AND THAT REMINDS ME… Most hate it hot 04-02-2023 06:53 It is a chronic Argentine vice to expect everything from the government and then heap all the blame on them – climate change awareness needs to start from the bottom up. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Oktoberfest in January 27-01-2023 10:59 With German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in town this coming week, the Teutonic presence in Argentina seems as good a topic for today’s column as any. by Michael Soltys
INTERVIEW Threading the labyrinth 20-01-2023 13:05 E2, EB-1A, O-1, EB-2… heart-wrenching as leaving homeland and family can be, the decision to go can be arguably the easier part. Immigration lawyer Tyler Allen details the difficulties for Argentines wishing to move to the United States. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Grande irmão 14-01-2023 06:58 Lula might have rallied a hostile Congress, the Supreme Court and most people behind him in outrage against last Sunday’s barbarous assault but nobody wins. by Michael Soltys
2022: THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2022 – That was the year that was 31-12-2022 06:00 War in Ukraine, Alberto on tour, dwindling reserves, another IMF deal; Máximo walks, Guzmán quits, Batakis comes and goes even quicker, Sergio Massa turns ‘super’; Protests, Precios Justos, picketers and a presidential newborn; A national census, a mysterious Venezuelan plane, Mercosur tensions and Coldplay breaking records at River; Controversy at the 'hidden lake,' new grandchildren, CFK convicted and almost assassinated and – just to round it off – a World Cup win in Qatar... just another year in Argentina. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… The Cup runneth over 23-12-2022 15:16 Over and above singling out Messi, Martínez and Di María, this trophy is a triumph of teamwork, not a one-man show. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Dry rot or drought rout 17-12-2022 05:32 Argentina’s numerous crises are invariably a fertile field for extended analysis by pundits and economists but this columnist would argue that in many cases the causes can be reduced to a single word – drought. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… The 39 steps 10-12-2022 04:45 Raúl Alfonsín’s election victory and inauguration gave most people every impression of a fresh start even if a Radical party then nearing its centenary could hardly be described as a new force. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Hebe de Bonafini, 1928-2022 26-11-2022 06:44 The traumas of 1977, when Hebe de Bonafini lost both her sons, were the turning-point in her life, taking her from complete obscurity to a place in Argentine history and even the world spotlight. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… (World Cup edition) Forecasts are always messy 19-11-2022 06:50 The main barrier facing Qatar, and many others, is the overwhelming Euro-American monopoly of this event – not only all 21 World Cups until now (nine on this side of the Atlantic) but 163 of the 168 quarter-finalists since 1930. by Michael Soltys
COMMUNITY Remembrance Day marked by Anglo-Argentine community 18-11-2022 00:20 Remembrance Day, aka Poppy Day in Britain at least, was memorably marked at both the British Cemetery on the day itself (Friday, November 11) and at St. John’s Anglican Church the following Sunday. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Midthermometers 11-11-2022 12:13 There has long been talk of polarised politics but perhaps a new PPP – polarised political parity, not public-private partnership – is the message from the elections of the last few weeks. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… A fireworks summit 05-11-2022 06:14 There is a strong case for presenting that Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata exactly 17 years ago today and the surrounding anniversaries as the true birth of Kirchnerism. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Ah, but Macri… 29-10-2022 06:00 My first interaction with Mauricio Macri started off on the wrong foot but, far more importantly, I would argue that he started off on the wrong foot. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… 1985, the year behind the film 22-10-2022 06:33 Since a moving picture can also be worth a thousand words, this week's column will leave the trial to the film and instead try to fill out the context of that year 1985. by Michael Soltys
COMMUNITY Oxford & Cambridge dinner returns 20-10-2022 08:51 After a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Oxford & Cambridge Annual Dinner will be returning next month. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Changing horses in midstream 15-10-2022 06:26 With the exits of Gómez Alcorta and Moroni in the first half of this month, President Fernández has now parted company with fully three-quarters of his original 20-strong Cabinet. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… “Present, my General” – or the past? 07-10-2022 16:03 In formal and institutional terms there can be no doubt that Peronism is still alive – not only does it account for the current national government but at least 15 of the 23 provincial governors are Peronists of one kind or another. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… The boys from Brazil 30-09-2022 14:43 The press never tires of reminding us of Bolsonaro’s appalling record with the coronavirus pandemic and Amazon deforestation among other disasters, but the rightist runs into terminal problems even accepting his own premises. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me... Another UN (General Assembly) bites the dust 24-09-2022 07:26 President Alberto Fernández's maiden live performance at the UN General Assembly caused more of a splash here than in New York and on the basis of a domestic rather than international issue. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… The King and I 16-09-2022 02:50 With seven decades of preparation, Charles knows his way around the world and its leaders and stands to be as professional as mother – green only in his environmental passions. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Fake news and the real thing 10-09-2022 02:57 Just as the trial of the junta dictators served as a catalyst to unify a newly democratic society, so the shock of the assassination attempt could have been a golden opportunity to consign polarisation to the past. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Thick as BRICS 03-09-2022 15:41 If the question of why Argentina should wish to join BRICS is extremely valid, so is the question of why BRICS should want to have us. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Underlining the vice in vice-president 27-08-2022 00:01 The difference here is that while Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is effectively being charged with past misdoings during her presidency like Carlos Menem before her or Macri now, she still holds executive office. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Far away and long ago 19-08-2022 17:34 William Henry Hudson should not only be seen as a chronicler of the past or even a man of his times – he should also be considered a prophetic pioneer of ecology and the environmental concerns which have become so dominant in these times of climate change. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… From Batgirl to Superman? 12-08-2022 10:54 Massa’s rise has relegated President Alberto Fernández to a distant third in the ruling troika where Cristina Fernández de Kirchner retains full veto powers even when abstaining from calling the shots. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me A trail of two (big) chitties 15-07-2022 13:00 Throughout most of this century Argentina has sought to make a virtue out of necessity by demonising debt so that if that was ever a virtue, it has become a deadly vice – the options to an inflationary expansion of the money supply are few and far between. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… From Gooseman to Batgirl? 09-07-2022 07:30 Recommended to President Fernández as having “the necessary dose of heterodoxy and the indispensable dose of orthodoxy,” Guzmán was eventually found wanting on both counts with the latter front more fatal. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Crisis, more than a middle name 02-07-2022 07:00 Few keywords have been more constant throughout my 34 years of newsroom experience than “crisis.” by Michael Soltys
DIPLOMACY Ambassador talks up common ground at Canada Day event 01-07-2022 10:35 Canadian Ambassador to Argentina Reid Sirrs hosts reception marking Canada Day. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Stick it to the pickets? 25-06-2022 00:01 The standard critique of the picket movement as a public nuisance is wholly valid but it is also incomplete. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Economic questions 18-06-2022 08:15 There is a massive sale of risk financial assets on a global scale, not just Argentine bonds (even if more unattractive than most). by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… The near in blood, the nearer bloody 09-06-2022 23:06 No economic policy in Argentina seems as dangerous as its total subordination to politics – which is what has happened with Matías Kulfas. by Michael Soltys
JOURNALISM Three for one and one for all 09-06-2022 01:09 Argentina’s National Press Academy awards Pluma de Honor prizes to Robert Cox, Elisabetta Piqué and Daniel Enz. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Could Bogotá become Petrograd? 03-06-2022 11:01 Argentina’s past might herald Colombia’s present, which might in turn offer clues for our future. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Not getting the hang of it 28-05-2022 01:00 The Kirchnerite wing of the Frente de Todos coalition has come to the final conclusion that the “war on inflation” is irreversibly lost, leading to a refusal to have any official of its kidney attached to that failure. by Michael Soltys
BOOK REVIEW The English (non-indicted) witness 21-05-2022 06:00 El Testigo Inglés, Luces y sombras del Buenos Aires Herald (1876-2017), by Sebastián Lacunza; Paidós, 2021, 632 pages. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… The maybes of May 14-05-2022 00:01 Today’s anniversary is nowhere in the current agenda with plenty of issues to absorb our attention, yet stopping to recall the Menem years would not go amiss. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me Javier Milei: Might right make right? 07-05-2022 00:01 Some local pollsters and overseas media already tip Javier Milei as a presidential dark horse, but does his support extend beyond an echo chamber for anti-system politics? by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me Supreme Courts are caught, not tort 29-04-2022 17:03 Phobias against independent justice are far from being a uniquely Kirchnerite vice. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Windfalls or smokescreens? 23-04-2022 00:01 In proposing to milk any commodity price bonanza arising from the Ukraine war without offering anything to recoup losses, the government is blatantly applying a “heads I win, tails you lose” logic. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me No omelette from Easter eggs 16-04-2022 00:02 The most memorable Easter would undoubtedly be 1987 – rocked by Aldo Rico’s Campo de Mayo carapintada Army mutiny. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… A demonised demon 08-04-2022 23:25 Vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic were discovered within a year but antibodies against inflation are still being sought after almost eight decades. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… A small war you do not miss 01-04-2022 19:31 Strictly speaking, the 1982 war does not warrant inclusion in this series of columns relating current topics to newsroom memories but hopefully today’s special anniversary allows me to cheat. by Michael Soltys
AND THAT REMINDS ME… Foreign to the Ministry 25-03-2022 11:48 Caf is to international relations what decaf is to coffee. by Michael Soltys
TERROR ATTACK Call for justice renewed on 30th anniversary of Israeli Embassy bombing 18-03-2022 21:09 Israeli authorities again point finger at Iran and Hezbollah, three decades on from the 1992 bombing of Embassy that killed 29 people. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… We remember thee, Zion 18-03-2022 21:04 The phrase “shock horror” might belong to the cheapest style of tabloid headline writing, yet 30 years on from the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, I find no better way of describing my reaction. by Michael Soltys
IRISH CULTURE Emerald Isle meets the Silver River 11-03-2022 10:57 Book review: Irlanda y la Argentina del siglo XX: Diplomacia, diáspora, Iglesia Católica, derechos humanos y la guerra de Malvinas; by Dermot Keogh. by Michael Soltys
And that reminds me… Chronicles of a horror retold 12-02-2022 09:47 Never attempting to share the fame won by her husband Robert Cox as the Buenos Aires Herald editor defending human rights against the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, Maud Daverio de Cox has forged her own career as an author. by Michael Soltys