-2023 05:11 Nobody has much idea as to which of the three main contenders will come first or second, but all conceivable outcomes look likely to make a terrible situation even worse.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Wars of religion are far from over

14-10-2023 05:24 When faced by an utterly ruthless movement, half-measures that allow a battered enemy to recover from his wounds and strike again can be worse than useless. This is the dilemma facing Israel today.

by James Neilson

as i see it

Corruption as a way of life

07-10-2023 06:55 In Argentina, there are thousands of men and women who, like Martín Insaurralde, have grown accustomed to milking the country’s political institutions.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Swamp creatures have Milei surrounded

30-09-2023 05:50 Like Trump, Milei owes his success to his apparent determination to “drain the swamp.” Many of these slimy creatures, aware of the danger he posed, soon began crawling towards him in search of refuge. He is now surrounded by them.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Who will wield the chainsaw?

23-09-2023 05:00 The marked reluctance of Peronist and Radical politicians to countenance anything that smacks of austerity has not made many Argentines better off. On the contrary, it is the main reason living standards for most have declined.

by James Neilson

As I see it

An election campaign like no other

16-09-2023 05:42 As far as Sergio Massa is concerned, the short term is all that matters. He takes it for granted that, once in office, he will be able to do whatever it takes to repair the damage.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The wild ride of Javier Milei

09-09-2023 05:40 After having given the world such “iconic” political novelties as Evita Perón and Che Guevara, Argentina has come up with another: Javier Milei.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A sense of impending doom

02-09-2023 06:17 There are plenty of reasons to feel gloomy about the prospects facing not just the West but also the available alternatives.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The real campaign is about to start

19-08-2023 08:14 Attractive as letting Milei take a wrecking ball to the established order may be, it would probably be better for most if someone a bit less eccentric took charge.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Electioneering has become a way of life

11-08-2023 07:20 For most of the rest of the year almost all politicians are preoccupied with electioneering than with anything else even though the country is cart-wheeling towards a monumental disaster.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The great squeeze is already underway

06-08-2023 19:13 When money is in short supply, even the most talented politicians soon find themselves in trouble.

by James Neilson

Argentines crave certainty, the feeling that for them personally at least the future will be more or less as expected, but with few exceptions they are aware that big changes are in the offing even though nobody can say what they will look like.

As I see it

Presidential candidates remain neck-and-neck

28-07-2023 21:09 If the coming crunch is as painful as some predict, will it be enough to make the entrenched political elite decide that the time has come for whoever is in power to apply policies that have worked well enough elsewhere?

by James Neilson

For such people, even a 'universal basic income', as some prominent individuals are proposing, would not be much of a solution.

As I see it

Hard times coming for the common man

28-07-2023 19:18 If the people warning us about the dangers posed by the sudden arrival of Artificial Intelligence are right, the situation is about to get much worse.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Zigzagging on the way to the top

15-07-2023 06:58 Were Massa to overcome the odds stacked against him and win the forthcoming election, he would be most unlikely to let himself be bossed around by Cristina or anyone else.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Getting from here to there

08-07-2023 06:55 All four serious presidential hopefuls strike financiers and businessmen as “right-wingers” who are properly determined to put an end to populist folly. For believers in free enterprise, it is a welcome development.

by James Neilson

As I see it

How to give autocracy a bad name

30-06-2023 10:30 Just what is happening in Russia is anyone’s guess. Most accredited experts seem to be as flummoxed as everyone else. Did Prigozhin come near to setting off a new civil war or was there never any real danger?

by James Neilson

As I see it

Next in line for the chopping block

23-06-2023 01:01 It is not necessary to be a pessimist to assume that whoever emerges from the hectic pre-electoral scrum as Argentina’s next president will soon find himself, or herself, in very deep trouble.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Prospects for demagogues look bright

17-06-2023 06:58 When people come to the conclusion that they simply cannot trust run-of-the-mill democratic politicians to do anything that might make their lives easier because they are in cahoots with the rich, they will turn to populists who at least appear to share their way of thinking.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The fading lure of consensus politics

10-06-2023 06:28 It would be better for everyone, apart from the gung-ho Kirchnerites, if the leaders of Juntos por el Cambio were to make an effort to show that, despite their differences, they still have much in common.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Let them eat abstractions

03-06-2023 06:03 Alberto’s successor had better come up with some appealing slogans and as exciting a narrative as those deployed by his tyrannical friends.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Things from cyberspace

27-05-2023 06:47 As well as having nightmares about what would happen to us were a self-programming AI machine to free itself from human control, researchers fear they could be providing evil humans with tools which, like nuclear bombs, would make it easier for them to cause great harm.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The queen bee is leaving the hive

20-05-2023 07:00 Unfortunately for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and for the movement that sprung up around her, almost all her acolytes are minor figures, as are most of her allies.

by James Neilson

As I see it

On planet K, the rule of law is undemocratic

13-05-2023 08:41 The attempt to impeach the four members of the Supreme Court is going nowhere, and the government’s predictably furious reaction is unlikely to enhance its image either here or in the rest of the world.

by James Neilson

As I see it

When nobody believes in anything much

06-05-2023 06:25 There is nothing much worth fighting for is proving to be a major problem in all developed countries.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Waiting to step into Alberto’s shoes

29-04-2023 05:14 No matter who wins the electoral contest that is getting underway, he or she will face the dilemmas that Alberto refused to confront.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Cartwheeling towards chaos

22-04-2023 06:45 A programme of government based on nothing more than contempt, whether deserved or not, for almost everything that already exists would be most unlikely to make life better for the country’s inhabitants.

by James Neilson

As I see it

And we all fall down

15-04-2023 06:28 Unless Argentina gets a genuine government before the year is out, there will be nothing left standing between her and what could be a truly cataclysmic disaster.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Politicians playing with fire

08-04-2023 06:29 Much of the population is in a very angry mood. Unless the authorities do more to deter criminals, many more politicians could get roughed up whenever they venture into unfriendly territory.

by James Neilson

As I see it

What now for Mauricio Macri?

31-03-2023 14:08 Now that Macri has made public his decision to sit out the next presidential elections, his friends, enemies and the many whose opinions about him are mixed are asking what he intends to do in the coming months and years.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Make way for the climate bomb

25-03-2023 05:09 Although most agree that global warming is a genuine problem, they are unwilling to impoverish themselves in an attempt to solve it.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A crack-up waiting to happen

18-03-2023 03:53 A few days ago, the official annual inflation rate topped 100%. No doubt it will continue to rise; since slowing it down would require a large amount of political will, a commodity which these days is in short supply in official circles.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Alberto hints he is on a secret mission

11-03-2023 06:12 Alberto has made no significant attempt to extricate himself from the trap he had cheerfully walked into. But it would seem that, with elections approaching, he has finally undestands that Cristina will never forgive him.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Buenos Aires City in the cross hairs yet again

04-03-2023 06:00 By fuelling resentment and pitting against the rest of the population the porteños, the president and vice-president hope to distract attention from their own failings.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Putin and the culture wars

25-02-2023 08:05 By forcing people to consider the possibility that the world is a far tougher place than the hypersensitive wanted others to believe, Putin has moved the intellectual centre of gravity rightwards.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The great balloon scare

18-02-2023 06:50 All significant countries spy on one another, so it is hardly surprising that the Chinese dictatorship is busily collecting data about the US and the rest of the world, though it is a bit strange that it would use such a primitive device.

by James Neilson

The eight individuals accused of murdering Fernando Báez Sosa in January 2020 are pictured in court.

As I see it

Crime, punishment and the law

11-02-2023 07:00 Few will shed many tears over what awaits the eight hooligans who killed Fernando Báez Sosa, but the trial, conducted as it was before a vociferous audience of millions, leaves a bad taste behind.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The French are at it again

04-02-2023 06:50 The time when a reasonable degree of economic equality seemed to be within reach now belongs to the past.

by James Neilson

Chaotic universe: Argentina' political solar system.

As I see it

On Planet K, inflation is all in the mind

28-01-2023 00:33 To bring things under control, Alberto’s government would have to slow down the printing presses and greatly reduce public spending, measures that, needless to say, it refuses to contemplate.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The intractable migrant problem

14-01-2023 06:17 While a stalwart minority continues to insist that all comers with a legitimate claim should be allowed in and taken care of, in most places doubts about the wisdom of clinging to what in effect is an open-borders policy are now shared by a rapidly growing majority of their compatriots.

by James Neilson

Celebrations marking the World Cup win at the Plaza de Mayo.

As I see it

After a brief moment of togetherness

23-12-2022 15:26 Politicians and their associates have yet to make out what the reaction to winning the World Cup means for them. If only they could be fêted with such adulation!

by James Neilson

As I see it

A short spell in an alternative universe

17-12-2022 03:00 Whatever else Argentina may be, unlike her football team, she is not a meritocracy.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Cristina’s reign is almost over

10-12-2022 05:50 It is perfectly feasible that, before too long, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s once imposing political capital will dwindle almost to vanishing point, as did Carlos Menem’s 20 years ago.

by James Neilson

Vialidad: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Diego Luciani.

As I see it

The law finally catches up with Cristina

03-12-2022 05:43 Like much of the rest of the country, Cristina takes it for granted that the law is a weapon the powerful are entitled to use to defend their own interests and punish their foes. This makes what is happening even more painful for her than would otherwise be the case.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The place of progressives in a capitalistic world

26-11-2022 06:47 If Argentina’s experience is anything to go by, fiscal laxity when the going gets tough can have ugly consequences.

by James Neilson