Saturday, September 27, 2014

Argentine's fight with the vulture funds; President Cristina Fernández UN speech with English subtitles

This is the fifth and final part of an Argentine documentary on sovereign debt and the vulture funds, Deuda: Historia de una extorsión (5 de 5) TV Pública argentina 20.09.2014. This segment features an interview with Argentine Economics Minister Axel Kicillof.



See previous posts for Parts 1-4.

The Télam news service has made available Argentine President Cristina Fernández' speech of last Wednesday, September 24, with English subtitles. It's an impressive statement of Argentina's position in their current fight with the vulture funds trying to shove them into national bankruptcy. And of her confidence in the success of the economic policies Argentina has pursued since 2003, policies that were considered unconventional and heretical by Establishment economics as represented by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which promoted and still promote the neoliberal Washington Consensus approach of deregulation and privatization.



Cristina also addressed the Security Council on Wednesday. This a video in Spanish of her statements there, both from Télam. Cristina Fernandez Consejo de Seguridad Discurso Completo 24.09.2014:



In both statements, she also addresses Argentina's continuing investigation of the AMIA Jewish Community Center bombing in 1994. The vulture funds' lobbying efforts have included efforts to smear Cristina and her government because her government made an agreement with Iran to facilitate the investigation of the AMIA bombing. Argentina's official theory of the case assumes Iran was involved, though that has never been definitely established in the courts. There are substantial reasons to question that version, but that is the official theory.

Télam also reports on how the leader of the Argentine Socialist Party, Hermes Binner, criticizes Cristina for her stand against the vulture funds and the rogue Nixon-appointed zombie judge that partnered with them in creating the current confrontation. (Binner aseguró que, si fuera presidente, "sería respetuoso de la primera economía del mundo" 28.09.2014) The Argentine Socialist Party is a member party of the Socialist International, along with the main party of the Argentine oligarchy, the UCR (Unión Cívica Radical). Both parties are committed to neoliberal economic policies, as too many of their sister parties in Europe are, notably the German SPD and the French Socialist Party.

The story of how social-democratic parties could wind up responding to the Crisis of 2008 and its aftermath with Herbert Hoover economic policies is an interesting and very sad one.

Kirchnerismo in Argentina, the approach of Cristina and her late husband and predecessor as President, Néstor Kirchner, is actually an assertive social-democratic approach in the more traditional sense. Kirchnerismo is the currently dominant doctrine of the Peronist left. The Peronist Partido Justicialista (PJ) is Cristina's party, the party founded by Juan Perón.

The most prominent representative of Peronist rightwing is Sergio Massa a parliamentary deputy from Buenos Aires province who is positioning himself for a Presidential run in next year's election, when Cristina's Presidency ends.

Buenos Aires Governor and former national Vice President Daniel Scioli looks at the moment to be the leading kirchnerista candidate in 2015, though whether he has the transformative perspective of the Kirchners Néstor and Cristina is a big question.

Córdoba provincial Governor José Manuel de la Sota is positioning himself programatically between Scioli and Massa. De la Sota is considered a major national opposition figure to kirchnerismo and Cristina within the Peronist party and a possible 2015 Presidential candidate.

The primary anti-Peronist, pro-oligarch candidate for 2015 currently looks to be Mauricio Macri, Governor in the City of Buenos Aires, who will likely be the candidate the Radical party (UCR) in 2015. Macri and Massa are both posturing as friends of the United States, opposing Cristina's positions that criticize the US over the vulture funds or other issues. (Juntos en favor de EE.UU. Página/12 28.09.2014)

Binner will also likely run as the candidate of the Socialist Party, effectively a loyal ally of Macri and the UCR.

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