News of Michael Soltys

Michael Soltys

Michael Soltys, who first entered the Buenos Aires Herald in 1983, held various editorial posts at the newspaper from 1990 and was the lead writer of the publication’s editorials from 1987 until 2017.

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…

'Argentina, 1985' revisited

03-12-2022 05:49

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

Remembrance Day, aka Poppy Day in Britain, was memorably marked at St. John’s Anglican Church.

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

Voting the United States: Democrats v Republicans.

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

The UK's Union Jack flag is seen at half mast in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II, at the house of the British ambassador in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 9, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history and an icon instantly recognisable to billions of people around the world, died at her Scottish Highland retreat on September 8 at the age of 96. L

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

President Alberto Fernández delivers a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

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

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú.

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

Canada's Ambassador to Argentina Reid Sirrs.

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

Premios de la Academia Nacional Periodismo: The Pluma de Honor winners accept their prizes.

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

El Testigo Inglés, Luces y sombras del Buenos Aires Herald (1876-2017), by Sebastián Lacunza.

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

Commemorations marking the 30th anniversary of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.

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

In this file photo taken on March 18, 1992, firemen and rescue workers continue to dig through the ruins of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires after a night of search following the 17 March explosion of a powerful car bomb which virtually destroyed the diplomatic building.

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

Irlanda y la Argentina del siglo XX: Diplomacia, diáspora, Iglesia Católica, derechos humanos y la guerra de Malvinas, by Dermot Keogh.

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

Maud Daverio de Cox, pictured at the launch of her latest book, flanked by Perfil’s Jorge Fontevecchia and her husband, ex-Buenos Aires Herald editor Robert Cox.

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

2021: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

2021: The year that was

31-12-2021 13:44 Covid-19 dominates another year, with the the global vaccine race illustrating the very best and worst of humanity. Aside from coronavirus (a crucial factor in the ‘VIP vaccine’ and ‘Olivosgate’ political scandals), the death of former president Carlos Menem, rising prices and poverty, trigger-happy policing, IMF debt talks and key elections across the region steal the show – including Argentina’s PASO primaries and midterms, which reshape the political landscape. This is 2021: the year that was.

by Michael Soltys