Martin Langfield's Blog, page 4

Rebuilding Venezuela

Oil-rich Venezuela looks increasingly like a failed state. It will need the help of friends abroad to restore basic functions if embattled President Nicolás Maduro departs. That will best be provided by loans and investment, though, not the kind of throwback U.S. military intervention that President Donald Trump has hinted at. Here is an overview I wrote in February for Reuters Breakingviews of how the country could rebuild itself.

 

Review: The attack of the killer fridges has begun

The world is ever more connected via the internet, from cars and power grids to home appliances and toys. That means ever more things are dangerously hackable, security expert Bruce Schneier writes in “Click Here to Kill Everybody.” The title is hyperbolic, but not by much. In some ways, the attack of the killer fridges has already begun. Here’s my review.

AMLOve is not enough

Some thoughts on Mexico, where I lived for six and a bit years back in the day, and AMLO: https://reut.rs/2tGhvel

Messianic AMLO may give Mexico what it least needs

Presidential front-runner López Obrador has pledged to root out corruption and dampen drug violence while boosting the economy and lifting up the poor. That may win him Sunday’s election, but such goals require strong institutions and fiscal nous. His rise may bring the opposite.

[image error]

A news report I wrote in 1996 about then regional p...

Review: The other side of Trumpismo

Mexico and the U.S. share complex, ever-deeper ties that contradict Donald Trump’s hostile rhetoric, Andrew Selee writes in “Vanishing Frontiers.” Bicultural businesses, movies and even co-hosting soccer’s 2026 World Cup are better signposts to the future than nationalist rants. My review:  https://reut.rs/2JI1HSi

[image error]

The other side of Trumpismo

Mexico and the U.S. share complex, ever-deeper ties that contradict Donald Trump’s hostile rhetoric, Andrew Selee writes in “Vanishing Frontiers.” Bicultural businesses, movies and even co-hosting soccer’s 2026 World Cup are better signposts to the future than nationalist rants. My review:  https://reut.rs/2JI1HSi

[image error]

 

In loco Parentis …

Pedro Parente’s exit as the head of state-controlled oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro deprives Brazil of some much-needed adult oversight. My Friday column.

[image error]

 

 

Review: The next fight for Latin America’s soul

My review of Michael Reid’s excellent “Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America.” http://reut.rs/2ySebO1

Dictators and demagogues have come and gone; progress in the region has been impressive. Still, rule of law and effective institutions still lack, Michael Reid writes in “Forgotten Continent.” That makes the next steps toward prosperity harder.

[image error]

 

She’s back, but …

This week’s piece on Latin America: Argentina gives Macri a narrow vote of confidence

The president’s nemesis and predecessor Cristina Fernandez did not fare as well as expected in Sunday’s primary election. The peso’s strength in response shows the markets back Macri’s reforms. But Fernandez’s tally is a reminder the economic recovery is not reaching the poorest.

[image error]

 

 

 

 

 

Peace paradox

Colombia faces a paradox as FARC rebels disarm http://reut.rs/2sv7jC8

Ending five decades of civil war will lift the Andean nation’s economy in the long run, but place additional burdens on tight government finances in the meantime if peace is to prosper. Encouragingly, murders are down and tourism up, but it could all still go wrong.

[image error]

Morto-vivo

[image error]

Brazil will have to live with a zombie government until 2018 elections, writes Martin Langfield. http://reut.rs/2sjeIUP