🇺🇸🏦 Deposits are growing scarcer as the system is squeezed—and America’s small and mid-sized banks could pay the price.

📎 The Economist

-2023 SOUTHERN CROSS ELECTIONS SITREP-

ARGENTINA 🇦🇷
- 13th August: P.A.S.O (Mandatory open Primary elections)
- 22th October: General Elections
- 19th November: General Runoff Election

CHILE 🇨🇱
- 7th May: Constitutional Council Election
- 17th  December: Plebiscite for the new Constitution

PARAGUAY 🇵🇾
- 30th April: General Elections

ARGENTINA 🇦🇷
Argentina has a unique system of primary elections compared to most countries, while primaries in most countries consist of a small internal election within their own respective parties in Argentina they are mandatory to all citizens much like the general election however all parties are able to post as many candidates as they would like and the candidate which obtains the most votes of each respective party is the one which is allowed to run for office, also there is a minimum requirement of votes that a potential candidate must get in order to be able to compete in the elections (RIP Bondiola) being 1.5% of all the votes.

This process is called the P.A.S.O
Primarias, Abiertas, Simultáneas y Obligatorias
Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory

However in practical terms Argentina has been mainly a two party state of two competing coalitions with a general wildcard that never has been able to obtain any serious chance of gaining the presidency as well as some regional parties with only the Córdoba regional party having any real power in congress (we shall touch on Córdoba supremacy political independence in the future)

That said 2023 might actually see the Libertarian party La Libertad Avanza have a chance at the run off, the current leftwing coalition Frente de Todos has an awful reputation with the president Alberto Fernandez having only a 5% approval rate and the main opposition the "center-right" Juntos por el Cambio party unable to secure a solid candidate might give the Libertarians with their cult of personality candidate Javier Milei (A self professed AnCap) a shot, especially as his economic speeches resonate in an Argentina which is undergoing the harshest inflation period since hyperflation sitting at an interanual 103% coupled with the worst harvest in 20 years.

🇺🇸🥚 The Department of Agriculture blamed last year’s price spike on an avian-­flu out­break that killed 43m of America’s egg­-lay­ing birds. But industry lobbyists say that the rising costs of feed, fuel and labour further pushed up prices.

📎 The Economist

🌐🌾 Wheat falls following the renewal of an agreement that allows Ukraine to safely export grains out of key Black Sea ports, although the duration of the latest extension was disputed.

📎 Bloomberg

🇹🇭 Thailand has decided to restart a potash mining project that has been dormant for decades as the Ukraine war continues to disrupt the global fertilizer supply chain.

📎 Nikkei Asia

🇺🇸🇲🇽 Blinken says cartels control parts of Mexico, as AMLO downplays fentanyl smuggling.

📎 Fox News

🇺🇸🇲🇽 QUESTION:
"Are the drug cartels in control of parts of Mexico not the government?" 

BLINKEN:
"I think it's fair to say yes.”

📎 Jose Diaz Briseno

🇺🇸🇲🇽 "Only one thing will solve the fentanyl crisis" -- Cooperation between Biden and Mexican president AMLO is poor right now, but the US needs to work with Mexico to stop influx of meth and fentanyl.”

📎 Washington Post

🇺🇸🇲🇽 U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville:

“I’ve been sounding the alarm about Mexico’s mistreatment of Vulcan Materials for more than a year. Now Mexico has executed a hostile military takeover of an American company’s facility.

This has to stop. It’s time for Joe Biden to step up and do his job.”

📎 Twitter

🇲🇽📉 President Lopez Obrador Is Squandering Mexico’s Economic Potential

Even though automotive manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Tesla, and Ford are making big new investments in producing battery-powered cars in Mexico, there’s a sense among foreign executives that Mexico’s manufacturing sector is simply running on auto-pilot during the Lopez Obrador administration. President Lopez Obrador has focused on promoting his own multi-billion dollar projects including a controversial train for tourists, a largely ignored second airport for Mexico City, and an over-budget oil refinery, but he has left industrial policy to be handled on an ad hoc basis by state governments in places including Nuevo Leon, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosi.

When it comes to Lopez Obrador’s policies for attracting and coordinating private sector manufacturing investment, Berg is far from optimistic.

“I would argue that we would see even more inflows of foreign investment were it not for Lopez Obrador’s policies. Some of the nearshoring we have seen is happening in spite of Mexico’s policies as opposed to because of them. Most of the supply-chain movement we’ve seen is organic,” Berg added.

📎 Forbes

🇺🇸🇲🇽 Family of mom kidnapped in Mexico inundated with ransom calls, believes she was targeted for being US citizen.

📎 Fox News

🇮🇷🇦🇿 According to intelligence data, Baku plans to establish Turan corridor (connecting Turkey to Central Asia) for itself and its allies (Turkey) by occupying Sivnik province of Armenia.

But why would Iran be dragged into this war?

🧵 by Iran Observer