News of buenos aires herald

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

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

Time is fast running out

12-11-2022 07:04 Argentina’s unhappy plight owes much to the ruling class’s strong adherence to the fixed-term political system which is enshrined in the Constitution.

by James Neilson

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

The search for something different

05-11-2022 06:00 For years now, the dissatisfied with this state of affairs have been looking for something different. Their ongoing search for new blood has had some startling results.

by James Neilson

Getting ready for hard times

29-10-2022 06:00 The long-predicted but frequently postponed crack-up seems to have arrived.

by James Neilson

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

Further down the slippery slope

22-10-2022 06:30 The coalition that Cristina assembled in order to beat Mauricio Macri is so fragile that important bits, among them the bellicose faction that answers to her, have swung into opposition.

by James Neilson

A paradigm shift is on the way

15-10-2022 06:29 To handle what is happening, governments make out that, after a period of belt-tightening that can be blamed on Putin, things will return to normal. Will they, or rather, can they?

by James Neilson

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

We certainly live in interesting times

08-10-2022 07:00 The way things are shaping up, the Russian Federation could soon find itself consigned alongside them to what Leon Trotsky called “the dustbin of history.”

by James Neilson

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

Giorgia fails the identity test

01-10-2022 07:00 Practitioners of identity politics want all members of a victim group to think the same way.

by James Neilson

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

The end game nears for Putin

23-09-2022 13:16 By now, Putin must know that his “special military operation” has been a humiliating failure and that prolonging it would be almost certain to make things even worse for him.

by James Neilson

Rumblings from below

17-09-2022 02:55 The botched attempt to assassinate Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has encouraged fears that Argentina could see the return of political violence.

by James Neilson

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…

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

The Donald and Cristina show

12-08-2022 11:12 While Trump could well benefit from that FBI “raid” on his garish residential complex in Florida, for Cristina the outlook is rather less promising.

by James Neilson

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

Devil take the hindmost

15-07-2022 13:00 In an age in which it is assumed that just about everything must change with the times or be thrown on the scrap heap, people who are unable to keep up risk getting swept aside.

by James Neilson

Drifting towards a black hole

09-07-2022 07:30 Hyperinflation looms; Argentina is flat broke, but the people who wield most political power think the only way to solve problems is to throw freshly-printed money at them.

by James Neilson

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

US soft power remains as potent as ever

02-07-2022 07:00 US progressives who support the Democrats wield more influence outside their country than do their conservative foes who tend to vote Republican, but these too have managed to export their attitudes.

by James Neilson

The Supreme Court has Cristina in its sights

25-06-2022 00:01 People are beginning to link the inability of the “political class” to run the country in a reasonably competent manner to the corrupt behaviour of some of its leading members.

by James Neilson

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

Politics in the age of resentment

18-06-2022 08:00 Argentina’s politicians realised they could turn widespread disgruntlement to their own advantage by encouraging it.

by James Neilson

Turning the world upside-down

11-06-2022 00:01 Reports from the culture-wars front certainly make strange reading.

by James Neilson

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

Collaborating with dictators

03-06-2022 11:03 Those who are interested in what Alberto says and does attribute his fondness for unsavoury dictators to his desire to placate the Kirchnerite wing of the ruling coalition.PG 11: Neilson

by James Neilson

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

Jobs for the boys in the patronage state

28-05-2022 00:50 As far as the Kirchnerites are concerned, a cat’s political colour is the only thing that really matters.

by James Neilson

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

What a Russian defeat could mean

21-05-2022 00:01 The Ukrainians are not the only ones who think Russia is heading for a historic defeat. Their opinion is shared by many in London and Washington.

by James Neilson

Who has the mandate of heaven?

14-05-2022 00:01 As well as objecting stridently to Alberto’s willingness to come to terms with the International Monetary Fund, Cristina and her supporters are trying to undermine what authority he has by insidiously questioning his government’s right to exist at all.

by James Neilson

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

A culture of irresponsibility

07-05-2022 00:02 Much as many dislike the idea, elected politicians have to take full responsibility for managing the country’s economy.

by James Neilson

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

The crystal balls are getting cloudier

30-04-2022 01:21 Not only Argentina but most other countries have to decide if it would be better for them to cultivate their relations with what could soon be the top superpower, or to assume that the US will recover from its self-inflicted internal woes.

by James Neilson

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