News of James Neilson

James Neilson

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

With friends like these…

15-01-2022 00:01 Cristina’s decision, backed dutifully by Alberto, to move Argentina closer to the Latin American dictatorships that are challenging the international status quo has come at an awkward moment.

by James Neilson

Argentina and the economic problem with the IMF.

As I see it

Going it alone in limbo

07-01-2022 22:43 It is widely assumed that unless President Alberto Fernández’s government reaches an agreement with the International Monetary Fund very soon, Argentina will sink far deeper into the mire. We could be about to learn if the many who think this way have it right or if they are merely scare-mongering.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The pros and cons of belonging

31-12-2021 11:19 The willingness of a small but significant minority of opposition politicians to let the Kirchnerite government have its way is driving the leaders of Juntos por el Cambio coalition up the wall.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A puzzle nobody wants

24-12-2021 08:35 While it is easy for opposition leaders to criticise the Kirchnerites for their handling of the economy and a great many other things, coming clean about what they themselves would do is far more difficult.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Alberto caught between Biden and Xi

10-12-2021 22:23 The Kirchnerite administration does not want to be forced to choose between the United States and China.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Does corruption matter?

03-12-2021 22:16 The blatant politicisation of the Judiciary does nothing to make Argentina look like a good place in which to do business.

by James Neilson

As I see it

When the centre cannot hold

26-11-2021 22:52 The old order is in deep trouble. In its way, it has been far too successful, but it has also raised expectations so much that few are able to reach what they think are reasonable goals.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Alberto in Wonderland

20-11-2021 00:00 If Alice had a world of her own, “nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t.” In the world of Alice’s spiritual descendant, the Peronist coalition own a resounding victory in Sunday’s elections after losing in Buenos Aires Province. No doubt Alice would have approved.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Is a change of course possible?

12-11-2021 21:58 Despite all the unpleasant things that have happened to the country since a pro-Axis military dictatorship gave birth to Peronism, millions still see belief in what they regard as its virtues as part of their personal identity.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The moment of truth is fast approaching

05-11-2021 18:00 In just over a week, we shall know how much support Alberto’s quarrelsome and ramshackle administration has managed to retain.

by James Neilson

As I see it

The Tom and Jerry show takes an ugly turn

29-10-2021 22:09 For well over half a century, the International Monetary Fund and Argentina’s populist establishment have been playing cat and mouse with each other. Though the IMF comes equipped with very sharp teeth and claws, all its attempts to corner Argentina have failed.

by James Neilson

As I see it

In the land of the magic money tree

22-10-2021 22:11 Capitalism is the only system that really works. Fighting it, as social justice warriors and politicians who seek to outbid them say is the duty of every decent person, is tantamount to waging war on prosperity.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Peronism has its back against the wall

16-10-2021 00:01 In the eyes of a growing proportion of the country, Cristina, Alberto, Aníbal and the rest of them represent the very worst of a self-serving political elite whose members are more interested in their own personal welfare than anything else.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Thanks for nothing

09-10-2021 11:57 The technocrats in charge of the World Bank, the IMF and the like really want Argentina should be doing their best to scare the living daylights out of Alberto Fernández and his crew by warning them that at any moment the entire economy would go under, taking them with it.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Argentina now in the danger zone

02-10-2021 00:33 In a country in which parliament calls all the shots, the fall of an unpopular government would not present any constitutional difficulties, but here things are done differently.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Make way for the shantytown liberals

25-09-2021 00:01 Some commentators and politicians have been considering the intriguing possibility that people who live in the country’s squalid urban slums could be acquiring a taste for free-market capitalism.

by James Neilson

opinion and analysis

Kirchnerites reaping the whirlwind

18-09-2021 00:01 For there to be any chance of the country emerging relatively unscathed from the mess Cristina, with the help of easily bamboozled voters, has got it into, Alberto would have to start behaving like a genuine president.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Closing time in the gardens of the West

11-09-2021 09:48 Perhaps it is premature to talk, as the British essayist Cyril Connolly did soon after World War II, of “closing time in the gardens of the West,” but for many it does feel that something like that is taking place.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Playtime for politicians

04-09-2021 10:18 In Argentina, politics has always had more to do with tribal feelings than with anything else.

by James Neilson

As I see it

When weakness is strength

27-08-2021 23:23 In politics, having an unprepossessing alternative at hand can be a big advantage.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A most humiliating retreat

21-08-2021 21:36 The United States handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban because years ago most of her political leaders, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, had come to the conclusion that “nation-building” was utter folly.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Desperately looking for an exit

14-08-2021 07:27 Though representatives of both sides are only too happy to tell us how much they detest their adversaries, they show little interest in examining their own record.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Journey to an unknown destination

07-08-2021 11:31 If mere facts are anything to go by, Argentina is heading for yet another almighty crash.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A tragedy in the making

31-07-2021 00:41 The Peronists have little interest in confronting the unions. However, in view of what the country will be up against in the very near future, the more realistic among them must be having second thoughts.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Taking sides in the new cold war

24-07-2021 00:35 Joe Biden wants his country to lead a coalition of the willing to help him wage what, he hopes, will remain a cold war against China, Russia and other autocracies.

by James Neilson

Cuba and the United States - Art by Joaquín Temes

As I see it

Cuba’s hard-right dictatorship

17-07-2021 11:12 For fanatics, the cause they are devoted to is infinitely more important than anything else, and there can be no doubt at all that, despite the evident failure of the revolution to deliver the promised goods, there are still plenty of fanatics in Cuba.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Let the rest of the world stew in its own juice

09-07-2021 22:22 The United States decided to retreat from Afghanistan after both Trump and his followers and Biden and his asked themselves: what is in it for us? The answer they gave themselves was: nothing much.

by James Neilson

As I see it

A great time for malcontents

03-07-2021 23:17 In the rich Western countries and their cultural offshoots, what was once the fringe has become the centre.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Joe Biden and his gaffe-prone doppelganger

26-06-2021 00:25 Before the middle of last year, Biden was widely seen as an elderly man on the verge of retirement who had turned into a gaffe machine.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Asking for the impossible

19-06-2021 09:53 There can be little doubt that those who suspect that Alberto Fernández and Martín Guzmán do not have anything approaching an economic plan are right.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Alberto blunders into a political minefield

12-06-2021 00:14 Instead of moving forward with the times, Alberto Fernández took several steps backwards to an epoch in which having European roots was regarded as a good thing. He is by no means the first president to do this.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Through the foreign-policy looking glass

05-06-2021 00:36 Why does the government led by Alberto Fernández go out of its way to snub the Western powers and their allies, so it can make common cause with the enemies of what, despite everything, still remains of the old international order?

by James Neilson

As I see it

An extremely sensitive superpower

29-05-2021 11:22 Should the government of a debt-ridden country such as Argentina come up with a statement that raised its hackles, China would have no qualms about doing whatever it would take to make it change its mind.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Ploughing on regardless

22-05-2021 09:40 For Argentina to have any chance of avoiding the fate which is looming before her, she would need a government strong-minded enough to confront reality, but the possibility of this happening any time soon looks remote.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Alberto’s modest proposal

15-05-2021 15:38 Argentina’s economic strategy has long been based on Micawber’s belief that no matter what happens something will turn up to put things right.

by James Neilson

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Alberto Fernández.

As I see it

A psychodrama the country could do without

08-05-2021 00:03 The psychodrama starring Alberto and Cristina would be quite entertaining in a novel or a late-night TV show, but unfortunately for tens of millions of people, it is an ongoing real-life tragedy.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Life after the great pandemic

01-05-2021 00:43 Hopes that the pandemic would abolish history by putting things in perspective and unite the world are still floating around, but they owe more to wishful thinking than to anything else.

by James Neilson

As I see it

Going green will be anything but easy

24-04-2021 10:00 Shutting down much of industry, replacing oil and coal with solar panels, wind turbines and devices that have yet to be invented may appeal to the wealthy, but the same cannot be said for those who will continue to depend on old-fashioned sources of energy.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Joe Biden sounds the retreat

17-04-2021 08:04 Biden, like Trump before him, decided that the time had come to pull all his country’s troops out of Afghanistan. The only difference is in the departure date.

by James Neilson

For poorer countries, among them Argentina, salvation is still a long way off. The vaccination programme has been slow, confused and marred by nasty quarrels over who should be first in line for a jab.

AS I SEE IT

Back to square one

10-04-2021 08:11 For poorer countries, among them Argentina, salvation is still a long way off.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Some lessons in elementary Chinese

03-04-2021 08:24 Unfortunately for many millions of people, Argentina has long been programmed to get poorer and the Kirchnerite government is clearly determined to ensure the slide downhill continues.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

A country caught in a time warp

27-03-2021 07:57 Obsessed as they are by the world of almost half a century ago, Cristina and her admirers have little interest in the country they are now governing.

by James Neilson

The future of Argentina lies in the next election.

AS I SEE IT

Declare me innocent, or else

20-03-2021 07:48 Political power is now in the hands of individuals who are far more interested in the future of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her offspring than in the fate of the rest of the population.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Vaccines bring problems in their wake

13-03-2021 08:57 Egalitarians insist that vaccines should be distributed equally the world over and accuse governments in rich countries of cornering the market.

by James Neilson

Cristina Kirchner, VP and Alberto Fernandez.

AS I SEE IT

Alberto on the psychiatrist’s couch

06-03-2021 08:28 Is Alberto his own man or just a dutiful servant who is willing to go to any extreme to ingratiate himself with an employer who has plenty of good reasons to despise him?

by James Neilson

Some Kirchnerites have also taken to playing the race card, a common practice in the US and, to a growing extent, the UK, but not that frequent in this part of the world.

AS I SEE IT

Kirchnerites find the race card tempting

27-02-2021 08:36 For the Kirchnerites, “identity politics” has many attractions.

by James Neilson

Menem was roundly denounced as a “neoliberal,” whose alleged addiction to monetarism made him determined to impoverish honest working folk and reward speculators.

AS I SEE IT

A most unlikely reformer

20-02-2021 07:31 Carlos Menem may have been the king of kitsch, but he was also something else.

by James Neilson

Is hyperinflation looming? Most economists say the chances of the country suffering yet another bout of monetary chaos remain slight, but then they were saying much the same in the early 1980s.

AS I SEE IT

Here we go again

13-02-2021 08:47 Meaningful reform will remain on the backburner until the votes have been counted.

by James Neilson

Will Argentina be able to prosper in the brave new world that is coming our way?

AS I SEE IT

Weighed down by an entitlement culture

06-02-2021 09:50 Will Argentina be able to prosper in the brave new world that is coming our way? Not unless she manages to change lanes in the near future. As things stand, this is most unlikely to happen.

by James Neilson

From left to right: Mario Negri, Alfredo Cornejo, Martín Lousteau, Patricia Bullrich, Mauricio Macri.

AS I SEE IT

Take me to your leader

30-01-2021 09:26 Argentines tend to be more prone than others to put their faith in individuals rather than in ideologies or “doctrines,” as Radicals like to call them.

by James Neilson