News of analysis

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

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.

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

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Move over Javi, the Big Boss is back

09-11-2024 06:24 The return of Donald Trump, the undisputed 'top dog' of the new right, will consolidate a global movement that, up until now, appeared to be somewhat disjointed.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

US ELECTION 2024 – ANALYSIS

MAGAlomaniac – no Camelot for Kamala

09-11-2024 06:13 Milei does not seem to care a hoot about Trump being politically incorrect but he should worry more about his being fiscally incorrect.

by Michael Soltys

United States Elections 2024

Shock ‘n awe

09-11-2024 06:07 The question now becomes how Trump will use the clear mandate he has won. The fears are obvious.

by David Smith

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Welcome to the New Political Order

09-11-2024 06:01 Trump’s victory and the Brexit referendum in 2016 marked the first significant political manifestations of a change of order. Trump’s impressive comeback this week appears to solidify it further. The next question is where President Javier Milei fits into this puzzle.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Foreign Ministry set to meet chainsaw after Mondino's failure to cut costs

05-11-2024 10:32 The now former foreign minister not only displeased President Milei, she also failed to cut costs. Mondino’s lack of budget-slashing means La Libertad Avanza’s chainsaw will now descend on the Palacio San Martín.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

UNITED STATES ELECTION 2024

Rumours, lies and disinformation: ‘A lot of crazy’ in US election

03-11-2024 09:09 Elon Musk, Donald Trump helping amplify falsehoods about integrity of US election; Foreign actors also blamed by officials in Washington for sowing chaos.

Analysing Argentina

Milei’s magical thinking about a Trump victory

02-11-2024 07:38 Argentina — or Latin America, for that matter — will not be an immediate priority for any incoming US administration, though Milei may leverage his ideological rapport with a potential President Trump.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Zurdos de mierda

02-11-2024 06:52 Language is viral, particularly in hyper-connected urban societies, and is particularly sticky among the youth. Indeed, it is probably the first frontier in trying to permeate the consciousness of a population, and therefore the frontline of the culture war.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

CENTRAL BANK MANOUEVRES

Milei taps unseasonal source in search of dollars

30-10-2024 10:06 Faced by a shortage of foreign reserves, the Central Bank is turning to an unusual source of funding for this time of year: a risky trade by crop exporters.

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Macri and Milei’s ‘special kind of psychology’

26-10-2024 06:01 Macri knows he’s in a position of weakness. Milei and his libertarian horde swept his electorate and forced the fracture of his Juntos por el Cambio coalition. But despite lending his votes, the former president and his team have been excluded.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

The Caputos spread their tentacles over the Mileis

26-10-2024 05:37 Not so long ago, two Caputos in Milei's inner circle seemed one too many. But now, Santiago and Luis Caputo are working closely in tandem.

by Marcelo J. García

GUEST COLUMN

Special organic laws and presidential vetoes

23-10-2024 11:20 The total or partial veto of a law should never be used as a tool for conflict, it should only to be understood as an exceptional instrument permitting evidently unconstitutional situations in approved laws to be corrected.

by Andrés Gil Domínguez

INTERVIEW

Rosendo Fraga: ‘Karina Milei has more power than the Cabinet Chief’

23-10-2024 07:04 Journalist, political analyst and historian Rosendo Fraga, recently interviewed by postgraduate students in investigative journalism at the Universidad del Sur de Buenos Aires (USBA), discusses President Javier Milei’s world view, Argentina’s new diplomatic line and the relationship with the International Monetary Fund.

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Milei the Great or Milei the Footnote?

19-10-2024 06:44 The problems Argentina faces are too big and too enduring for anyone to solve alone, especially when alienating much of the rest of the world.

by Marcelo J. García

Analysing Argentina

Milei’s deserved but premature celebration

12-10-2024 06:09 If two highly sensitive issues like pensions and universities fail to gather the two-thirds majority needed to overturn vetoes, President Milei can rest assured that his executive powers will remain intact for another year.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Veto power! Milei’s ‘caste-like’ adaptations

12-10-2024 06:04 Milei’s libertarians took on two of the most sensitive issues in Argentine politics – our grannies and public education – and successfully came out of the bout on top without sparking an uprising.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

La persuasión avanza

10-10-2024 23:08 The government has long accepted the fragility, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of its legislative strength. But like good bilardistas, they believe that when you win, you win.

by Javier Calvo

ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Pimco, Barings question how soon Argentina can sell bonds again

08-10-2024 13:04 Economy Minister Luis Caputo told investors recently that the government expects to sell bonds abroad again by January 2026. For asset managers, however, that's a long shot.

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Will Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attempt a comeback?

05-10-2024 06:21 As Otto von Bismarck famously said, “politics is the art of the possible.”

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Laughing and crying at the same time

05-10-2024 05:51 A joker of sorts, Santiago Caputo seems to always be looking for ways to “troll” his audience. One example could be his boss’ recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly, in which multiple paragraphs were “copy-pasted” direct out of an episode of The West Wing.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

OPINION & ANALYSIS

The real Nayib Bukele – and his relationship with Javier Milei

04-10-2024 11:09 Despite this week’s attempts to play up ties between their two nations, there are remarkable differences between the presidents of El Salvador and Argentina.

by Eduardo Reina

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Is Milei's star beginning to fade?

28-09-2024 06:55 The first economist to become president in Argentina, he is banking on a rebound that has remained elusive thus far. The risks will only increase until people begin to feel the improvement

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

No future for Milei

28-09-2024 06:33 President Milei’s first speech at the UN General Assembly was the latest example of the many fruitless symbolic battles that Argentina’s 21st-century Don Quixote chooses to fight to feed his foundational ego trip.

by Marcelo J. García

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Untidily Crumbling Radicals

28-09-2024 06:05 The Unión Cívica Radical crisis perhaps stems from standing or falling from being the men in the middle in many senses – representing a middle class facing extinction and a middle ground squeezed out by polarisation.

by Michael Soltys

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Economy grew more than expected in July under Milei

25-09-2024 22:28 Argentina’s economy posted a larger-than-expected upturn in July, a promising sign for President Javier Milei.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Economic activity increased 1.7% between June and July, says INDEC

25-09-2024 22:28 Economic activity increased 1.7% between June and July, according to the INDEC national statistics bureau. However, it fell 1.3% in the year-on-year comparison.

CRIME & INSECURITY

Security success or truce? What explains the drop in violence in Rosario?

23-09-2024 15:13 Something has changed in Rosario since late 2023. The most violent city in Argentina saw a 62% drop in homicides year-on-year between January and August. Is a new zero tolerance approach working, or is there an implicit pact between the authorities and drug-gangs?

POLITICS & THE MEDIA

Press freedom in Argentina in the age of Javier Milei

21-09-2024 06:43 Milei, a by-product of the media ecosystem, has taken specific actions to curb press freedom, attacking the industry’s finances and limiting journalists’ access to information.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Milei’s Bermuda Triangle

21-09-2024 06:31 Milei’s political future lies within a triangle defined by inflation, approval ratings, and unemployment.

by Marcelo J. García

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Higher learning versus hire learning

21-09-2024 06:19 There is no chance of improving the quality of higher education without doing something about the quantity of both universities and students.

by Michael Soltys

ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Worrying data behind August inflation rate and projections for September

15-09-2024 05:13 Consumer prices rose 4.2% in Argentina in August – above government and private forecasts. A look at the causes and projections with economic analysts.

by Luis Machado

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Teachers left alone

14-09-2024 09:35 If education began with Socrates and his pupil Plato on two ends of a log, both learning and teaching are in crisis today.

by Michael Soltys

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Mixed signals

14-09-2024 06:43 It is clear that Milei and his team have the necessary tools to negotiate, when they want to. But doing so exposes them to caste-like behaviour, which is in turn exposed by their opponents.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Javier Milei in the real world of the Lilliputians

14-09-2024 05:51 There may be nothing more “caste” than a group of deputies who vote one way one day and another way a few weeks later. But Milei knows that some elements of the caste are more useful than others, depending on which side of the political equation they fall.

by Marcelo J. García

ANALYSIS

Alberto Fujimori, emblem of '90s absolutism and corruption

12-09-2024 00:46 Late Peru leader was applauded for recovering Peru's lost economy, but his crimes – of which there are dozens – overshadowed his achievements.

by Darío Silva D'Andrea

ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Nine months in, the economic data alarming Milei's government

09-09-2024 22:25 President Javier Milei has closed the third quarter of his administration with Argentina’s economic activity in poor health. He has notched up some achievements – exchange rate stability and a slowdown in inflation, for example – but the loss of purchasing power and increased unemployment are worrying.

by Gonzalo Martínez

As I see it

A most illiberal libertarian

07-09-2024 06:06 Is Milei a democrat? Probably not; it is increasingly clear that, by instinct, he is an authoritarian who does not take kindly to even mild criticism.

by James Neilson

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Decisions Milei refuses to make

07-09-2024 05:52 Milei will eventually pay the political price for the decisions he fails to make today. His current popularity, buoyed by the perception that recession is the lesser evil compared to rampant inflation, won’t last forever.

by Marcelo J. García

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The whys and whens of decline

07-09-2024 05:08 Analysts of Argentina’s decline understandably focus on the whys but there is a strong case for saying that they are inextricably intertwined with the whens.

by Michael Soltys

Day of the Immigrant

Bhavna Sharma: Diversity makes us stronger

04-09-2024 06:52 I feel there is a thread that unites Argentine and British people: the conviction that diversity makes us stronger.

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Selling your soul to the devil?

31-08-2024 05:40 Macri and Milei are still feeling each other out, much like heavyweight boxers who dance around each other throwing light jabs for fear of being hit with an uppercut. All of which begs the question, who will stab the other one in the back first?

by Agustino Fontevecchia