Politicians and project-sponsors often present infrastructure projects as promised growth, mobility, jobs, or cleaner energy. After the ribbon-cutting a harder question remains: who pays when something goes wrong? In infrastructure and project finance, advisors and lenders describe this as a technical question of “risk allocation.” And in politics, it surfaces as corruption scandals, fiscal crises […]
Tag: Argentina
The Geopolitical Strategies Behind the U.S. Visa Waiver Program
After a nine-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Miami en route to Washington, a delegation of Argentine officials planned to meet with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to sign an agreement adding Argentina to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Noem had already signed a statement of intent to explore Argentina’s membership in the VWP. […]
The Same Old Corruption Story in Argentina
Corruption in South America is hardly breaking news, but the Milei scandal cuts differently because it was never supposed to happen here. Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, rose to power as a chainsaw-wielding outsider who promised to destroy the “political caste” and end decades of backroom deals. Now, leaked recordings point straight at his […]
Milei and MAGA: A Love Story
If the pragmatic James Carville gave us the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid,” we now have an ideologue’s response. Javier Milei, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” President of Argentina, won the 2023 presidential election off the back of his rallying cry “Long live freedom, Goddamnit!” Just last month, Milei’s slogan, glistening and italicized, found itself engraved on […]
Argentina at a Crossroads
On October 22nd, voters flocked to the polls to elect the new president of Argentina, amongst intense political and economic strife. All three candidates offered different solutions to the same problem: how to fix the economy. By the end of the day, it became clear that the top two contenders, Sergio Massa and Javier Milei, […]
Argentina: The Division of the Kirchneristas Portends the Return of the Right
After twelve long years of left-wing Kirchnerismo, the center-right political alliance Cambiemos (“Let’s Change”) finally took hold of the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s presidential residence. Only two months after losing the presidential elections against the center-right alliance on December 10th, Argentina’s former ruling Frente para la Victoria (“FpV”) bloc has already begun to crumble. With newly […]
It Takes Two to Tango
What a bitter runoff between Argentine frontrunners means for its democracy At the first Democratic National Debate, Bernie Sanders knowingly quipped that people would be more prone to vote for him if they knew what a Democratic Socialist was. Sanders presents a new challenge for American voters, quick to stuff Bernie into the oft feared Socialist […]
Argentina’s Soiled National Fabric: The Dirty War, Trials, and Truth Commissions
The truth can be painful. Yet it is, paradoxically, the only way to personal and social peace in Argentina—a country seriously marred by its own history. No matter how much it cleans up its act, it seems like Argentina just can’t manage to scrub out the stains of the “Dirty War” that ravaged the country […]