Far-Right Milei Wins Argentine Presidential Election, Vows to Dollarize Economy |
Libertarian first-term congressman Javier Milei swept to victory (FT) in Argentina’s presidential runoff election yesterday, earning over 11 percentage points more than Economy Minister Sergio Massa of the governing center-left coalition. Milei has pledged “drastic” changes to Argentina’s economic model, including dollarization and cuts to state spending. During the campaign, he vowed to reorient Argentina’s foreign policy (El País) away from China and Latin American countries and toward the United States and Israel.
Milei’s victory came as Argentina experiences annual inflation at over 140 percent. The closely watched election (Reuters) was also important in part due to the country’s abundance of lithium, a critical mineral used in rechargeable batteries. Though the BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa invited Argentina to join earlier this year, Milei has said he will reject the invitation. He also said he would pull Argentina out of the Mercosur customs union of South American countries.
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“Argentina has tended to be a good crucible for testing theories of what determines a country’s debt carrying capacity,” CFR expert Brad Setser writes. “[If Milei] proceeds with his proposal to dollarize Argentina’s economy, his experiment will test whether actual dollar reserves are in fact needed to dollarize, and help assess whether dollarization helps limit the risk of default.”
“With no imminent need to moderate, Milei may not choose to do so—his victory speech struck an uncompromising stance, and other populist governments have found that their best strategy is to come out of the gates swinging,” the National University of Río Negro’s and Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council’s María Esperanza Casullo tells Americas Quarterly.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Biden Says Revitalized Palestinian Authority Should Govern Gaza, West Bank |
In a Washington Post op-ed calling for consequences for both Hamas’s and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression, U.S. President Joe Biden said that a revitalized Palestinian Authority should govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank while “we all work toward a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He wrote that the United States is prepared to implement visa bans on “extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”
Yemen: Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized a cargo ship (AP) in the Red Sea and took its twenty-five crew members hostage, citing the ship’s links to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the seizure an “act of Iranian terrorism.”
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Taiwan’s Ruling Party Presidential Candidate Picks Envoy to U.S. As Running Mate |
Ruling party candidate and presidential frontrunner Lai Ching-te chose Hsiao Bi-khim (Nikkei), Taiwan’s top envoy to the United States, as nominee for vice president. Hsiao is the first woman to serve as Taiwan’s top envoy to Washington.
Japan: Tokyo’s cabinet will send a bill (Nikkei) to create a $6.7 billion endowment for the country’s space agency to parliament. The fund would allow the agency to invest in private sector and university technologies over the next ten years.
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Myanmar Clashes Prompt Evacuations of Thai Nationals |
More than two hundred Thais as well as some Filipinos and Singaporeans are being evacuated (Reuters) from northern Myanmar through China amid an uptick in fighting in the region between the ruling junta and ethnic minorities, Thailand’s foreign ministry said.
Afghanistan: Online abuse of politically active Afghan women between June and December of 2022 was 217 percent higher (AP) than during the same period in 2021, watchdog group Afghan Witness said. The Taliban has banned women from most areas of public life since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021.
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Former Liberian Vice President Wins Tight Presidential Runoff |
Former Vice President Joseph Boakai secured 50.9 percent of the vote (FT) with over 99 percent of votes counted, election authorities said. President George Weah, who won 49.1 percent of the vote, called his opponent to concede on Friday. In this article, CFR expert Michelle Gavin looks at how history cast a shadow over Liberia’s recent election.
Senegal: Jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko endorsed his deputy (Bloomberg) Bassirou Diomaye Faye for next year’s presidential election after a court ruled that Sonko could not run. Sonko has been detained since July and his eligibility has been contested in a series of court rulings and appeals. Faye also faces criminal charges.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Visits Kyiv, Pledges Continued Support |
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Reuters: Venezuela Works Toward Offshore Gas Deal With Trinidad, Shell |
Venezuela’s government is nearing a deal with multinational oil company Shell and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company to develop an offshore gas field, Reuters reported. The development became possible after the United States, which maintains broad sanctions on Venezuela, issued a two-year authorization for the field in January. |
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Highly Watched AI Start-up Ousts Founder, Whom Microsoft Hires |
Microsoft hired Sam Altman (NYT), the co-founder of artificial intelligence (AI) start-up OpenAI, days after OpenAI’s board pushed him out. OpenAI is known for launching chatbot ChatGPT. Microsoft hired Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman to lead a new AI research team. |
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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