[marron]

Since Argentina stole YPF from Repsol, who would dare to invest in it? If they can steal it from the Spanish they can certainly steal it from you. Who are you going to complain to? An Argentine court?

So the only ones who will invest will be, say, the Chinese or Russians who won’t stand by passively when Argentina tries to steal from them; they’ll make it very personal. Its like borrowing money (its exactly like borrowing money). You can borrow from the bank, all civilized like, and pay it back like a civilized person. But once you’ve shafted the banks a few times the only ones who will loan you money will be the leg-breakers. Don’t pay them and they come knocking on your door with a ball bat.

Kirchner probably thought she was showing the world when she seized YPF. She sold her country down the river.

[onona]

ha ha, it’s not like borrowing from the bank with the chinese and the russkies.

You’re borrowing from Al Capone. broken legs and all.

[VanShuyten]

There was a segment on the John Batchelor Show last night about how Argentina is screwed because they need fracking and other high-tech methods to get at all that oil and gas, and the Chinese and Russians don't have that. That's why the Argentines had to come to the US to find partners, but none of them are interested without guarantees that they will get their money back. One suggestion was to set up some kind of escrow account outside of Argentina, so even if that government reneges on its deal, the oil companies won't get cheated like the Spanish one did.