Interrupting the socialist renaissance (again) in South America is president-elect Javier Milei in Argentina, who so far makes Donald Trump look like Elizabeth Warren. As fascinated as I am by his coif and overall style, I’m also terrified of what’s to come. The Squad made a point recently of visiting leftist run Latin American countries because they recognize how vital it is for us to maintain strong partnerships with progressive leaders in this region. Our prior episodes on U.S. policy in Latin America (Ep 35 & Ep 42) offer a glimpse into why this region is overlooked in U.S. media and foreign policy.
Building a robust policy in Latin America helps to forge alliances to build ethical economic development relationships in the southern hemisphere. This makes a ton of practical sense for balancing trade, reducing emissions in transporting raw materials from across the globe, helps balance the supply chain, builds economic strength that will reduce border crossings and stabilizes governments.
The irony of the hard right turn in Argentina is that Milei is deliberately seeking to obliterate the internal structures of the Argentinian government in an effort to capture the attention of free market neoliberal policy makers in the United States. What he’s essentially doing is offering a blank check to U.S. interests to set roots in his nation. And he’ll eliminate any barrier to entry possible. It’s Milton Friedman’s dream scenario.
The reason it worked and Milei cruised to victory is because the Argentinian economy is in bad shape and has been historically mismanaged. My prediction is that similar to Pinochet’s turn in Chilé, this strategy will work in the short-term, but the long-term consequences will be devastating for the poor and marginalized Argentinians because that’s what always happens. I’m looking forward to delving further into Latin American policy in the coming year, and this guy is certainly going to make things interesting.
Santos
Speaking of another freakshow, I am currently without representation in Congress, as George Santos was finally expelled. Quite historic, actually. Because it’s my district, I can offer a pretty firm prediction that the seat will be occupied by its former occupant Tom Suozzi. Suozzi is a prototypical Blue Dog Democrat who was an integral part of the Problem Solver’s Caucus. In other words, he’s a Republican. But at least on key votes, there will be another Democrat in the seat. He has a knack for timing.
Gaza
Things in Palestine have taken yet another turn for the worse, as Israeli soldiers emptied out the remaining shelters. The IDF took what appears to be hundreds of men prisoner after stripping them down to their underwear and blindfolding them. Despite the fact that hostages have confirmed what IDF spokespeople have also said—that they were held underground and that’s where Hamas members remain—Israel continues to bombard residential areas from the air to clear the way for its ground assault. This now includes Southern Gaza, where residents from the north were told to flee. With humanitarian corridors being overrun and few places left to seek safe harbor, the death toll among Palestinian civilians is reaching historic numbers, given the short amount of time the war has been prosecuted.
Other things I’m obsessing over…
Rest in Punk together. “Haunted” by Sinead and Shane.
“Both Sides Now” from the Newport Folk Festival. I’ve written about it before. It’s pure love. Witness the generosity and respect from Brandi Carlile. Feel the admiration and anguish from the performers. Hear the triumph and surprise in Joni Mitchell’s laugh at the end.
Not saying it’s not a crisis. Just saying that it remains a crisis. In our immigration episode, we talked about the inflection point in immigration under Clinton, who made it more dangerous to try and leave the U.S. than to get into it. We have to rethink our immigration policy from the ground up to understand the nature of migrant work and to really think critically about what we want the future to look like in partnership with Latin America. (See above.)
Headlines
Cop28 is a full on mockery.
Sultan Al-Jaber, the president of Cop28, which is being held in the United Arab Emirates, has a day job. He’s the president of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). There was already controversy leading into Cop28, when leaked documents indicated that ADNOC was going to use the opportunity as the host nation to pursue oil and gas deals with certain attendees. Then it was discovered that ADNOC had access to internal correspondences from the Cop28 team. Adding fuel to the fire (see what I did there), Al-Jaber apparently erupted at a question during a panel saying there is no science behind the idea that we need to break quickly from fossil fuels to reach the 1.5C target.
From the article:
“Al Jaber said: ‘I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.’”
At the conclusion of the epilogue to the series on Palestine, I let off a bit of steam about the western media’s shocking betrayal of its own colleagues. More journalists have been killed in this conflict than at any other time in history, and we’re still only weeks into it. But because the vast majority of journalists were Palestinian or from outlets like Al Jazeera, the western media has been despicably silent on the matter. The hosts aren’t being as quiet anymore, at least over at CNN, as they mourn alongside longtime colleague Ibrahim Dahman, who basically lost his entire family.
From the article:
“Sunday will forever be remembered as a dark day for the Dahman family, after messages began pouring in on their messaging group that an Israeli strike had directly hit the building where his relatives were living in Beit Lahia, killing his uncle, and the uncle’s wife, daughter and two grandchildren, as well as his aunt, her husband and two children. At least two other relatives are in critical condition, and still others are still buried under the rubble.”
It’s a beautiful thing, really. The classic trope is that Democrats eat their own. Oh how the turntables have…Watching the GOP devour itself is of course wonderful. But there’s always the “careful what you wish for” aspect and the “devil you know.” (How many more tired tropes can I work in here?) What I’m relishing the most is that McCarthy is the last member of the self proclaimed “young guns” from the Tea Party movement that included Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan. Turns out they were shooting blanks all along.
From the article:
“Republicans’ margin will depend on the special elections for the seats of Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins of New York and GOP Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio next year, and the outcome of the election in New York to replace Santos on February 13. Johnson is expected to leave in the first quarter of 2024. Higgins is slated to leave sometime in February. House Republicans would go down to a thin two-vote margin with either the Johnson departure, or if the seat vacated by the expulsion by George Santos is filled by a Democrat. But that margin could revert back to a three-seat vote margin when Higgins leaves.”
“By the numbers, the outcome seems clear: Venezuelans voted to annex much of newly minted petrostate Guyana. But our correspondent says the referendum was mere electioneering by President Nicolás Maduro, with unimpressive results.”
“I agree with most of what you were saying about Biden's reelection chances and the forces working against him. If you want to say he's too old, fine, I'm not going to argue that. The clip you played of him though isn't about his age, it's about his disability.
He's been a stutterer for all his life and he's done a remarkable job of operating in politics in spite of it. Every so often though, he stumbles over words. That's what was happening in that clip that you played, and commented on with, "holy fuck!" That's just ableism.
Will the Right use that against him? Sure, but you don't have to help them.”
This Week on the Pod
The Montreal Protocol
There was a time when we listened to scientists. Believe it or not, it actually happened in the 1980s. Under Ronald Reagan. (Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a quasi-villain in this story.) When set against the backdrop of Cop28 being run by an oil and gas executive, that time we banned a whole bunch of products and chemicals in the '80s will make you wistful. When scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer, the world came together to pass the Montreal Protocol and then something even more miraculous occurred: it worked. In 2017, scientists noticed that the hole had started to repair itself and was shrinking. Here’s the story of how it all came together.
Here’s a snippet from the pod:
“As a child of the '80s, I can tell you that there were three existential threats that we were all made to fear. Nuclear war with Russia, a hole in the ozone and the biggest one: quicksand.
“Not many of us wound up encountering quicksand, and then Billy Joel played a concert in Leningrad and solved the Cold War. But the hole in the ozone layer was a universal science lesson we all received on the news, in pop culture and in television shows. It was a really big deal.”