News of opinion

Coronavirus pandemic

Pandemic may give traditional media a new lease of life

30-03-2020 19:54 The coronavirus pandemic and the need for reliable information has triggered a surge in traditional mainstream media audiences.

AS I SEE IT

When togetherness is anti-social

28-03-2020 11:37 Life and the economy are intertwined. Without money, people starve. In an unpleasantly short time, desperation can breed violent anarchy.

by James Neilson

LIFE IN THE PANDEMIC

Alberto the anchorman

28-03-2020 11:25 With millions staying at home, watching television is now a national sport once again, and the president has turned himself into the anchorman of an anxious nation.

by Martín Gambarotta

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Science joins global hunt for vaccine

28-03-2020 10:48 The Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Ministry was created on the very first day of the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner presidency in 2007. In the ensuing eight years of that controversial regime, it is difficult to find any initiative of hers which commanded approval across so wide a spectrum.

by Michael Soltys

GUEST VOICE

This is much more than just a health pandemic

28-03-2020 08:47 We are facing not only a health epidemic but a new wave of structural poverty which especially hits the daily lives of the most vulnerable.

by Agustín Salvia

GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Coronavirus: poverty and ethics

28-03-2020 08:17 Assuming social distancing enforced through differing levels of quarantines is indeed the necessary initial response to the pandemic, how would one deal with the more than 320,000 households in a state of “critical overcrowding” in Argentina?

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Coronavirus Pandemic

Surveys show strong support for Fernández's handling of virus crisis

27-03-2020 15:26 Although economic concerns run high among the Argentine population, polling suggests most Argentines approve of Peronist leader's measures to mitigate the harms of Covid-19.

by Jennifer Heiman

As I see it

The world turned upside down

21-03-2020 10:28 How long can this cooperative mood, which reportedly prevails in most countries, last?

by James Neilson

GLOBAL CRISIS

Coronavirus outbreak could be an opportunity for Alberto Fernández

21-03-2020 09:26 Fernández and his Cabinet had only one tangible mission upon taking power: renegotiating Argentina’s massive debt pile in terms that would give the economy time to “get back on its feet.”

by Agustino Fontevecchia

LIFE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Few certainties in a pandemic that touches all of us

21-03-2020 08:52 Life in the time of coronavirus will take some getting used to. An inelegant attempt to make sense of the incomprehensible.

by James Grainger

BOLIVIAN POLITICAL CRISIS

Morales protégé, Luis Arce, leads in polls head of Bolivian election

16-03-2020 22:32 The candidate of ex-president Evo Morales' MAS party, Luis Arce, has a commanding lead in opinion polls ahead of the May 3 presidential election in Bolivia

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

The oil shock of 2020 appears to be here – and the pain could be wide and deep

16-03-2020 10:53 The world is again undergoing an oil shock. This is a big deal, not only for the global economy, but for geopolitics, the future of transport and efforts to mitigate climate change.

AS I SEE IT

The human herd stalked by a virus

14-03-2020 10:19 So far, Argentina has been relatively free of infection from this particular virus, but Alberto Fernández’s government has decided to join the rest of the world and take suitably stringent measures.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Growth put on the backburner

29-02-2020 11:33 When in opposition, Peronists and others with broadly similar points of view like to pretend that the country is several times richer than the available data would suggest.

by James Neilson

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Education, pay talks and class struggle

29-02-2020 11:28 The prospect of classes starting almost everywhere this Monday and last Wednesday’s return of national collective bargaining to the chronic problem of teacher pay for the first time since 2017 are ample reason to make education the choice for today’s “Ministry Positions” column.

by Michael Soltys

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Guzmán’s long March

29-02-2020 08:56 Argentina’s president is trying to sort out the country’s debt problems politically. Still, in the end, it will all be about money – the success of the ‘gently does it’ approach hinges on the bondholders accepting a considerable haircut.

by Martín Gambarotta

As I see it

Political unprisoners

23-02-2020 16:53 The notion that some people are entitled to remain above the law is shared, or regarded as unimportant, by such a large proportion of the electorate that disabusing it seems well-nigh impossible.

by James Neilson

ARGENTINE FOOTBALL

Man City’s ban sparks dreams of prodigal sons

23-02-2020 16:41 UEFA bombshell greeted with glee in Argentina, but calm down, the top stars are not returning home anytime soon.

by Dan Edwards

THE IMF AND ARGENTINA

With the IMF on our side...

22-02-2020 12:57 The bondholders still don’t know what kind of a haircut they will be asked to suffer but Guzmán is trying to meet a March 31 deadline. A long next month lies ahead.

by Martín Gambarotta

GUEST VOICE

China and Argentina’s marriage of convenience

22-02-2020 11:12 Research shows that Argentina has entrenched its historic role as a raw material exporter, with little respect for environmental norms.

OPINION

IMF, Argentina re-engage in crucial test of resolve

22-02-2020 10:19 Here are seven things to know at the beginning of what is likely to be a protracted, loud and knotty process.

BLOOMBERG: OPINION

Argentina’s government needs to speak with one voice on debt

21-02-2020 08:38 Before Argentina can come up with a solid economic plan, it needs a credible political pact. That takes a government which speaks with one voice, mutes the palace incendiaries and treats debt and economic recovery not as a passion play but as part of a national business plan.

by Mac Margolis

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Transport taken off the fast track

15-02-2020 11:29 As a Radical backed by one of the last entries into the Frente de Todos coalition, Mario Meoni seems to lack the political momentum to make any footprint, while the fiscal pressures from the debt crisis dominating the agenda are already making themselves felt.

by Michael Soltys

AS I SEE IT

Groundhog Day all over again

15-02-2020 11:17 Argentina’s many economic problems have less to do with greedy speculators, whether local or foreign, than with the corporatist model Juan Domingo Perón consolidated almost three-quarters of a century ago.

by James Neilson

CORRUPTION

Selective amnesia, ‘lawfare’ and ‘political prisoners’

15-02-2020 09:47 What was originally a small headache is escalating to migraine status for President Fernández. Internal fissures between the fringe fanatical Kirchnerites and more moderate Peronists has reached the top levels of governments

by Agustino Fontevecchia

AS I SEE IT

China at war with the coronavirus

08-02-2020 12:43 If winning prestige in other quarters was what the people in Peking were after, they are likely to remain disappointed.

by James Neilson

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

All is not quiet on the debt restructuring front

08-02-2020 10:15 Debt is Argentina’s disease. President Alberto Fernández, a Peronist, has said that the nation is now in “intensive care” treatment for its debt addiction. The president has also likened trying to restructure Argentina’s mammoth debt to playing poker with the good fellas. You try pulling a convincing poker face while in intensive care without your cards falling to the ground.

by Martín Gambarotta

TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN

A true Middle East peace plan, or terms of surrender?

01-02-2020 09:59 Too many people view the conflict in terms of ideological dreams and agendas, paying little heed to the real needs of people on the ground, Israeli and Palestinian alike.

AS I SEE IT

Farewell to the EU, but not to Europe

01-02-2020 09:54 The decidedly conciliatory mood prevailing in the European Parliament, may have had something to do with the fact that, while Brexit has had a deleterious effect on British political life, its economic impact has so far been less damaging than predicted.

by James Neilson

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Public works, private pockets...

01-02-2020 09:23 The revival of a Public Works Ministry after almost three decades suggest a direct defiance of the accumulation of court corruption cases during the Macri years.

by Michael Soltys

CONTRADICTIONS

Pictures speak louder than words

01-02-2020 08:57 Peronists have made an art of posing at asados, sipping on some mate, and generally looking merry, in order to indicate to their followers that they are getting things done.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Eight weeks that will settle the next four years

01-02-2020 08:50 Argentina’s leadership finds common ground when it seems to be too late, arguably without noticing that crisis arrives after an earlier lack of accord, guided by automatic bickering.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

The long and winding debt

01-02-2020 08:40 Despite the constant chestthumping in the media, the warring factions united to approve Guzmán’s bill. At least the minister now has a card in his pocket that he can show the world whenever he feels like it.

by Martín Gambarotta

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Back to the (Western) World

25-01-2020 11:34 At policy level the administration is seeking to cultivate ties with the US on the issues that Trump White House most cares about.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

MINISTRY POSITIONS

The politics of security

25-01-2020 11:28 Curiously enough, ever since the ministry’s birth in late 2010, Argentina’s “top cop” has always been a woman apart from six months.

by Michael Soltys

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

A little less conversation, a little more action please

25-01-2020 11:01 The connective strings of the Albertista narrative up until now have relied on two major concepts: blame Macri and the neoliberal gorrillas, and “Peronist optimism.”

by Agustino Fontevecchia

AS I SEE IT

The joys of pessimism

25-01-2020 10:32 Would a socialist world order make things any better? To judge from the experience which was so generously provided by the Soviet Union before its demise, it would be sure to make them a great deal worse.

by James Neilson

GUEST VOICE

Honour the dead and attend to the living

25-01-2020 10:09 It is impossible to think that Man could submit one of its own kind to such an experience as the Holocaust.

by Ariel Gelblung

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Boy, you’re going to carry that debt a long time

25-01-2020 10:04 Keeping calm and carrying on when you owe the world billions is all very well, but the markets tend to get hysterical when financial deadlines near. At some point, Martín Guzmán will have to make an offer.

by Martín Gambarotta

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Will Alberto bring Francis back home?

18-01-2020 12:40 The Pope wields considerable influence over many local leaders, most notably on social movements who represent the unemployed and are connected with grassroots Catholic priests.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Alberto installs a double-hinged Cabinet

18-01-2020 10:57 A political science graduate, politics has been his entire life apart from brief stints in legal and banking work plus an unsuccessful book-shop venture. For Santiago Cafiero, life now begins at 40.

by Michael Soltys

NEW ERA

Hello default my old friend

18-01-2020 10:28 Kicillof has set the stage. But soon Alberto Fernández and Guzmán will be the leading actors. Or is this just Kicillof’s play?

by Martín Gambarotta

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Building a centre by sheer force of word

04-01-2020 09:23 A president should craft his words carefully and use them with conscious moderation, knowing that any word that comes out of a head of state’s mouth is virtually seen as policy.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

USA vs. IRAN

Eli Lake: Trump sends a deadly message to Iran’s regime

04-01-2020 08:58 For 40 years US presidents have pondered a fundamental question about Iran, best summed up by Henry Kissinger: is it a country or a cause? On Thursday evening, Donald Trump gave his answer.

POLITICS & LABOUR

Happy this is not an election year

04-01-2020 07:05 The interaction between President Fernández and Governor Kicillof will be watched closely. The ruling party can’t afford to see its popularity drop in its giant bastion before its federal fiscal policies have a chance to kick in.

by Martín Gambarotta

AS I SEE IT

The challenges ahead

28-12-2019 09:38 The many who find merely materialistic values hollow may feel the constant worrying about economic developments and the subordination of education to the labour market distasteful, but for the 40 percent or so of the Argentine population which is already below the poverty line to enjoy a better life, its members will need not just handouts paid for by money taken from the marginally better off but also the skills and aptitudes they will require to prosper in an ever more demanding world.

by James Neilson

FERNÁNDEZ’S PLAN FOR 2020

Buying time

28-12-2019 08:59 It is difficult to imagine how Alberto Fernández’s pompous rhetoric, and lack of a concrete and structural plan, will “put Argentina back on its feet,” as he promised throughout the campaign.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Around the crisis in 180 days

21-12-2019 10:49 With extra powers and an economic Cabinet that politically responds to his directives, the president would be able to claim the credit of success – but he would also have to pay the full price of failure.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

In defence of Martín Guzmán

21-12-2019 09:50 The current state of Argentina’s economy is perilous. The typical metaphor is that of a ticking time-bomb, the same one that was used when Macri took over the reins from Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA

Goodbye gradual-ism

21-12-2019 08:50 Macri's ‘gradual-ism’ didn’t work. Marci gradually lost popularity until he gradually lost the election.

by Martín Gambarotta