Tag: argentina

US To Sell Black Hawk Helicopters to Argentina, Despite Renewed Tensions With the UK Over the Falkland Islands

Argentina is arming itself, and the US is helping it.

We have been reporting here on TGP about the renewed designs by Argentina over the oil-rich Falkland Islands – situated off its coast, but currently a British possession.

Argentina and the UK fought over the territories back in 1982, with the Europeans coming out on top.

But since then, a lot has changed, including the fact that the British can’t rely on automatic support from the US, after their Globalist leaders’ refusal to aid in the military operations against Iran.

And today (11), it arises that the US will sell Black Hawk military helicopters to Argentina for the very first first time.

The Telegraph reported:

“The State Department said the proposed $140m (£103m) deal – which would give Buenos Aires four UH-60L helicopters – would improve Argentina’s ability ‘to meet current and future threats’.”

“The move follows Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments about the Falklands, with the US president suggesting he would not help Britain fight an invasion of the islands by Argentina.

Last week, The Telegraph reported that the US could also oppose Britain’s claim to sovereignty over the islands to encourage Andy Burnham to spend more on defense.”

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China Rejected 22 Tons of Argentine Beef Over a Banned Antibiotic as Trump Opens the Door to 300,000 Tons

President Donald Trump’s plan to allow up to 300,000 metric tonnes of foreign beef into the US has sparked an unusual backlash from Republican ranchers and cattle groups, who warn that cheaper imports could make it harder to rebuild America’s depleted herd.

Trump says the move will lower grocery costs while giving American ranchers time to rebuild cattle supplies. Critics see a contradiction, arguing that increasing imports could weaken the incentive for US producers to expand.

The controversy also puts Argentina under scrutiny. In March, China rejected a 22-tonne shipment of Argentine beef after detecting chloramphenicol, an antibiotic prohibited for livestock use in Argentina. There is no evidence that this rejected shipment is connected to Trump’s import plan.

On August 21, Trump announced that the US would allow up to 300,000 metric tonnes of product for ground beef to enter over 90 days without the additional out-of-quota tariff.

Trump said foreign exporters had committed to selling the beef at 25% below current market prices. The White House said an executive order with further details was expected within two weeks.

The plan concerns lean beef trimmings used for ground beef, rather than 300,000 tonnes of assorted beef cuts. Trump initially declined to identify the supplying countries, later naming Argentina as one of them.

That leaves a major question hanging over the Trump beef import plan: who exactly will supply the new imports?

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Argentina Gives Government New Power to Bar or Expel Foreigners Over “Hate” Messages and Attacks on National Symbols

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has signed a new decree expanding the country’s immigration restrictions to cover certain speech and conduct directed against Argentines.

Decree 681/2026, issued on July 29 and published in Argentina’s Official Gazette on July 30, amends the country’s Immigration Law. It creates new grounds for denying entry to foreigners and for canceling the residency of foreigners already in Argentina.

Under the decree, authorities may act against foreigners who have directed oral or written “hate messages” or incited violence against Argentines as a people, or against an individual Argentine because of that person’s nationality. The measure also covers foreigners who participate in acts described as an “outrage” against Argentina’s national symbols.

The government argues that the measure is justified by national sovereignty, public order, social cohesion and the protection of Argentine citizens. The decree says Argentina has experienced an increase in messages of hate and acts of hostility directed specifically at the Argentine people, their culture and national identity.

The key question: What counts as “hate”?

This is where the policy deserves careful scrutiny.

The decree does not say that every criticism of Argentina or its government can be punished. In fact, it specifically states that legitimate expressions of ideological disagreement and political, academic or civic criticism protected by the Constitution are not covered by the new provision.

That distinction matters.

A foreign national who threatens violence against Argentines because they are Argentine is in a fundamentally different category from someone who criticizes President Milei, mocks Argentine politicians, condemns Argentina’s immigration policy, disagrees with its foreign policy or expresses an unpopular opinion about the country.

A threat of violence is not the same thing as a political argument.

Incitement to violence is not the same thing as criticism of a president.

And an offensive political statement is not automatically a security threat.

Sovereignty is legitimate — but so is caution

Conservatives in the United States generally recognize that a sovereign nation has the right to control who enters and remains within its territory.

The United States itself gives the federal government broad authority over the admission of foreign nationals, particularly when national security or immigration law is involved.

Argentina is therefore not unusual in asserting that foreigners can be denied entry or removed under certain circumstances.

The difficult question is where immigration enforcement intersects with expression.

The Argentine decree itself attempts to draw that line by explicitly protecting legitimate political, ideological, academic and civic criticism.

But the practical application of the law will ultimately determine how meaningful that protection is.

Who decides what qualifies as “hate”?

The most important issue may not be the government’s stated objective of preventing violence.

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Argentina’s Milei Borrows Warren Buffett’s Idea To Punish Deficit-Spending Politicians

More than two years after campaigning to “blow up” Argentina’s central bank, President Javier Milei has announced his “Fiscal Shackle” bill – a permanent rule aimed at preventing Argentina from approving or maintaining budgets with fiscal deficits that could have consequences for politicians.

On Thursday, in a speech recorded at the Casa Rosada and broadcast nationwide, Milei proposed an overhaul that would restore the Central Bank of Argentina’s sole mandate of preserving the currency’s value, stop direct and indirect financing of the Treasury, provinces, and municipalities, and expose officials who violate the rules to criminal charges. “It will be considered fraud and illicit association,” he explained.

Milei said this is the “most important set of structural reforms in the last 91 years,” taking the year of the Central Bank’s founding, 1935, as the starting point for that period. He argued that the central bank has functioned as “a tool for theft” and indicated that his reform proposal seeks “to put an end to the scam of counterfeiting money to finance high-level politics, whose most evident manifestation is the inflation rate.”

The plan would also strengthen independence of central bank officials, making them more difficult for future administrations to remove. Milei said the reforms were an effort to end decades of deficit monetization, the primary source of Argentina’s recurring inflation and currency crises.

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Doug Casey on Swap Lines, Secret Bailouts, and the Weaponization of the Dollar

International Man: While the term “swap line” sounds technical and harmless, it seems like it’s just a euphemism for a bailout.

What does it say when Washington starts extending swap lines to countries like Argentina and the UAE?

Doug Casey: First, we should define what a swap line is. It basically amounts to the US giving a foreign country X amount of currency in dollars, and the other country paying for it by giving the US the same amount in their currency. For decades, US dollar swap lines were mostly reserved for major allies and core financial centers around the world.

It’s a problem, however, with countries whose currencies have no value outside of their boundaries. A country that gets a swap line from the US is trading its paper for liquid and fungible dollars. The US may then get stuck with UAE dirhams or Argentine pesos. It’s trading real money for play money, Monopoly money.

In the case of Argentina, that swap line may never be repaid. The US might wind up being stuck with a bunch of worthless Argentine pesos.

When the US gives a foreign country a swap line, it basically creates those dollars out of nothing. They enter the banking system and debase the dollar. Doing so gives the US some leverage over a country that takes the swap.

But it’s a pretty expensive way of getting leverage.

International Man: In Argentina’s case, the US framed the swap line as a stabilizing measure. But was this really about financial stability, or was it about propping up a politically important ally at a critical moment?

Doug Casey: Since Milei is Trump’s new BFF, the swap was intended to help Argentina’s perennially weak economy, thereby helping Milei. That’s great for the moment, but now Argentina has to deal with another $30 billion of debt. I would’ve recommended Milei default on all of Argentina’s debts to the IMF, the World Bank, and the US—that might have worked during Milei’s first few months. “I’m sorry, everyone. We just don’t have the ability to pay right now. Wait until I set things straight.” I’m not sure that Argentina would’ve been punished badly for that. Third World countries default all the time.

Instead, Argentina taking the swap just indebts them by another $30 billion. The way to look at this is that future generations of young Argentines are being turned into serfs in order to repay that swap line, along with the rest of the debt.

Milei should have called a spade a spade and admitted bankruptcy instead of going further into debt to keep the Ponzi scheme going.

Argentina’s financial situation under Milei is very strange. The country theoretically owns two million ounces of gold. A million of those ounces were already sitting in London. But then, as soon as Milei got into office, he physically transferred another 440,000 ounces to London, saying that they were safer there. Which is an obvious lie; there’s no reason to think they’ll ever return.

That’s on top of buying 24 F-16s from Denmark—totally useless planes for Argentina—for another $350 million, plus $150 million per year in maintenance. And failing to abolish the central bank, which was a centerpiece of his election campaign. And worse, using the central bank to maintain the peso at ridiculously high levels, which is serving to bankrupt thousands of small businesses.

These stupidities might make the $30 billion swap seem necessary.

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Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel Moves Family to Argentina, Citing Concerns Over America’s “Long-Term Direction”

Billionaire investor and tech founder Peter Thiel has quietly relocated his family to Argentina, a move that is fueling speculation about the future plans of one of Silicon Valley’s most influential and politically connected figures.

The move abroad is allegedly partly driven by concerns about the “long-term direction” of the United States, as well as Thiel’s ideological alignment with Milei’s anarcho-capitalist government.

The PayPal co-founder has purchased a sprawling mansion in Buenos Aires and enrolled his children in local schools, according to recent report from the New York Times. The development has attracted significant attention on both sides of the Atlantic.

While some social media users interpreted the move as an outright departure from the United States, the reality appears more nuanced. Thiel remains an American citizen, and the overwhelming majority of his wealth and business interests remain firmly anchored in the United States.

Even so, the decision has prompted fresh questions about why one of America’s most prominent technology investors is spending increasing amounts of time in Argentina.

The answer may lie in a combination of politics, economics, and ideology.

According to reports, Thiel has developed a close relationship with Argentine President Javier Milei, whose radical free-market reforms have earned admiration from libertarians and economic conservatives around the world.

Milei’s administration has aggressively challenged Argentina’s political establishment, slashed government spending, and pursued a sweeping deregulation agenda aimed at reviving the country’s struggling economy.

Those priorities align closely with views Thiel has expressed for years.

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Argentine Horse Falls Victim to Cattle Mutilation Phenomenon?

An Argentine farmer is understandably unnerved after one of his horses seemingly fell victim to the cattle mutilation phenomenon. According to a local media report (warning: graphic image), the strange case occurred earlier this month near the community of Colonia Chica when the man discovered the downed animal and immediately suspected something was amiss. What initially left him scratching his head were the horse’s wounds, which consisted of cuts said to be “surgical and precise.”

Additionally, despite various parts of the animal’s body being sliced and diced, there was nary a drop of blood around the creature that had been completely exsanguinated. Also baffling to the farmer was that it appeared the horse was stunned by the deadly attack, with no signs that it put up a fight. “The animal did not defend itself or have any reaction,” he observed, “they always kick or leave a trace of the struggle.”

As if all of that were not weird enough, the farmer noted that there was no indication of a human presence, such as footprints or tire tracks, at the scene of the slaying. Yet another hallmark of the cattle mutilation phenomenon, the man marveled that “it’s very strange” that typically voracious scavenger animals have refused to feast on the creature’s carcass. Finally, as in cases in the United States and elsewhere, experts and authorities are bewildered by what happened to the farmer’s horse, and the perpetrator is unlikely to be brought to justice.

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Argentine Lawmaker Proposes UFO Program

In a testament to the global nature of the intrigue surrounding UFOs at the moment, an Argentine lawmaker has introduced a bill for his province to establish a UFO program to study anomalous aerial events and phenomena. According to a local media report, Victor Sanzberro put forward the proposal in the Entre Ríos Senate last week. Dubbed the Provincial Program for Registration of Anomalous Phenomena (PRFA), the project would create a proverbial UFO hotline that anyone in the province could use to report anomalous aerial or aquatic activity, which would then be examined by an enlisted panel of experts and made available to the public.

A social media post from Sanzberro announcing the bill explained that the purpose of the program is for “fishermen, islanders, pilots, and citizens to have an official and respectful space where to report what they see in our skies and rivers.” Clearly a savvy politician, the lawmaker mused that “this initiative seeks to transform decades of civil research into a real science tourism and development opportunity for the region.” To that end, the UFO program would be based in the city of Victoria, which just so happens to be the community Sanzberro represents. “We have to work together to improve this project,” he declared, “and make Entre Rios the first province in the country with a public, serious, and transparent record” on anomalous phenomenon.

Sanzberro’s proposed UFO program is the latest in a trend that just might rival Sasquatch calling contests when it comes to paranormal concepts currently spreading through the zeitgeist. Last week, a British lawmaker found himself the subject of national headlines after he suggested creating a committee to look at anomalous aerial phenomena around a proposed airport. Meanwhile, here in America, proposals for the formation of a UFO group have recently been put forward in multiple state legislatures, including Vermont and New Hampshire, with more likely to follow as the concept and the phenomenon itself continue to captivate lawmakers and the public.

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Hantavirus Patient Zero Was Dutch Birdwatcher Who Toured Massive Rat-Infested Landfill in Argentina’s ‘City at the End of the World’ Just Days Before Deadly Cruise Ship Outbreak

More information has come to light about the origins of the deadly hantavirus cluster aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, as health officials have now identified “Patient Zero,” the first confirmed case, as a 70-year-old Dutch ornithologist who visited a heavily rat-infested landfill just outside Ushuaia, Argentina, just days before boarding.

The incident has already claimed three lives aboard the ship and sparked international contact-tracing efforts across multiple continents.

Patient Zero has been named as Leo Schilperoord, a Dutch birdwatcher traveling with his 69-year-old wife, Mirjam Schilperoord.

The couple made a side trip in late March to a landfill a few miles outside Ushuaia, the southernmost city on Earth, famously nicknamed “The City at the End of the World,” specifically to observe the rare white-throated caracara.

Authorities now believe the pair inhaled aerosolized particles from the droppings or urine of long-tailed pygmy rice rats carrying the Andes strain of hantavirus while at the contaminated site.

Four days after that landfill visit, on April 1, the Schilperoords boarded the MV Hondius expedition cruise ship in Ushuaia along with approximately 112 other passengers.

Leo began showing symptoms, including a fever, headache, stomach pain, and diarrhea, on April 6 and died on the ship five days later.

His wife also succumbed to the virus.

“Mirjam got off the ship, along with Leo’s body, on April 24, during a planned stop on the Atlantic island of Santa Helena. She flew to Johannesburg in South Africa and transferred on a KLM flight bound for the Netherlands but never made it. The crew found her too sick to fly and removed her. She collapsed at the airport and died the next day,” the Post reports.

According to a report from the New York Post, “The couple — from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands — were identified in obituaries published in their monthly village magazine.”

The Andes strain of hantavirus is unique because it is the only known variant capable of limited person-to-person transmission, though this remains rare.

Most cases occur through contact with infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva, often via aerosolized particles when the droppings are disturbed.

A rodent bite or scratch can also transmit the virus, but that is uncommon.

The CDC has classified the risk to the general public in America as “extremely low” and continues to monitor the situation.

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Milei Launches ‘Isaac Accords’ To Expand Israeli Influence In Latin America

Argentinian President Javier Milei formally launched the Isaac Accords on Saturday, a new initiative aimed at strengthening political, economic, and cultural cooperation between Israel and Latin America.

Milei announced the initiative following a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who visited Buenos Aires on Saturday as part of a regional diplomatic tour. 

The Isaac Accords are being promoted in partnership with Washington and are modeled after the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.

Milei said Argentina would serve as a “pioneer” alongside the US to promote the new framework to other Latin American countries, including Uruguay, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised Milei’s love of Judaism and Israel as “sincere, powerful, and moving.” Before the meeting began, Milei recited the “Shehecheyanu,” a traditional Jewish blessing, and placed a kippah on his head.

“When the president saw me place the kippah on my head to make the blessing, he immediately placed on his own head the kippah he keeps in his office,” Saar wrote. 

After his election, Milei “transformed Argentina from a critic of Israel to one of its staunchest supporters,” according to the Times of Israel,including announcing plans to move its embassy to occupied Jerusalem.

Though Milei was raised Catholic, he has stated he will convert to Judaism once he leaves office. Argentine officials said that possible joint projects with Israel in the fields of technology, security, and economic development are already under consideration. 

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno is scheduled to travel to Israel in February for additional talks to advance the initiative.

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