News of opinion and analysis

The battle of the sexes is far from over

18-01-2025 06:46 Trump and the people who surround him evidently believe that the time has come to roll back some of the gains chalked up by women.

by James Neilson

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The 86th victim

18-01-2025 06:41 Ten years later, Argentine society is still owed an explanation of a bafflingly mysterious death.

by Michael Soltys

Analysing Argentina

Latin America ducks and covers for Trump – except Milei

18-01-2025 06:37 With expected good access to the new White House, it will be up to Milei and his team to distinguish personal ideology from national interest and act accordingly.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Milei's Marxist culture wars

18-01-2025 06:33 The rise of characters such as Donald Trump in the US, and Milei here in Argentina, is directly tied to their level of political incorrectness and they’ve become equally savage in pushing culturally as far as they can in the other direction.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Donald Trump, left, with Javier Milei at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 14, 2024.

US-ARGENTINA RELATIONS

Trump and Milei: An ideological match, but can they work together?

18-01-2025 06:32 The ideological romance between the presidents of Argentina and the United States has already matured. But will it ripen?

Estadio José María Minella in Mar del Plata.

Football in Argentina

Summer football has forsaken its spiritual home

17-01-2025 11:54 (Disclaimer: The following column is full of unabated nostalgia and old-man-yells-at-cloud aimless ranting. When asked for an explanation, the author professed that it is very hot in Buenos Aires right now and that has him in a foul mood. For actual up-to-date information, please consult elsewhere in today's newspaper)

by Dan Edwards

OPINION & ANALYSIS

What the heck is going on with Mark Zuckerberg?

11-01-2025 06:56 There are few doubts that the Silicon Valley elite would benefit from a US president who will ease the regulatory pressure at home while supporting them in their overseas endeavours, particularly one like Trump who has gone on the offensive against the EU.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

As I see it

Dreaming of a Trumpian empire

11-01-2025 06:36 By openly declaring that all that stuff about sovereignty, the inviolability of internationally recognised borders and such should be discarded for what he says are strategic reasons, Trump may well have kickstarted something that could have far-reaching consequences that he would be the last to welcome.

by James Neilson

Analysing Argentina

Main Street and Milei Street

11-01-2025 06:26 any process of economic transformation, like the one President Javier Milei is trying to implement, will have winners and losers.

by Marcelo J. García

Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay

Paraná-Paraguay waterway a focal point for global security policy

10-01-2025 13:44 Ongoing tussle involving major dredging companies seeking to participate in Milei government's tender. Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay is a naval highway for the trafficking of illicit drugs to the rest of the world.

President Javier Milei, Deregulation and State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger.

Analysis

Midterm elections set limit on Milei’s search for spending cuts

10-01-2025 13:26 Spending cuts in 2024 reached some five percent of Argentina's GDP. Is there room to repeat this feat?

Estudiantes embark on spending spree with US billionaire Foster Gillett’s support.

Football in Argentina

Estudiantes embark on spending spree with US billionaire’s support

09-01-2025 21:23 Estudiantes have arrived to shake up the hornets’ nest with a series of audacious transfer bids, bankrolled by billionaire US national Foster Gillett, in a financial offensive which has dragged the conflict around private ownership of clubs back onto the agenda.

by Dan Edwards

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Is appreciation appreciated?

09-01-2025 19:37 Currency appreciation has been a central factor in giving Milei a dream spring – let us see if that same factor impelling several million Argentines to vacation abroad this summer sends the balance of payments wheel spinning in the opposite direction.

by Michael Soltys

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club on January 07, 2025 in Palm Beach.

UNITED STATES

Trump's provocative, often confusing, US foreign policy is back

09-01-2025 11:48 Trump refuses to rule out using military or economic coercion to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal and vows to bring Canada to heel.

Lithium bearing rock at the Bikita Minerals lithium mine, operated by Sinomine Resource Group Co., in Bikita, Zimbabwe, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.

GLOBAL LITHIUM TRADE

Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery

08-01-2025 10:06 Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand. Analysts see a surplus this year, although they forecast it will be smaller than in 2024.

Analysing Argentina

May you live in happy times, Mr President

04-01-2025 07:54 Much of this success hinges on the Pax at the exchange rate market. Prices in Argentina dance to the tune of one price: that of the US dollar.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Is Javier Milei an outlier, or just another normal politician?

04-01-2025 06:35 My read is that Milei is not so different as we’ve led ourselves to believe. While he is eccentric and has a bizarre relationship with his sister and his “four-legged children,” ultimately he will converge toward more or less the same avenues of behaviour as his predecessors. His perfect armour will begin to exhibit chinks at some time, and his infallibility will become exactly the opposite. It’s a matter of time.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

JIMMY CARTER (1924-2024)

A good man who lived a good life

04-01-2025 06:26 Before Jimmy Carter, the US State Department would only protect its own citizens if they fell foul of a foreign dictator. But under him, thousands of lives were saved by US diplomacy.

by Robert Cox

2025 – YEAR IN PREVIEW

What lies ahead for Argentine football in 2025

03-01-2025 07:59 Your (tongue-firmly-in-cheek) guide to what lies ahead for Argentine football in the next 12 months.

by Dan Edwards

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Death be not proud

02-01-2025 18:10 Jimmy Carter and Jorge Lanata contrasted in many ways, the one profoundly humanitarian, the other deeply human.

by Michael Soltys

As I see it

Chainsaws are now in fashion

02-01-2025 07:45 Though Trump has yet to take office, his electoral triumph has had an immediate impact not just in his own country but also in Europe and further afield where it has strengthened those who feel betrayed by the political parties.

by James Neilson

GUEST COLUMN

New Year’s resolutions: Forgotten items on the list

31-12-2024 17:26 While many of us will celebrate the New Year under a secure roof, gathered around a table with abundant food and drink, let’s not forget in our thoughts and prayers those corners of the world that are facing the consequences of man-made suffering.

by Marwan Gill

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Caste away

21-12-2024 05:07 If our parliamentarians are going to be their own men or women, some way must be found of making them fully accountable to their voters.

by Michael Soltys

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Milei, Reagan and the 20% enemy rule

21-12-2024 05:07 President Milei seems to be inverting Ronald Reagan’s equation – as in, disagree 20 percent of the time with me, and you are 80 percent my enemy.

by Marcelo J. García

As I see it

Quite soon there will be nobody left

21-12-2024 05:07 If present trends are anything to go by, then our descendants, most of whom will be in their dotage, will occupy a prominent place on the endangered species list.

by James Neilson

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Milei’s ‘we want it all’ moment

21-12-2024 05:07 We’re early into the experiment. But Javier and Karina, along with star political advisor Santiago Caputo, are already imagining the “Milei era,” which should last at least eight years and include control of the Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, greets Luis Caputo, economy minister, after delivering the 2025 budget at the National Congress in Buenos Aires, September 15, 2024.

ANALYSIS: SHOCK THERAPY

Argentina takes steps to speed up Milei’s dollarisation strategy

19-12-2024 15:38 Argentina’s government is working with major banks and payment firms to advance Javier Milei’s dollarisation strategy.

Fernando Haddad, Brazil’s finance minister, during an interview in São Paulo.

TURBULENCE IN BRAZIL

Brazil market rout risks a crisis as Lula resists austerity push

19-12-2024 08:25 As the currency craters in Brazil, thrusting the country’s markets into the international spotlight for the first time in years, a grim reality is setting in for top economic aides to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. They are, they fear, powerless to do much to stop the panic.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin at an event at the Volkswagen Anchieta factory in São Paulo in 2024.

BRAZILIAN POLITICS

Geraldo Alckmin, Lula’s rival-turned-vice-president, finds himself in unwanted limelight

19-12-2024 08:17 For decades, he was President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s political rival. Now his boss’s health issues have put Geraldo Alckmin at the centre of questions about Brazil’s future.

Vice-President Victoria Villarruel and President Javier Milei.

POLITICS

Milei vs Villarruel: Latest episode in ongoing feud

17-12-2024 13:29 In Victoria Villarruel’s camp, there is surprise at the Executive's attitude. A failed attempt at reconciliation as the Casa Rosada’s satellites launch a full-frontal assault on their own ally.

by Giselle Leclercq

As I see it

Milei is still very much in charge

14-12-2024 15:37 The success or failure of the far-reaching programme Milei devised will depend on whether or not most members of the political fraternity have learned enough from their many errors.

by James Neilson

This handout picture released by the Brazilian Vice-Presidency shows President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (left) walking with his neurosurgeon Dr Marcos Stavale in the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 13, 2024.

BRAZIL IN FOCUS

Lula’s age and health leave Brazil on edge about what comes next

14-12-2024 08:36 Brazil is pondering the future as Lula’s age and health become major parts of the political discussion and attention turns toward the next presidential election in 2026.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

'Cause I was the taxwoman

14-12-2024 05:39 ARCA (until recently AFIP) tax bureau chief Florencia Misrahi’s dismissal could be worth a closer look to have some idea of where the Milei government is heading as its second year begins.

by Michael Soltys

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

A busy week for corruption

14-12-2024 05:37 Edgardo Kueider’s situation is explicit, bombastic. But not uncommon in Argentine politics.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

The headquarters of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.

MILEI AWAITS TRUMP

IMF moves goal-posts for Argentina – no definitions until April

13-12-2024 15:25 The International Monetary Fund has presented Javier Milei with two conditions which must be met before any further remittance beyond the US$44.5 billion loaned to Mauricio Macri – obtain Congress endorsement for taking on new debt and making structural changes.

by Carlos Burgueño

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

United yet disorganised: Peronism comes to terms with a year of Milei

12-12-2024 18:10 What remains of the Unión por la Patria coalition could only manage a photo-op and is far from placing things in order. The internal differences and disputes stalling the bid to reach unity in 2025.

by Rosario Ayerdi

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Who was Milei’s audience?

11-12-2024 23:45 With an almost religious hope of 2025 being a growth year, President Milei used his first anniversary address to talk to the ‘círculo rojo’ business establishment and his run-off voters, with no concrete announcements for ordinary people.

by Javier Calvo

President Javier Milei addresses supporters during a rally marking the launch of La Libertad Avanza as a national force in Parque Lezama, Buenos Aires, on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

MILEI'S FIRST YEAR

Key measures from Milei’s first year in office

10-12-2024 09:57 President’s first year in office was marked by drastic state cutbacks, the sharpest rise in poverty in two decades, an aggressive rhetoric and notable shift in foreign policy.

MILEI'S FIRST YEAR

Four takeaways from President Javier Milei's first year

10-12-2024 09:44 Four takeaways from Milei's first year in office: Slimming the state, wielding the chainsaw, domestic political battles and a shift in foreign policy.

A YEAR WITH MILEI

Tirades and trolls: how Milei changed Argentina's political rhetoric

09-12-2024 17:30 According to a September poll by consulting firm Zuban Córdoba, 65.7% of Argentines believe that "hate and intolerance are on the rise" since Javier Milei took office.

Analysing Argentina

Year one: Milei surpassed expectations, but now faces high ones

07-12-2024 06:51 The question of whether Milei will be an anecdote or a new force that defines an era will largely begin to be answered in 2025. First and foremost, it will depend on the economy, and second — but by no means less important — on the midterm elections in October.

by Marcelo J. García

As I see it

The return of the great disruptor

07-12-2024 06:07 Caught off-balance, progressives in the United States and movers and shakers in Latin America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa are asking themselves what the return of the great disruptor could mean.

by James Neilson

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

No quorum, no forum

07-12-2024 05:30 Congress becomes its own worst enemy when deputies and senators refuse to do the work for which the tax-payer remunerates them.

by Michael Soltys

MILEI'S FIRST YEAR

Milei’s self-congratulatory maiden year

07-12-2024 00:36 A year in, Milei is surfing the wave of popularity, feeling invincible as he receives the constant attention of the international media, which in turn feeds his ego even further.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

OPINION & ANALYSIS

A year with Javier Milei

06-12-2024 17:00 President Javier Milei’s election last year marked a radical shift in Argentina’s history. We need to retool everything, integrating political analysis with technology and the vision of the world of people who interrelate by looking at screens, turning away from real faces.

by Jaime Duran Barba

Javier Milei withdrew his so-called 'omnibus bill' from Argentina’s Congress last month.

POLITICS & CONGRESS

Budget clash, extra sessions, Speaker Menem – Milei’s first year in Congress

04-12-2024 17:39 Despite being firmly in the minority, Milei has managed to amend over 100 laws since taking office and advance his programme of fiscal austerity. Nevertheless, tensions with allies and opposition persist, centred on the 2025 Budget, anti-graft laws and electoral reform.

by Facundo Maceira

Javier Milei speaks to Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida on Nov. 14

ANALYSIS

Why Donald Trump and Javier Milei are worlds apart on austerity

04-12-2024 12:25 Donald Trump and Javier Milei have a shared favour of theatrics, but it does not reflect their economic strategies in vastly different contexts – the Argentine enforcing radical austerity and Trump preferring tax cuts and tariffs.

Javier Milei is trying to guarantee that his free-market vision for business withstands any future change in government.

Investing in Argentina

Milei touts US$50 billion from investors eyeing 30-year loopholes

02-12-2024 13:04 Argentina has abundant natural resources and legions of well-educated workers. But it struggles to attract investors because its politicians have a habit of changing the rules on a whim.

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

The ecstasy of Javier Milei

30-11-2024 05:48 Things look rosy for the libertarians at this juncture, encouraging them to become even more ambitious.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

As I see it

The invasion is about to begin

30-11-2024 05:46 Putting up protectionist barriers can be wonderfully easy, but pulling them down is anything but.

by James Neilson

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The protectionist racket

30-11-2024 05:37 While Donald Trump and Javier Milei might be a mutual admiration society, they are moving in opposite directions on protectionism.

by Michael Soltys

A drilling site at the Vaca Muerta formation in northern Patagonia.

GAS & ENERGY

Analysing Argentina’s bid to boost Vaca Muerta natural gas exports

30-11-2024 05:18 A look at the challenges facing President Javier Milei’s government as it attempts to consolidate the natural gas exports from the vast Vaca Muerta formation.

Analysing Argentina

Milei and nothing but Milei

30-11-2024 05:12 If the opposition wants to challenge the President, the best they could do is to try something radically different. This is exactly what Milei did when he launched his political career.

by Marcelo J. García

Racing Club fans celebrate the team's Copa Sudamericana win.

THE MAGIC OF FOOTBALL

Joy, ecstasy, relief – and so many tears

29-11-2024 12:00 The tens of thousands of Academia fans who travelled to Paraguay for the Copa Sudamericana final all had one singular goal: to see Racing Club win a continental crown for the first time since 1988. And our dream came true.

by Dan Edwards

ANALYSIS

Milei evaluates Argentina’s future in Mercosur

28-11-2024 15:36 Argentina's government is evaluating its future relationship with the Mercosur trade bloc – the plans it has in mind and the possibilities of a break-up.

ANALYSIS: SHOCK THERAPY

Betting on Milei, investors choose longer duration

27-11-2024 12:43 Investors are extending the duration of their peso savings and investments, signalling confidence in President Javier Milei.

ANALYSIS

Too stable? Uruguay's model election masks problems

27-11-2024 10:00 Election day passed off peacefully in Uruguay, with the losing candidate accepting defeat gracefully. But underneath the surface, Argentina's neighbour faces a raft of issues, including growing disenchantment with the political system.

Agustín Laje delivers a speech at the launch of the Las Fuerzas del Cielo grouping.

POLITICS

‘Las fuerzas del cielo’ – Who’s who in Milei’s new ‘praetorian guard’

23-11-2024 17:00 With presidential advisor Santiago Caputo leading operations in the shadows and Daniel ‘Gordo Dan’ Parisini as its main reference point, new organisation intends to gain ground in Buenos Aires Province and beyond ahead of 2025 midterms.

by Giselle Leclercq

As I see it

Green going out of fashion

23-11-2024 06:00 Javier Milei is far from being the only prominent person who thinks global-warming activists have rather more in mind than an understandable desire to prevent the entire planet from going up in flames.

by James Neilson

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

G20 or 19+1?

23-11-2024 06:00 Argentina was an odd man out in the G20 long before the shaggy libertarian embarked on his solitary crusade against Agenda 2030.

by Michael Soltys

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Milei and his Doppelganger

23-11-2024 06:00 There may be two Javier Mileis. One lives on Planet Earth and engages with people he said he loathed, and another fights fantasy battles in a parallel reality on social media. Which one will prevail?

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

‘Fat Dan’ and libertarian childishness

23-11-2024 06:00 The childish attitudes of Milei 'troll army' come as the government has regained momentum in opinion polls.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Long live pragmatism, carajo!

21-11-2024 18:04 President Javier Milei is adjusting his rhetoric to the challenges of power – from his frosty exchanges with Lula and his rapprochement with Xi Jinping, to his contradictions with Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni.

by Javier Calvo

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister

HUMAN RIGHTS WARRANT

International Criminal Court: Catching the world's most wanted

21-11-2024 14:22 International Criminal Court's historic arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders highlight its ongoing struggle for enforcement and recognition, with limited convictions and reliance on cooperation from member states.

UNITED STATES ELECTION 2024

Trump, the elected autocrat

21-11-2024 09:51 The countdown to Trump's return to the White House represents an inflection point that the United States has never seen before.

by David Smith

Javier Milei during the first day of the G-20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 18.

G20 SUMMIT IN BRAZIL

Rio chaos shows world untethered even before Trump’s return

20-11-2024 16:08 The G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro highlighted growing fractures in global diplomacy, as disagreements over issues like Ukraine and the Middle East dominated the agenda, and tensions rose over the role of the West in international affairs.

BLOOMBERG - ANALYSIS

Javier Milei is giddy about Trump and his own accomplishments

18-11-2024 17:23 Almost one year into office, Javier Milei is, to the shock of pundits, having a moment. Not only does he have an ally back in the White House but on the economic front, he’s been racking up the victories.

Aurora's Sunrise, directed by Inna Sahakyan, is based on the life of Aurora Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide who went on to become an actress in the United States.

FILM & CINEMA

Powerful documentary highlights Armenian resilience, struggle

16-11-2024 22:44 Through animation and archival storytelling, Inna Sahakyan’s 'Aurora’s Sunrise' honours a tragic past while drawing urgent parallels to Armenia’s ongoing battle for recognition and survival in a shifting geopolitical landscape.

by Sam Yockey

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Javier Milei’s obsession with sub-aquatic flatulence

16-11-2024 06:34 Is the economy rising like scuba diver flatulence? It doesn’t really matter, as long as Milei says it does, and a substantial portion of society believes him.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Juan Donaldo moving from Pink to White House?

16-11-2024 05:59 Javier Milei might be The Donald’s “favourite president” yet Trump’s campaign rhetoric would seem to be on a collision course with the Argentine’s track record after almost a year in office.

by Michael Soltys