News of buenos aires herald

Goodbye to the Argentine papacy

26-04-2025 05:00 While some of the causes Bergoglio embraced may have been good, by adopting them he blurred the distinction between Catholicism and what most of the “progressive” atheists and agnostics who have long dominated Western culture already take for granted.

by James Neilson

Milei goes low in an effort to get high

19-04-2025 06:00 To get the big electoral majority he is after, Milei will have to persuade such people that he is the man, as was Juan Domingo Perón in his moment and after him, Carlos Menem and Néstor Kirchner.

by James Neilson

Sailing blithely into the maelstrom

05-04-2025 06:15 Like Donald Trump with his error-prone minions, Javier Milei is accompanied by an entourage which includes far too many individuals who are unsuited for high office.

by James Neilson

The old order is fighting back

22-03-2025 07:45 Milei has managed to apply a much-needed corrective to a political order that, until he took over, seemed to have been programmed to destroy both itself and the country.

by James Neilson

Hail to the chiefs

01-03-2025 06:15 Much of the world is reverting to an older formula in which it is taken for granted that everything depends on the whims of a handful of big men.

by James Neilson

The quest for the new philosopher’s stone

01-02-2025 09:07 For good or ill, Artificial Intelligence is the philosopher’s stone of the age we are living in.

by James Neilson

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

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

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

Milei books a seat on the Trump express

16-11-2024 05:52 Though Milei expects Trump to lend him a helping hand on the financial front, he must be worried by his determination to surround the US with sky-high protectionist walls.

by James Neilson

Post-electoral Democrat blues

09-11-2024 07:36 If Democrats were wise, they would understand that it was due to their incompetence, combined with highhandedness, that Trump came roaring back.

by James Neilson

Fear and loathing in the US

02-11-2024 06:42 About the only thing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris agree upon is that, unless one of them wins, democracy will die in the United States.

by James Neilson

A most unappetising choice

26-10-2024 05:32 The choice, then, is between a blustering egotist and an almost comically vacuous lady.

by James Neilson

There are no easy answers in education

12-10-2024 06:59 Living as we do in an egalitarian age, many educationalists are reluctant to take into account another unfortunate fact: people have different talents

by James Neilson

The UN gets the Milei treatment

28-09-2024 06:22 Hypocrisy is the glue that holds the UN together. It would fall apart if the democratic members began demanding the immediate expulsion of countries whose regimes refuse to observe the rules they pledged themselves to respect.

by James Neilson

Israel’s terrible swift sword

21-09-2024 06:20 Israel not only tore apart Hezbollah’s communications’ network and undermined its morale, but also scored a major propaganda triumph. For a small country whose very survival depends entirely on its military prowess, this is a matter of literally vital importance.

by James Neilson

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

A window of opportunity for autocrats

31-08-2024 05:37 Donald Trump is far from being the only North American politician who would like to see his country leave the rest of the world to its own wretched devices.

by James Neilson

When whites play at identity politics

10-08-2024 05:55 To the alarm of many not just in the English-speaking countries but also in many others, hard-up whites have decided that they too can play at identity politics.

Goodbye to all that, perhaps

13-07-2024 07:32 Like Mauricio Macri before him. Milei is convinced that for Argentina to prosper he and his supporters will have to win the “cultural battle.”

by James Neilson

The US and Europe in meltdown mode

06-07-2024 05:50 All this political turmoil reflects what is going on beneath the surface. In every Western country, people are dissatisfied with the way things are and fear they could soon get far worse.

by James Neilson

A bad time for politicians everywhere

29-06-2024 04:19 Once upon a time, successful politicians were held in high regard. This is no longer the case.

by James Neilson

Milei may have to come down to earth

22-06-2024 05:53 When talking high theory, the president is in his element, but he is far less self-confident when it comes to practical matters; he must feel they are beneath him and can be left to his sister.

by James Neilson

A sea change in the Western world

15-06-2024 06:40 Abandoned to their fate by leading Democrats and socialists, people are turning towards politicians who are willing to take on the system they think has betrayed them.

by James Neilson

The country needs a proper civil service

08-06-2024 05:36 Rather than merely slimming down a pathologically obese public sector, it would be far better to concentrate on greatly improving its quality.

by James Neilson

The greatest show on earth

01-06-2024 05:56 Milei is playing the leading part in an imaginative cosmic drama he himself dreamed up in which, backed by heavenly forces, he battles the leftist foes of everything that is good.

by James Neilson

The perils of cyberspace

04-05-2024 05:37 A world in which everybody is electronically connected to everybody else and to the Internet is not one in which people feel closer to one another. Engrossed as they are with the talking pixels they see before them, they do their best to steer clear of flesh-and-blood creatures.

by James Neilson

Give us more education

27-04-2024 05:07 Though academe has been on iron rations for decades, with professors long being accustomed to having to survive on a pittance, the feeling that Milei had it in for the universities because he thinks they breed lefties gave teeth to Tuesday’s demonstrations.

by James Neilson

The worst journalists in the world

20-04-2024 06:07 Milei wants to control the narrative and, by doing so, change the way Argentines think about the world. Does hurling insults at journalists help win him more adherents?

by James Neilson

Looking for unity offshore

06-04-2024 06:54 Despite the diplomatic points that can be scored, the current status quo looks likely to prevail for some time to come.

by James Neilson

The dragon is getting older too fast

23-03-2024 06:32 Not that long ago, many took it for granted that China would soon overtake the United States to become the world's top nation, but there are plenty of good reasons to think they were mistaken.

by James Neilson

Politicians in the dog house

02-03-2024 05:01 Business, especially big business, has long had a bad press in Argentina. This is partly due to the willingness of politicians to blame it for their own failures, as happens whenever inflation gets out of hand.

by James Neilson

Milei runs into a roadblock

10-02-2024 06:51 In most places, the old guard has managed to fend off those besieging it. Even if on occasion the establishment’s forces have had to beat a retreat, they have usually retained enough power to thwart their enemies.

by James Neilson

An outsider at the centre of things

03-02-2024 08:11 Milei’s game plan is straightforward enough. Unfortunately, as governments the world over are well aware, squeezing the money supply is always a painful process.

by James Neilson

The dreaded Orange Man is on the way back

27-01-2024 06:16 Versions of the same drama, in which upstarts successfully take on those who believe themselves entitled to lord it over everybody else, are being staged in many parts of the world where ordinary folk feel they are getting a raw deal.

by James Neilson

Milei goes to the Magic Mountain

20-01-2024 06:53 What goes down splendidly with teenagers in La Matanza does not necessarily appeal to fabulously wealthy individuals who could be persuaded to invest in Milei’s ambitious project.

by James Neilson

The Kirchnerites have Milei in their sights

13-01-2024 06:21 The fate of the new government will depend largely on Milei’s ability to persuade people that the fearful emergency he goes on about is not just a figment of an overheated imagination but something terribly real.

by James Neilson

Doomsday prophecies are back in fashion

06-01-2024 07:28 There are signs that the current vogue for doomsday prophecies is having a more demoralising effect than previous ones.

by James Neilson

For many politicians, payback time has arrived

31-12-2023 08:16 President Javier Milei, who wants to reshape Argentina from the ground up, is already being besieged by furious Kirchnerites, trade union bosses and “social movement” activists.

by James Neilson

People everywhere want change

23-12-2023 06:09 As democracy depends on the majority feeling satisfied with its lot, the sour mood that is affecting large chunks of the population in high-income countries is causing anguish among those who fear that authoritarianism could make a comeback.

by James Neilson

Javier Milei meets Mr Micawber

16-12-2023 06:23 As happened to Mr Micawber on one occasion, Argentina continues to languish in debtors’ prison. People here are well aware of this unfortunate fact, which is why Milei has won popular backing for the ruthless cost-cutting programme that is now underway.

by James Neilson

Milei steps into the breach

09-12-2023 03:53 Javier Milei will soon find that completely reshaping a long-established political and economic order is sure to be a terribly difficult undertaking.

by James Neilson

A president without money to spend

02-12-2023 09:56 For any government, whether populist, neoliberal, Trotskyite or flat-earthist, catering to the pressing needs of the millions of people who are on welfare would remain a huge problem.

by James Neilson

A personal tribute: Maud Daverio de Cox, 1931-2023

02-12-2023 08:44 Maud Daverio de Cox's story is quite rightly centred on human rights, but the late 92-year-old was remarkable woman and loyal wife who shone through her writing despite a brutal battle with blindness.

by Michael Soltys

Maud Daverio de Cox, author indelibly linked to dictatorship era, dies at 92

01-12-2023 11:38 Author Maud Daverio de Cox, the wife of former 'Buenos Aires Herald' editor Robert Cox who helped expose abuses perpetrated by 1976-1983 military dictatorship, passes away aged 92.

by James Grainger

Javier Milei has a steep mountain to climb

25-11-2023 14:25 Is a “change of mentality” taking place? We should soon know the answer to that particular question – much will depend on how people react to the hard times that are barrelling towards us.

by James Neilson

Who is the scarier?

17-11-2023 00:27 Seeing that from the very beginning whoever wins will be forced to take measures that make life even more difficult for many who voted for him, he could become very unpopular indeed well before he has settled in.

by James Neilson

What Israel is up against

10-11-2023 14:42 While there can be no doubt that on October 7 the Israelis let their guard slip, the complacency many had evidently come to feel now belongs to the past.

by James Neilson

Mauricio Macri’s takeover bid

04-11-2023 05:36 Why did Mauricio Macri decide to throw in his lot with a certifiable nutcase? One reason is his contempt for Massa. Another, presumably the main one, is his belief that he can take advantage of Milei.

by James Neilson

The chameleon versus the dog-man

28-10-2023 04:14 On Sunday, much of the electorate let Bullrich and her backers know that the last thing it wanted was a dose of realism, no matter how small, and sent her packing.

by James Neilson