Who Would Win A War Between Argentina And Chile?

Harper Glassburn

·

November 23, 2019

is very smart and a stable genius

Who would win in a war between Argentina and Chile?

Chile would win. Easily. Despite whatever assumptions you might draw from looking at a map or by reading the Global Firepower Index, Chile is actually much, much more powerful than Argentina. Chile has four main advantages over Argentina.

1. Chile has nearly double the amount of soldiers Argentina has. Their active-duty is almost exactly the same size as Argentina’s, but their reservists are a much larger force.
2. Argentina’s equipment and especially their air force and navy has been underfunded and hardly maintained ever since the Falklands War. Availability of their hardware is generally considered to be under 30%, and the number of usable Argentine fighters and ships would be in the single digits. What planes and vessels they do have are very old and completely obsolete. Chile, on the other hand, has a massive technological advantage over not only Argentina but the entirety of South America.
3. The length of the Chilean-Argentine border would play right into Chile’s hands, as Argentina wouldn’t be able to cover all of it. Or at least not quickly enough to stop Chile from crossing the Andes Mountains unopposed in most areas.
4. These:

This is a Leopard II. Probably one of, if not the best tank on the planet. And Chile has 200 of them. Argentina’s unmodernized 1980s tanks (most of which have been rotting away in storage for years) wouldn’t stand a chance, and it’s unlikely that Chile would even lose Leopards beyond the lower double digits.

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Peru And Coronavirus-A Lingering Wave

PERU

A Lingering Wave

Surfers are hitting the surf in Peru.

“It was about time, no?” Alessandro Currarino told the Associated Press. “Peru has some of the best waves in the world and we need to take advantage of them.”

The fun comes after the beaches of the South American country were empty for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Don’t think the return to normal means the danger has gone away, however. Peru recently confirmed more than 200,000 cases of the deadly virus, the second-most on the continent after Brazil.

Indeed, like its northern neighbor, Ecuador, the coronavirus has ravaged Peru even as surfers and others struggle to return to a semblance of normal. Gross domestic product contracted by 3.4 percent after President Martin Vizcarra ordered a 12-week lockdown in February, Agence France-Presse wrote. Recently, restrictions on non-contact sports like surfing were lifted.

The country is still tallying record death tolls, in part because, as Time magazine noted, Peruvians live and work in close contact with each other. A combination of economic and cultural factors makes it nearly impossible to social distance.

Outside the capital of Lima, anguished families wail and mourn in the Virgen de Lourdes cemetery, one of the biggest burial grounds in the world with more than one million tombs, reported Al Jazeera. Thousands of new plots have been created since the pandemic started to claim lives. Stray dogs roam the place.

At least 20 journalists who have been covering the spread and effects of the virus have died. Many didn’t have personal protective equipment as they visited hard-hit regions like Iquitos on the Amazon River in remote eastern Peru, the Guardian explained. Indigenous communities have been especially susceptible to the virus, reported the Chinese state-owned CGTN. At least 150 police officers have died, too, attempting to maintain public order.

Like in many other countries, the coronavirus has exposed the lack of adequate medical care in Peru as much as it has the frailties of the human body and spirit. Oxygen has become a symbol of the crisis. There is not enough of it. A black market in oxygen has thrived as desperate Peruvians pay exorbitant prices to save loved ones.

“People collapsed in the street, others dragging desperately ill relatives to the door of hospitals that won’t admit them, and distraught children asking why their parents were left to die,” wrote CNN.

The rate of increase in infections might be down now. And surfers might be back looking for the next great wave. But the trauma caused by a new virus will certainly linger here long after the sick become well.

Brasil On The Brink Of A Virus Disaster

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A Mysterious Death In Guyana 40 Years Ago

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Coronavirus: The View From Brasil

The view from Brazil

Daily deaths from the virus in Brazil are now the highest in the world. The president, Jair Bolsonaro, has consistently played down the threat from the virus and is using the prospect of military intervention to maintain his grip on power.

As the epicenter of the virus shifts to South America, we spoke to Ernesto Londoño, who covers the region for The Times, about the situation in Brazil.

Where is Brazil in the fight against the virus?

We’re in a really critical phase. While some parts of the world are starting to loosen up restrictions and see curves go downward, in Brazil, the number of deaths and the number of cases are still on the rise. And the president’s actions on the coronavirus have come under very sharp criticism. Pretty much every night at 8:30, I hear people outside my window banging pots and pans and screaming, “Out Bolsonaro.” It’s become kind of this nightly ritual for people to express their outrage.

What is it like in the hospitals?

The health care system has performed heroically. We haven’t seen the kind of unraveling, for example, that we saw in places like Ecuador, where bodies were literally piling up in the streets. But dozens of nurses have died from the coronavirus, which gives you a sense of the very heavy toll that it’s taken on health care professionals.

You’re based in Rio de Janeiro. How are people there handling the outbreak?

People have been compliant in wearing masks to a degree that I have found surprising; you know, this is a city where people don’t tend to follow the rules. Rio has always managed to balance out its very hedonistic side — it’s a city famous for Carnival — with grim realities like poverty, poor sanitation and terrible police violence. But now, Rio feels almost universally bleak. It’s a city that is suddenly without any joy or revelry.

What does the future for Brazil look like?

The only thing that’s clear to me and experts is that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. Economists are predicting anywhere between a 6 to 10 percent drop in G.D.P. this year. And on the health care side, it’s anybody’s guess how many tens of thousands of people will die and what kind of reckoning that’s going to mean down the line, considering how cavalier the president has been all along.

Venezuela: Going Rogue

VENEZUELA

Going Rogue

Iranian oil tankers recently docked in Venezuela in defiance of American sanctions on both countries to prevent the transfer of fuel.

The situation is ironic, say analysts. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but mismanagement of the economy has resulted in fuel shortages that have compelled the Latin American nation to reach out to Iran for help.

American leaders said they were monitoring the situation closely, but Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro didn’t appear to care that he was ratcheting up tensions.

“Two revolutionary peoples who will never kneel down before North American imperialism,” Maduro said in televised state address covered by the BBC. “Venezuela and Iran both want peace. We have the right to trade freely.”

The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim wrote that the shipments were a “smack in the face for the administration of Donald Trump,” reported Israel Hayom.

One might argue that Maduro is foolish to risk a confrontation with the US. But he and his people are desperate. Spiraling inflation, food shortages and an exodus of Venezuelans to neighboring countries have spurred street protests and police crackdowns for years.

Now, amid a worldwide pandemic, the country’s beleaguered healthcare system won’t be able to prevent a catastrophe as the coronavirus spreads, said Human Rights Watch.

Maduro is also fighting for his political survival, Agence France-Presse explained. Recently, his attorney general asked the Venezuelan Supreme Court to declare opposition leader Juan Guaido’s party a “terrorist organization” after a failed sea invasion by mercenaries, including two retired American soldiers.

The US and around 50 other countries recognize Guaido as the country’s interim president, citing Venezuelan laws that call into question whether Maduro truly won a 2018 election. In addition to Iran, China and Russia support Maduro.

The Iranians might be seeking revenge for the humiliating death of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander killed in a US drone strike in Iraq early this year, wrote Foreign Policy. If the US wants to undermine Iranian influence on its neighbors, Iran can do the same to American influence in its backyard, the theory goes.

Such moves might put pressure on the US to take rash action that might play into the hands of critics of America or compel the White House to consider détente as a more useful reaction, Business Insider added.

The old grudges are returning the situation back to normal. But it’s a new normal.

Brasil: Not Adding Up

BRAZIL

Not Adding Up

Brazil’s government stopped publishing data on total coronavirus deaths and infections over the weekend, a move criticized for obscuring the true death toll of the disease in South America’s largest nation, the Associated Press reported.

The move comes after months of criticism from scientists and health experts, who say that Brazil’s statistics were already skewed and make it impossible to know the true impact of the virus on the country.

The nation of 210 million had more than 670,000 cases and 35,930 deaths as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

On Friday, Brazil’s federal health ministry took down the website that showed daily, weekly and monthly figures on infections and deaths in Brazilian states.

The site returned Saturday but only showed the numbers for the previous 24 hours – while removing the total numbers of infections for states and the nation.

President Jair Bolsonaro said the numbers are “not representative” of Brazil’s situation.

A council of state health secretaries condemned the move and said they will fight the changes by Bolsonaro’s administration, which has tried to stop attempts to impose lockdowns and social distancing rules.

D

Suriname: Come Together

SURINAME

Come Together

Four Surinamese parties formed an alliance over the weekend in an attempt to oust President Desi Bouterse following elections last week, the Associated Press reported.

Preliminary results show that the opposition United Reform Party (VHP) won 20 seats in the 51-member parliament, while Bouterse’s National Democratic Party won 16.

The new coalition would hold 33 seats, only requiring one more to reach the two-thirds majority needed to elect a new president.

Bouterse has rejected the results and asked for a recount, the AP reported separately. He currently faces criminal convictions at home and in the Netherlands, and could lose his immunity against prosecution if he leaves office.

The Independent Electoral Bureau said Sunday it has counted more than 99 percent of the votes from the May 25 election. It is expected to publish the results later this week.