News of James Neilson

James Neilson

James Neilson

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

Rise of the machines.

Human capital getting sidelined

Today 05:53 As has happened time and time again, the discrepancy between what seemed to be quite reasonable hopes and a dispiriting reality has bred discontent among the “overeducated and underemployed.”

by James Neilson

British storm in a tea cup.

The UK founders in choppy waters

16-05-2026 05:47 Less than two years ago, the Conservatives, then led by Rishi Sunak, were booted out of office. Now it is the turn of Labour, which has just suffered what Barack Obama would describe as an almighty “shellacking” in a host of municipal elections.

by James Neilson

Mass destruction is in the process of being democratised.

Mass destruction gets easier and cheaper

09-05-2026 00:20 Until not that long ago, the ability to bring down civilisations was the preserve of a few powerful countries. It is now in the process of being democratised.

by James Neilson

Trumpian shouts.

When political rhetoric boils over

02-05-2026 00:35 The US may not be heading towards a full-blown civil war, but unless its leaders, especially Trump, tone down their rhetoric, it could soon see a repeat of the 1960s

by James Neilson

Milei, President, Pope.

The President and the Pope

25-04-2026 06:31 Trump was paying the pontiff a compliment by taking him seriously. Instead of treating Leo’s remarks as the maunderings of an unworldly holy man who should be praised for his idealism and then ignored, as so many regularly do, he thought the Pope’s allusions were worth responding to.

by James Neilson

The flaming chainsaw.

Time could be running out for Milei

18-04-2026 00:01 Governments that have little to fear from an effective opposition soon fall prey to the internal squabbles politicians so greatly enjoy.

by James Neilson

Ronald McTrump.

Did the ayatollahs get one over on Trump?

11-04-2026 06:49 Even though Trump is desperately looking for an excuse to call it quits, he could change his mind yet again when it dawns on him that the remnants of the Iranian regime are making him look like a loser.

by James Neilson

Adorni ensures Milei gets a taste of his own medicine.

Milei gets a taste of his own medicine

03-04-2026 06:25 This is what tends to happen to holier-than-thou politicians who feel they are morally superior to their adversaries and make a habit of boasting about it.

by James Neilson

A dark cloud that refuses to disperse.

A dark cloud that refuses to disperse

28-03-2026 05:55 The coup d’état of 1976, and its aftermath, continue to weigh heavily on the collective Argentine mind.

by James Neilson

Nunca más.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF COUP

When military coups were normal

21-03-2026 00:07 Two months after the coup, I wrote: “One special danger presented by terrorism of any political colour is its effect on the security forces themselves. Men fighting a treacherous, slippery, hydra-headed foe, which has no scruple as to method, are often tempted to fight back in a similar manner.”

by James Neilson

Don and Bibi

Facing the Islamist challenge

14-03-2026 06:52 Will Trump and Netanyahu be satisfied with something less than “regime change”? Or are they dead set on continuing the war until the ayatollahs and their brutal enforcers have been replaced by a pro-Western government?

by James Neilson

Trump goes to war.

Trump the liberator goes to war

07-03-2026 06:50 Though few would disagree that a “diplomatic solution” to the Iranian problem would be far better than one reached at gunpoint, efforts to persuade the leaders of the regime that it would be in their interest to call a genuine halt to their nuclear programme were always bound to fail.

by James Neilson

Trump vs Europe.

The ‘indispensable nation’ goes AWOL

28-02-2026 06:01 Team Trump’s members think that, unless the Europeans adopt a turbocharged version of the policies they recommend, they could disappear from history before the present century has run its course.

by James Neilson

Trumpian trigger

Can democracy keep working?

21-02-2026 00:47 In much of the West, the pendulum is swinging towards the “right” because for years the ruling elites have spoken like leftists in the belief that it would allow them to assume a posture of unassailable moral superiority.

by James Neilson

Trump's dreams up in flames.

Westerners looking for a way out

14-02-2026 06:12 Trump and others who hope to emulate him are reactionaries. They tell their compatriots that they want their countries to go back to what they were half a century or so ago before the rot set in, hence the promise to make them “great again.”

by James Neilson

Secrets in the Epstein Files.

The great Epstein saga leading nowhere very fast

07-02-2026 06:00 For well over a week, the doings of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison over six years ago, have dominated the news.

by James Neilson

Under the shadow of Artificial Intelligence.

Under the shadow of Artificial Intelligence

31-01-2026 06:27 Could AI start programming itself in a malevolent way? Can it be coaxed into taking a philanthropic approach to the problems it is asked to solve? How can you make a machine with a 10-figure IQ obey you?

by James Neilson

Europe hit by Trump's butterfly’s wings

Europe hit by a butterfly’s wings

24-01-2026 07:09 Trump’s pathetic desire to win a prize that is awarded by people who despise him is reshaping geopolitics.

by James Neilson

Trump takes on the ayatollahs.

After Maduro, Trump takes on the ayatollahs

17-01-2026 05:32 Having pledged himself publicly to “protect” protesting Iranians, Trump has left himself with precious little room in which to manoeuvre.

by James Neilson

Donald Trump is on a roll

Donald Trump is on a roll

10-01-2026 06:51 Though Trump and his aides insist that they have drawn up a plan to make Venezuela great again, they do not seem to be aware of the magnitude of the task they have undertaken.

by James Neilson

Existential angst is for Europeans.

Existential angst is for Europeans

02-01-2026 08:40 In contrast to the many Europeans, Argentines have yet to resign themselves to collective failure.

by James Neilson

Targeted.

The intifada comes to Bondi Beach

20-12-2025 07:48 Those who feel that the land they live in has been taken over by foreigners who despise it and them may be a deplorably reactionary lot, but in democracies what they feel does not lack importance.

by James Neilson

Trump the crusader goes into battle.

Trump the crusader goes into battle

13-12-2025 06:29 Trump and the people surrounding him evidently think that Europe is on its deathbed.

by James Neilson

The Creation.

The Goddess of Reason returns

06-12-2025 06:52 Academics are not the only people who see the difference between perceived truth and falsehood shrinking at an alarming rate thanks in large measure to machines that, in theory, should be making it far easier to tell them apart.

by James Neilson

Dead dove.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place

29-11-2025 05:02 Toeing the US line would be a simple matter if the man in charge knew where he was going and approached his goals in a consistent manner, but it so happens that hardly a day goes by without Trump changing his mind about something of strategic importance.

by James Neilson

Milei and America.

Snug in the arms of Uncle Sam

22-11-2025 06:41 For good or ill, it would appear that for the foreseeable future the United States will continue to be the only superpower worth taking into account.

by James Neilson

The BBC comes under attack from Trump.

The BBC comes under attack

15-11-2025 05:15 To the delight of the many who loathe it, the British Broadcasting Corporation has got itself into deep trouble.

by James Neilson

Big Apple's message.

The Big Apple sends a message to the world

08-11-2025 06:41 Though few people outside New York think Soviet-style communism is about to stage a comeback, resentment among the many who suspect they are surplus to requirements is clearly intensifying.

by James Neilson

President Donaldo Trumpa (of Argentina)

Milei comes up trumps

01-11-2025 06:34 At least half of the over nine million people who voted for candidates linked to La Libertad Avanza did so not because they are devoted fans of Milei but because the last thing they wanted to see was yet another Peronist government.

by James Neilson

Targeting the ballot box.

Most countries are on death row

24-10-2025 21:07 Unless demographic trends change abruptly in the very near future, many other countries will precede Argentina on the path into the unknown.

by James Neilson

Milei and the master of the universe.

Milei and the master of the universe

18-10-2025 06:18 Trump is different: he wants everyone on planet Earth to know that his or her personal fate depends on him. By behaving the way he does, he has put Argentines in a bind.

by James Neilson

Netanyahu and the Middle East.

Two years after the pogrom

10-10-2025 16:27 Peace would have come to Gaza long ago if Hamas had returned the hundreds of hostages it seized on October 7.

by James Neilson

Democracies in choppy waters.

Democracies in choppy waters

04-10-2025 06:09 Needless to say, the United States is not the only country in which the recently dominant progressive elite is on the back foot.

by James Neilson

US rescue package.

Milei gets a second chance

27-09-2025 06:50 Like dei ex machina, two of the world’s most powerful men decided to step in and save Argentina from the unhappy fate it was plunging towards.

by James Neilson

Milei a Macri.

A kinder and gentler Milei?

20-09-2025 06:34 Two years ago, many came to the conclusion that what the country desperately needed was a madman prepared to do whatever would be necessary to put it back on track. Is this still the case?

by James Neilson

Voters backlash for Milei.

Milei gets his comeuppance

13-09-2025 06:44 It should have been quite easy for Milei to build a broad enough coalition. But instead of making an effort, egged on by Karina, he decided to go it alone.

by James Neilson

Javier, Karina and the cash.

Crunch time approaching for Javier Milei

06-09-2025 07:19 Much is made of Milei’s emotional dependence on his sister. She seems to have made him her prisoner. If those who say he cannot sideline her without putting his own mental health in danger are right, Argentina is in deep trouble.

by James Neilson

Milei aflame.

Dark clouds line the horizon

30-08-2025 06:52 Millions who voted for Milei less than two years ago may have assumed that he would immediately replace the old political class but, needless to say, that was a pipe dream.

by James Neilson

Surprise knock-out blow!

All good things come to an end

23-08-2025 07:48 Western politicians and those who feed them ideas are ill-equipped to deal with the many challenges they face.

by James Neilson

Javi straightjacket.

Why Milei refuses to budge an inch

16-08-2025 06:11 Like “the Iron Lady,” late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, whom he admires, Milei lets it be known that he is not for turning.

by James Neilson

Westerners turn their backs on Israel.

Fearful Westerners turn their backs on Israel

09-08-2025 05:29 Could what is happening in the Middle East be just a prelude to a similar drama in Europe and other parts of the West?

by James Neilson

Pea in a plate.

Elites under pressure in a changing world

04-08-2025 18:26 In North America and much of Europe, governments have long come under fire because an increasing number of people feel they are falling behind and it seems more than probable that many more will do so in the next few years.

by James Neilson

Weirdos wants to dominate the world

Weirdoes do battle for the world

28-07-2025 15:33 Few imagined that the old order would soon fall apart and that through the cracks would emerge political leaders determined to bring about drastic changes in the societies they lived in.

by James Neilson

Broken mirror.

Politics becomes a strictly personal matter

21-07-2025 05:49 Once upon a time, politicians were expected to stand for rather more than their own egos, but in most parts of the world, the more successful political parties now tend to be one-man bands.

by James Neilson

Do smartphones make people stupid?

Do smartphones make people stupid?

12-07-2025 06:51 For a long time it was taken for granted that headlong technological progress would greatly benefit youngsters by providing them with a cornucopia of educational resources that had been denied to previous generations.

by James Neilson

Milei and the YPF timebomb.

Milei hurt by yet another time bomb

05-07-2025 07:34 A New York judge has ordered the government to hand just over half the shares in YPF to a vulture fund that had purchased the rights of companies harmed by the cack-handed takeover of the oil firm in 2015.

by James Neilson

Trump baby crib.

The world is Donald Trump’s playpen

28-06-2025 07:38 Trump clearly imagines he can reshape the rest of the world by treating lesser potentates like counters in a board game he has devised.

by James Neilson

Iran-Israel conflict.

High noon for Israel and the ayatollahs

21-06-2025 06:03 The Israelis hope that, by humiliating an incompetent regime and killing its military commanders one after another, they will encourage the Iranian people to take to the streets and help them remove it.

by James Neilson

Mileis and the Macris.

Tougher times for politicians on the take

14-06-2025 06:41 Argentina is turning into a country in which even the most powerful among them understand that they would be well advised to respect the letter of the law.

by James Neilson

Train tracks to nowhere.

Humanity in the grip of a death wish

07-06-2025 06:39 According to Austral University’s human resources department, the birth rate in Argentina has fallen to 1.4 per woman.

by James Neilson