Boudou, my heart goes out to him

[Santiago F]

I think ARgentina is ready to take a risk this time...today's military is not capable of anything other than to temporarily restore order, I don't see them as the same threat...I think Argentina is ready to take this baby step..it may not be easy but it's absolutely imperative.

I'm sorry, but NO. I don't like the K gov't but the last thing we need right now is a military goverment... First off, the military are not politicians. They have a very specific purpose. Let them be just that. Unfortunately, in this country (and many, if not most, others) the military have been primarily "the military arm" of the high classes.

I was born here but left just before the military took over so I can't say I know how it feels to live under military rule...but I can say that I spent years learning from my relatives here...they have lived under the military...I can say that on an intellectual level I have an idea about the conditions they & their friends had to endure.

I was born in 1976, so I started to really have a grasp of governments and the like the very day of the return of democracy, in 1983. Thus, I can't tell for myself, but it doesn't take too much to know what it really was. Would you like to live under martial law? Not being allowed to gather with more than one person in public places? I know, our last dictatorship was the worst of all, and perhaps we could imagine a military gov't who provide constitutional rights, but... I'm sorry, our experience in this country and in many others tell us otherwise.

I know that this fear of the military runs very deep in Argentina for very good reasons but there will be a time when we have to take charge & take the risk.

Why the military? It always seemed so curious to me, how come the military sometimes govern countries... aren't they supposed to defend the country against foreign agression and just that? Why do the people let them rule a country, or a city, or whatever?

BTW, you say "restore order". I know there's protests every day and we have many problems, but still I think we are much better off than with the military!

The change must come from within civil society. A government of agreement from the whole political spectrum. But perhaps it's too much to ask.

 

[notebook.fix]

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly, I'm never ever going to condone any type of military rule.
I was only expressing the view that it's time to put aside the fear of the military & take a bold step like many other democratic countries...NOT that we should be switching to military rule!..no way would I suggest this. I was only responding to the argument that implied that if we 'changed horses in mid stream' so to speak that the risk of the military taking over again was too great & that therefore we should not even contemplate a change of Government.

I'm only saying that it's time to take the bold step & allow this government to fall - not remove them by force,...hopefully all the mismanagement & corruption is fully perceived by all those who voted for these useless thieves. Hopefully ARgentina is mature enough to step away from this peronist cancer that has steadily eroded away our ability to grow as a country.

We have labor union mafias running this country at all levels, they control the cost & quality of general basic services for example Correo Argentino...you walk in & you quickly realize that there is a hidden union rule all the correo workers follow - and that is: only so many customers are to be served per hour. No matter how long the line, the workers sit there & play solitaire or do some texting etc.

You can't run a country with such low grade workers that you can't even fire. Any business that dares to hire workers are at the mercy of these old style labor union mafias, you cannot run businesses this way...there's no evolution...nothing improves, nothing grows, this is the stale old politics of the 1950s.

The truckers Union (moyano & others) control this country , they do corrupt deals with our corrupt politicians & prevent the railways infrastructure from being rebuilt again...there's too much money to loose for the corrupt unions/politicans. There are so many investors who would chip in $$$ to rebuild the railways again so that you could start manufacturing up again but the trucking union mafia & the politicians all collect a cut from the corruption that suffocates the production & manufacturing..think of it, the Government wouldn't even need to spend money here...industry would flourish if the railways where restored...infrastructure building would kick start more jobs.

The country could be productive again but we are being held back by many factors, the first one is the local mentality that says "But it's always been like this...nothing will change it"...the victim mentality that pervades so deeply in the local populace is astounding.

I could go on but I don't want to bore you with it.

Bottom line, Argentina needs to mature & take responsibility for it's misery & self made misfortune. We are a group of gutless wimps who shun responsibility & instead prefer to spend our time navel gazing...we'd rather blame the English & the Americans for our problems than to roll up our sleeves & get down to some intelligent work. I think different to my countrymen cause I was brought up some where else. Does that make my opinion any less worthy or less relevant?? I was born here too...and I believe my opinion counts as well.

Getting back to Boudou, this is the classic example of just how idiotic & short sighted my countrymen really are,,they keep re-electing these criminal parasites...he might be dislodged from political power for a small while but soon everyone will forget & one way or another, like Menem, he'll be back in the driver's seat somewhere in our political power circles, pulling leavers & stealing more $$$ & helping to prolong the rot until finally, it all falls down in a horrible financial mess again...then the Peronist messiahs like Kirchner reappear as saviors that walk on water, waving the socialist flag promising to save the poor so that the whole circus cycles round again & again.

Hey Argentina, we are NOT in democracy yet. Wake up from the Peronist trance!. Peronism has not worked & never will.

 

[redrum]

Sorry if I am incorrect in your case, kind of wrote the post of the top of my head, from memory which is not always 100% accurate. However, I would like to hear from the folks who over the last couple of years were supporters of the government. If they don't support it now I think its OK for them to say so and what changed their minds. My view is that Argentina is a potentially rich country(has been in the past) that's being badly managed. I think its pretty easy to find fault with the current government and harder to come up with realistic solutions that would make it better. I think the society in Argentina has its strong points and weaknesses like any other. Most of the problems in Argentina are deeply seated in the culture and thinking of the people. I don't see this changing anytime soon. Unfortunately I think the people will continue to be victimized by future governments as they are by the current administration. I think the dynamic will only change when complete disgust sets and good people finally emerge that worry about something else besides holding on to power and lining their pockets. Positive change in countries like Argentina has occurred elsewhere, look at Chile. What needs to be done to reform Argentina is fairly obvious, the will or consensus to do so is whats lacking.

no worries.

to add to what you said, real change will never come until the people want it. and they will never be spurred into action until things hit rock bottom. that's usually what it takes. people don't actually start to do something until there is blood in the streets, no money in their bank account and no food in their belly.

the power elite, the vampires and parasites that live off society will never willingly relinquish their power and influence. it must be taken from them in a unified action of solidarity. unfortunately, you can barely get 2 people to agree on anything these days much less a whole country.

you have to really respect the people of iceland however. that tiny island nation stood up to the corrupt mega bankers and told them to shove it - that they did not owe and would not pay the phony debt that had been created as a means of taking over and robbing the country via the use of debt as a weapon. if only more nations could join together in this way.