Free Republic

The would-be assassin who allegedly pulled a gun on Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had 100 bullets stashed in his home when police raided it in the wake of the shock attack. Fernando Andres Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian, was taken into custody after he was caught on camera pointing the loaded gun in Fernandez de Kirchner’s face outside her Buenos Aires home Thursday night.

Last week’s election in Argentina produced a result that few predicted. Mauricio Macri, the center–right mayor of Buenos Aires, secured almost as many votes as the favorite, Daniel Scioli, the former powerboat racer and governor of the province of Buenos Aires. Scioli, the candidate for the incumbent Front for Victory (FPV) coalition, who the outgoing president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had reluctantly endorsed, won 36.8 percent of the vote; Macri’s coalition, called “Let’s Change,” won 34.3 percent. To avoid a second round vote, Argentina’s constitution requires that one party receive more than 45 percent of the vote (or at least...

Diplomacy: After a weekend of cavorting in Colombia, the White House was caught flat-footed by Argentina's takeover of a big oil company whose loss will hike gas prices, harm Spain and slam U.S. investors. Lucky us. Never was a response to a global outrage more mealy-mouthed than the one from the U.S. after Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, standing under a portrait of Evita Peron, announced a brazen grab for YPF, the Argentine oil company that's 57% owned by Spain's Repsol. Markets fell, world leaders denounced the violation of contracts and economically battered Spain rallied European Union support. But...