Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
Argentine President Javier Milei speaks to the media while standing on a vehicle with lawmaker Jose Luis Espert during a La Libertad Avanza rally ahead of legislative elections on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 27, 2025.
Dual crises throw wrench in Milei’s election plans
The campaign for Argentina’s legislative election officially launched this week, but it couldn’t have gone worse for President Javier Milei. A corruption scandal – one of the very things that he railed against during his successful campaign two years ago – burst into the news after a leaked recording appeared to implicate his sister.
The tapes suggest that Karina Milei, who is also a member of the administration, was involved in a kickback scheme at the National Disability Agency (ANDIS). Nothing has been proven, but the federal authorities stepped up their investigation in response to the leaked audio.
That’s not all for Milei: alongside the corruption scandal are a host of economic issues that have undermined his policy of fiscal “shock therapy.” Output has been stagnant this year, the peso is massively overvalued – this decreases competitiveness of Argentine exports – and public sector pay is down in real terms. Argentina’s central bank also increased its reserve requirements this week, which could further hit the economy. The concern for Milei is that these issues will overwhelm the success he’s had in bringing down inflation and balancing the budget.
“It won’t be a corruption scandal that does him in, it will probably be the economic problems,” said Eugenia Mitchelstein, a social sciences professor at the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires. “The corruption scandal doesn’t help.”
The Oct. 26 midterm election, where a third of senators and half of the Chamber of Deputies are up for election, is a vital one for the president. The vote will not only be a bellwether for how Argentina feels about his economic approach, but also gives Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party an opportunity to pick up seats in a Congress that has blocked many of the president’s proposed reforms.
What’s the current state of Argentina’s Congress? Milei only co-founded the libertarian LLA in 2021, so its representation in both chambers of the National Congress is paltry: only six of the 72 senators and 38 of the 257 deputies currently belong to LLA. What’s more, Argentina’s politics is heavily fragmented, meaning there are several different parties represented in the Congress – no single party has a majority. The Unión por la Patria (UP), a center-left Peronist grouping that is Milei’s main foe, has a plurality.
What does Milei want? Milei’s first target is to win a third of the seats so that he can gain veto power. Beyond that, the president hopes to enact tax, labor, and pension reforms that will structurally alter Argentina’s economy. So far he has been able to muscle some changes through the National Congress, such as the big omnibus bill passed in June 2024 to deregulate the economy and hand the president more power. But his party’s threadbare representation limited what he was able to achieve, forcing him to negotiate with his opponents from a weak position. That could change after the October election.
“Even if the government does extremely well, they won’t have their own majority in Congress, so they will still need to negotiate with the more moderate sectors of the opposition,” Juan Cruz Díaz, the managing director of Buenos Aires-based advisory firm Cefeidas Group, told GZERO. “But they will do it from a different standpoint, from a different legitimacy. They will have more leverage.”
Who’s leading the charge against Milei? UP may be the biggest opposition party, but they have a leadership crisis. Over 40% of Argentinians said they didn’t know who the leader of the opposition was, or said there was none, per a Pulso poll from earlier this month. Another 25% said it was former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the left-wing Peronist leader who is currently under house arrest for corruption, and is barred from politics for life.
“[The opposition] is not only fragmented, it is leaderless,” said Marcelo J. Garcia, Americas director at Horizon Engage consultancy. “Milei is the only national leader that controls his political space, his political party. So that really plays to his advantage.”
Why should I care about Argentina? The Latin American nation of over 47 million people is better known for its soccer stars, beautiful Patagonian mountain range, and delicious beef steaks. But Milei is creating his own level of fame. His brash brand of chainsaw politics has become something exemplary for right wingers across the globe, with libertarians proclaiming his premiership as a paragon of success.
This election gives Argentinians the chance to say how they feel about Milei’s leadership, and whether he’s done enough to stabilize the country’s turbulent economy. It could have major ramifications for how Milei governs going forward, according to Mitchelstein.
“If he does well, if he gets, say, 40-42% of the vote, it will confirm his intuition, and it will probably make him more Milei than ever,” Mitchelstein told GZERO. “If he doesn't get that many votes, say, 37-38%, it might actually lead him to rethink his government, and also the way he’s been ruling.”
In Milei's Argentina, a fight for indigenous land
In Argentina’s Patagonia region, Indigenous Mapuche communities are clashing with President Javier Milei’s government over rights to their ancestral lands. Facing a deep financial crisis, Milei sees Argentina’s vast natural resources—minerals, oil, timber—as central to economic recovery. But the Mapuche, among the country’s strongest voices fighting for environmental protection, are being evicted from land they’ve lived on for over 14,000 years. On GZERO Reports, Will Fitzpatrick travels to Patagonia to interview Mapuche community members about the legal fight they say threatens Argentina’s unique biodiversity and indigenous culture, as well as their survival.
Land disputes between the Mapuche and the Argentinian state have existed for decades, but after the Milei government revoked a key law that protected Indigenous territories at the end of 2024, officials began an aggressive eviction campaign. Recent raids and accusations of arson have escalated tensions, and many Mapuche fear state power is now being wielded to push them off resource rich territory.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Argentina's President Javier Milei speaks during the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in Balneario Camboriu, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, July 7, 2024.
What We’re Watching: Milei deepens Israeli ties, China scales back on Nvidia, Russia doubles down on Ukraine
Milei seeks to spread Israel sympathies across LatAm
Milei seeks to spread Israel sympathies across LatAmAs several nations become increasingly critical of Israel’s tactics in Gaza in recent weeks, one is going in the other direction: Argentina wants to enhance Latin American ties with the Jewish state, via a $1-million initiative called the Isaac Accords. The program will hand research grants to pro-Israel projects conducted in Latin America. Argentine President Javier Milei aims to further expand his goodwill toward Israel next year by expanding the Isaac Accords to more regional countries.
China pressures tech giants over Nvidia AI chip orders
Beijing is demanding Chinese tech firms, including Alibaba and ByteDance, justify purchases of Nvidia’s H20 AI chips. China would prefer that the firms buy domestically. The move follows a deal allowing Nvidia to resume H20 sales in China by paying 15% of revenues to the US government. Now the Chinese scrutiny is prompting some companies to scale back orders, potentially cutting Nvidia’s China market share to 55% this year from 66% in 2024, amid ongoing US-China tech tensions.
Russia doubles down on Ukraine ahead of Alaska summit
In what seems to be an attempt to maximise its territorial gains ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, the Kremlin launched a fresh push in eastern Ukraine this week. The advance comes as Trump renewed his calls for both Moscow and Kyiv to cede territory for a potential peace deal. But while Putin may be showing resolve on the battlefront, he appears to face economic troubles at home: Russia has reportedly enlisted tens of thousands of North Koreans to fill labor shortages as its traditional workforce is increasingly pulled to the frontline.Deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev delivers a speech during a session of the educational marathon “Knowledge. First” in Moscow, Russia, on April 29, 2025.
What We’re Watching: US-Russia tensions mushroom, Israeli minister prays by al-Aqsa mosque, Milei vetoes pension boost
US-Russia tensions escalate
Are the 1960s calling? A US president is repositioning nuclear submarines while Russia is carrying out previously scheduled anti-submarine drills – with China’s help – in the Sea of Japan. Donald Trump made the move on Friday after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, called the threat of US sanctions, “a step towards war.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down Medvedev’s words on Sunday, but the tensions remain. US special envoy Steve Witkoff visits Russia this week ahead of the deadline that Trump imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war or face expanded sanctions.
Israeli minister’s provocative prayers in Jerusalem
In a move that is sure to ignite fury across the Arab world, far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, known to Muslims as the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, and prayed there. The move breaks a decades-long arrangement under which Jews can visit the compound, the third-holiest Islamic site that also sits on the same plot as the first and second Jewish temples, but not pray there. Ben-Gvir’s move came after Hamas released videos Friday of emaciated hostages held in Gaza. The move recalls then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the mount in 2000, a provocation that touched off the Second Intifada.
Argentina’s president vetos pension boost
The chainsaw stops for no one. Argentina’s ultra-libertarian President Javier Milei, who has already slashed billions from the federal budget, vetoed a proposal to increase pensions on Monday. “There is no money,” he said. It’s a risky move. Milei, elected in 2023, faces his first mid-term elections this fall. His cost-cutting has helped to tame Argentina’s notoriously high inflation, but the economy has struggled lately – the peso just posted its worst month since 2023 – and his cuts have generated some social backlash.A gas station in Düsseldorf, Germany, on June 10, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Oil prices spike, China stops drinking, BTS eyes reunion, and more…
12%: Oil prices spiked 12% in early trading on Friday following Israel’s attacks on Iran, reflecting fears that a wider Middle East conflict could restrict access to crude exports. Later in the morning prices softened slightly, but were still up nearly 9%, to more than $75 per barrel.
4: Although school shootings are rare in Europe, four of the worst incidents this century have occurred since 2023, raising concern about whether the phenomenon – until now largely a US problem – is spreading more rapidly.
3: Is the wait over? Millions of BTS fans hope so. The K-Pop supergroup has not performed together in three years due to its members’ mandatory South Korean military service. But now that they have been discharged (honorably!), rumors are flying that the group could take the stage again at a festival outside Seoul this weekend.
1.5%: Argentina’s monthly inflation fell to just 1.5% in May. That’s the lowest level in five years – and a stark fall from early 2024, when it exceeded 25%. President Javier Milei’s radical cost-cutting policies have helped put a lid on rising prices.
50%: China’s production of baijiu liquor, the country’s go-to tipple, has dropped more than 50% since 2016. Demand for alcohol overall in China is plummeting as a result of changing tastes, a slowing economy, and a new campaign to stamp out drinking among the Communist Party’s 100 million members.A view of the Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on April 15, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Trump tries to ban foreign students at Harvard, Pensioners revolt in Argentina, Escaped bird ponders long flight home & more
7,000: The White House has scrapped Harvard University’s authorization to enroll foreign students, putting the school’s roughly 7,000 foreigners at risk of having to transfer elsewhere or go home. The Trump administration accuses Harvard of fostering antisemitism and violence, and of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” Harvard plans to appeal the move, which could affect a major source of income, as foreigners typically pay full tuition.
331: Dozens of people were injured in a protest by pensioners and activists outside the Argentine Congress on Wednesday. At issue are demands to raise the current pension level of $331 per month. President Javier Milei has opposed pension hikes as part of his “chainsaw” austerity drive.
81: US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he has gathered 81 co-sponsors for a bill that would impose a draconian 500% tariff on any countries that buy Russian energy. The biggest of those buyers is, of course, China. Trump reportedly told European leaders on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the war, although the White House has disputed that account.
344%: The murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., has shined another light on the burgeoning wave of antisemitism in the United States and beyond. Antisemitic incidents across the US have increased by 344% in the last five years. Australia, Belgium and France have experienced similar surges, too.
27: A top Maoist leader was among 27 rebels killed by security forces in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, part of a government crackdown against this far-left insurgency. Nambala Keshava Rao was the highest profile rebel killed in decades. New Delhi has said it wants to end the insurgency in Chhattisgarh entirely by March 2026.
9,000: The Great Escape, bird edition: A juvenile East African crowned crane, known for its distinctive crown of golden feathers, broke out of a zoo in Washington state. If the bird is planning to return to its eponymous home, it will have to travel nearly 9,000 miles.Milei aims to bring $271 billion in hidden cash back into Argentina’s economy
Argentina’s President Javier Milei is preparing to loosen the country’s complex tax evasion restrictions in an effort to draw billions of undeclared dollars back into the formal economy. With an estimated $271 billion stashed in homes, safety deposit boxes, and offshore accounts, savers have long sought refuge from a volatile peso, capital controls, and shifting tax laws.
While critics warn the plan could enable tax dodgers and money launderers, Milei argues it offers a path to reintegrate legally earned funds. In a largely informal economy, where cash deals dominate, experts say meaningful incentives, not penalties, are key to drawing money out from under the mattress and back into the system.
People shout slogans in front of the portrait of Sirri Sureyya Onder, a prominent pro-Kurdish party lawmaker and key figure in Turkey’s tentative process to end the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) insurgency who died on Saturday at age 62, during his funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 4, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Kurds in Turkey formally disband, Burkina Faso’s military murders civilians, White Afrikaners land in US, UK tries to curtail immigration, Top Argentina Court discovers Nazi docs
41: The revolution will not be finalized, as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant rebel group in Turkey, formally disbanded after a 41-year insurgency against the Turkish government. The original goal was to create an independent Kurdish state, but the group’s weakened position in Iraq and Syria forced it to declare a ceasefire in March, before ultimately dissolving. Turkey hasn’t fully secured peace, yet: it must now establish how to disarm the rebel group.
130: In March, the Burkina Faso military and its allied groups killed at least 130 ethnic Fulani civilians, per a Human Rights Watch report, as the government’s response to the Islamist insurgency turns vicious. Leaders of the Fulani, who are a Muslim community, deny any links with the Islamist militants. The massacre triggered reprisal killings, with insurgent groups – who control around 40% of the country – murdering at least 100 civilians in villages they believe are helping the government.
59: A group of 59 white Afrikaners landed in the United States from Johannesburg on Monday, after the Trump administration granted them refugee status in response to what they see as “racial discrimination” from South Africa’s government – the Rainbow Nation denies these claims. The move further escalates the rising tensions between Pretoria and Washington.
100,000: In the latest sign of rising anti-immigrant sentiment in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced measures to reduce annual net immigration by 100,000 by 2029. The plan includes banning recruitment of care workers from abroad, cutting access to visas for skilled workers, and increasing English language requirements for all work visas. Net immigration reached a record 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023.
4: Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama secured a fourth term in office after his party dominated Sunday’s parliamentary elections. With 94% of ballots counted, Rama’s Socialist Party won 52%, while opposition leader Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party sits on just 34%. It marks a setback for the MAGA message: Berisha had relied on the help of major Trump allies, to no avail.
83: As if replicating the plot of an Indiana Jones film, Argentina’s Supreme Court discovered Nazi documents among its archives that included propaganda material aimed at spreading the fascist ideology across the country. The material is believed to be part of the 83 packages that the German embassy in Tokyo sent to Buenos Aires on the “Nan-a-Maru” steamship in 1941. Argentina was a safe haven for the Nazis after World War II, though some – Adolf Eichmann, most infamously – were tracked down and brought to justice.