Iran in Latin America

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long way to go before it’s ready to launch a national cryptocurrency. Tehran’s central bank has that ambition, but the effort remains at the experimental stage. Some recent media reports claim that Iran has “launched” a state cryptocurrency based on gold called the Peyman. What really is happening, however, is less dramatic. It has few immediate implications for Iranian sanctions evasion, but does signal Iran’s strategic intent to use blockchain technology to develop long-term sanctions resistance.

Paraguay must choose: Being a fiscal paradise comes with a price. Until now, Asunción has managed to defer payment. Now its time is up.

In Brazil, Netanyahu invited Bolsonaro to visit Israel in the coming months. When the Brazilian leader visits, the prime minister should explain to him that the fight against Hezbollah and the drug cartels is a single battle that both should care about. Israel can help Brazil’s fight and benefit in the process. It’s a win-win situation. And its outcomes should prove more enduring than a friendly administration and symbolic UN votes.

That investigator, just days before he was assassinated, said prophetically: “With Nisman around or not, the evidence is there.” Argentines now face a choice: to act on that evidence, or to surrender to terrorists and murderers. To put it another way, they must decide what kind of nation Argentina is, and what kind of nation Argentina will become.

No faltan las pruebas. Existen, y no se pueden negar con retórica política. A muchos gobernantes paraguayos le falta mayor coraje para reconocer que su país se transformó en un paraíso de malandros con la complicidad y la bendición de algunas de sus máximas autoridades electas por el voto popular, que hablan mucho, pero hacen muy poco para cambiar la situación”.