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ENGLISH VERSION
Both sides now
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VERSIÓN ESPAÑOL
Ahora las dos caras
¿Qué es mejor? ¿Es más importante ser reconocido en el ancho mundo o acaso el poder político, como la caridad, empieza por casa? El matrimonio presidencial ha experimentado ambos aspectos de esta pregunta, al obtener la primera dama y Senadora Cristina Fernández de Kirchner el reconocimiento extraordinario de ser recibida oficialmente por los mandatarios de Alemania y Austria siendo meramente una candidata presidencial, mientras que el control vacilante del presidente Néstor Kirchner en su provincia natal de Santa Cruz se acentuó el miércoles por la forma en que los choques violentos en la zona eternamente conflictiva de Caleta Olivia eclipsaron su campaña en Río Gallegos.
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Which is better — is it more important to be recognized in a wider world or does political power, like charity, begin at home? The presidential couple has experienced both ends of this question with first lady Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner obtaining the extraordinary recognition of being officially received by the government chiefs of Germany and Austria when merely a presidential candidate whereas President Néstor Kirchner’s faltering grip on his native province of Santa Cruz was underlined on Wednesday by the way violent clashes in the perennial trouble-spot of Caleta Olivia overshadowed his campaigning in Río Gallegos. Not that there was anything absolute about either the first lady’s success or the outgoing president’s setbacks. Over and above the thorny question of whether or not the German and Austrian leaders were doing the right thing in thus favouring a candidate (they were certainly not doing Argentine democracy any service but they were helping Argentina to ease its self-imposed isolation from the world), did Mrs. Kirchner’s Germanic trip do anything to clarify any pending international issues? To settle the Paris Club debt while maintaining the Kirchners’ insistence on shutting out the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or to unblock the Doha Round which is being obstructed by Argentina’s increasingly protectionist attitude towards its industry just as much as by any farm subsidies on the part of the developed world? Gender bonding with German Chancellor Angela Merkel is all very well but Senator Kirchner’s appeals to invest in a growing Argentina remain virtually a dead letter while the Paris Club debt remains unresolved because no investor from the creditor countries can count on any state guarantees or credits while this default persists. As for her husband, Wednesday’s clashes (at least the fourth serious outbreak of violence in Santa Cruz in as many months) show him to be vulnerable to aggressive protests with no guarantee against their repetition while the security forces are damned if they intervene (the border guards held responsible for the Caleta Olivia incidents will be purged) and damned if they hold back. But will the Kirchners actually lose Santa Cruz in next month’s elections and even if they do, can the 0.5 percent of the electorate in the Patagonian province influence the national result? Two sides of the coin, then, for the presidential couple but does either side have any true bearing on the nation’s real problems?
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