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South & Latin America
China-Argentina Space Engagement | R. Evan Ellis Background photo of China and Argentina’s deep space ground station antennas from Wikimedia, April, 2022 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estaci%C3%B3n_de_Espacio_Profundo_de_la_CLTC-CONAE-NEUQUEN_en_abril_2022_02.jpg)
China-Argentina Space Engagement
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In addition to Argentina’s profound economic crisis, the nation faces serious security challenges. These include use of the country as a drug transit zone, including cocaine from Bolivia and Peru bound for Europe and marijuana from Paraguay.
Argentina: Security Challenges and the Government Response
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Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path The greatest gift that Cartes can give the country and President Peña is to empower Peña to take the real and symbolic steps to frontally tackle corruption. https://globalamericans.org/paraguay-a-promising-government-navigating-a-perilous-path/
Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path
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Argentina Political and Economic Challenges | R. Evan Ellis
Argentina Political and Economic Challenges
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The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement. by R. Evan Ellis
The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
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China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving.
China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
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China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview By R. Evan Ellis As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region. https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/china-latin-america-space-cooperation-an-overview/
China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview
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PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights | R. Evan Ellis
PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights
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Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America | R. Evan Ellis
Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America
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Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order | R. Evan Ellis
Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order
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Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling | R. Evan Ellis Background image from United Press International via Global Americans Article (https://theglobalamericans.org/perspectives-on-ecuador-the-sky-isnt-falling)
Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling
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China’s Growing Strategic Position in Nicaragua – R. Evan Ellis in The Diplomat https://thediplomat.com/2023/12/chinas-growing-strategic-position-in-nicaragua/
China’s Growing Strategic Position in Nicaragua
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From the Archives
Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path
Paraguay: A Promising Government Navigating a Perilous Path The greatest gift that Cartes can give the country and President Peña is to empower Peña to take the real and symbolic steps to frontally tackle corruption. https://globalamericans.org/paraguay-a-promising-government-navigating-a-perilous-path/ Brazil and the Southern Cone, Economics, Trade & Development, U.S.-Latin America Relations Background image from Agencia de Informacion Paraguaya (AIP) from article (https://globalamericans.org/paraguay-a-promising-government-navigating-a-perilous-path/)
May 1, 2024 - The greatest gift that Cartes can give the country and President Peña is to empower Peña to take the real and symbolic steps to frontally tackle corruption. Paraguay, a land-locked country at the heart of South America, is...
Argentina Political and Economic Challenges
Argentina Political and Economic Challenges | R. Evan Ellis From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and academic experts regarding the situation in the country, including 27 interactions involving some 300 people. Argentina is at a pivotal moment, as its new libertarian President Javier Milei seeks to turn around the country’s unfolding economic collapse through a series of “shock therapy” measures, while struggling to govern with a politically inexperienced minority party and allies with sometimes divergent incentives, against vested interests for whom the Milei project’s success is an existential threat to their privilege and political future. https://gordoninstitute.fiu.edu/news-events/the-policy-spotlight/2024/argentina-political-and-economic-challenges.html
March 12, 2024 - From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and academic experts regarding the situation in the country, including 27 interactions involving some 300 people. Argentina is at a...
The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement. R. Evan Ellis https://theglobalamericans.org/the-case-for-containing-not-coddling-maduro/ Background image from Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Nicol%C3%A1s_Maduro_2019_Inauguration.jpg) 240304-A-JQ161-1001.jpg
March 4, 2024 - From 2019 to 2020, I had the honor of serving on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s policy planning staff (S/P). One of my priority focus areas was the dictatorship of Nicholas Maduro and the dangers it posed to the Venezuelan...
China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving. China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but strategically significant portion of its engagement with the region. Beijing has openly acknowledged its interest in engaging with the region on security matters in the 2008 and 2016 China-Latin America Policy White Papers, as well as in the 2022-2024 China-CELAC plan. That interest is also reflected in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs white paper elaborating on China’s Global Security initiative. The security dimension of China’s engagement in the region has been highlighted by the head of U.S. Southern Command and other senior U.S. defense officials, as well as receiving occasional coverage in the media and academic works, generally with a focus on the threat posed to the United States. Background image from Deposit Photos via The Diplomat (https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/chinas-security-engagement-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/)
Feb. 26, 2024 - An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving.China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but...
China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview
China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview By R. Evan Ellis As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region. In September 2023, during a visit to China, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro announced an agreement in which China would transport Venezuelans to a research base it plans to build on the moon, the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project. As illustrated by the deal, China’s expanding space capabilities create imperatives for associated engagement around the globe, from initiatives to build international coalitions, such as ILRS, to the search for access to ground stations and other space communication sites to support China’s expanding constellation of satellites, which currently number 700, as well as beyond-Earth missions. Deepening rivalry with the United States also makes China’s access to space from points in both hemispheres and the polar regions a strategic imperative for the space component of any future conflict with the West. Photo from article: https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/china-latin-america-space-cooperation-an-overview/
Feb. 16, 2024 - As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region.In September 2023, during a visit to China, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro...
PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights
Over the past twenty years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has expanded its political, institutional, economic, and other forms of engagement with all regions of the world. Not surprisingly, because engagement in Latin America and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is formulated by the same Chinese Communist Party and PRC-based state-owned enterprises (SOE), it is broadly comparable across regions. 1 Differences in PRC engagements between regions generally reflect differences between government types, particular business opportunities, strategic geography, historical relationships, and Chinese familiarity with the target country, among others. A comparative examination of PRC engagement across regions offers insights by helping to identify common patterns and differences, focusing on the reasons why each occurs. 2  There is a limited but growing volume of work in English on PRC engagement with Central and Eastern Europe. Important works include the Carnegie Foundation report “China’s Influence in Southeastern, Central and Eastern Europe.” 3 Other works include works by think tanks such as China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe 4 and the Washington, DC based Center for European Policy Analysis. 5 Read Now
Feb. 8, 2024 - PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights R. Evan Ellis Over the past twenty years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has expanded its political, institutional, economic,...
Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. —Ronald Reagan - Aug. 12, 1986 Most Argentines did not elect eclectic libertarian Javier Milei in November 2023 because they understood his economic philosophy. Rather, they were exasperated by the economic disaster of the leftist Peronist government of Alberto Fernandez, with inflation racing toward 140%, making buying basic goods a daily struggle, plus an impending debt default, evidence of official corruption, and increasing public insecurity. Yet Argentines were also skeptical of the traditional right. Its prior businessman President, Mauricio Macri (2015 to 2019), facing a similarly impossible set of economic challenges and political obstacles, also left the government in financial crisis and economic freefall. https://www.newsmax.com/evanellis/capitalist-libertarianism-milei/2024/02/05/id/1152304/
Feb. 6, 2024 - The nine most terrifying words in the English language are:I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.— Ronald Reagan - Aug. 12, 1986Most Argentines did not elect eclectic libertarian Javier Milei in November 2023 because...
Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order
The multiple crises currently playing out in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Taiwan straits, and even Guyana’s Essequibo region, reflect a deterioration of the rules-based international order that has served as the foundation for economic growth, technological progress, and the limitation of interstate conflict since the end of the Second World War. The current deterioration is a product of the expansion of PRC economic and other power as the country pursues its interests, complimented by the enabling effect of that pursuit on a range of illiberal states, with distinct agendas, but united by a common interest in limiting the constraints of that order as they pursue their own interests. Over the long run, the deterioration of the rules-based order undermines democracy and economic progress and facilitates transnational crime and domestic conflict. It may also expand the frequency of inter-state conflict, even in Latin America, in a system in which militarily “stronger” authoritarian regimes increasingly lack constraint in taking what they want from their weaker neighbors. Governments in the region may rediscover the relevance of their militaries in defending the nation against external, as well as environmental, criminal, and internal challenges. Keywords: People’s Republic of China, Rules-Based World Order, Illiberal Governments. https://ceeep.mil.pe/2024/02/01/implicaciones-estrategicas-del-deterioro-del-orden-internacional-basado-en-normas/?lang=en
Feb. 2, 2024 - The multiple crises currently playing out in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Taiwan straits, and even Guyana’s Essequibo region, reflect a deterioration of the rules-based international order that has served as the foundation...
Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling
The takeover of Ecuadorian TV station TC in the middle of a widely watched news broadcast, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s declaration of a state of internal armed conflict, and his deployment of the military as part of the response dominated international news and captured the attention of Washington policymakers last week. Ecuador’s homicide rate has increased eightfold over the past eight years, including almost doubling last year to over 8,000 murders, giving the country a murder rate of 46.5 per 100,000, one of the highest in the region. The number of murders in prisons has similarly almost doubled to over 400 last year. Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn't Falling - Global Americans (theglobalamericans.org) Background image from United Press International via Global Americans Article (https://theglobalamericans.org/perspectives-on-ecuador-the-sky-isnt-falling)
Jan. 22, 2024 - The takeover of Ecuadorian TV station TC in the middle of a widely watched news broadcast, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s declaration of a state of internal armed conflict, and his deployment of the military as part of...
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