Taking on foreigners, again

摘要

Few democratically elected leaders have assumed office with a weaker mandate than Argentina's Nestor Kirchner. He was the fourth-choice candidate of his own Pe-ronist party, garnered just 22% of the vote in 2003, and won only when Carlos Menem, a former president, withdrew from the run-off. But after indisputable success in restructuring his country's debt-creditors holding 76% of its defaulted bonds accepted an unprecedented loss of about 65%-Mr Kirchner's legitimacy and popularity have reached new heights. The timing is propitious. In legislative elections due in October, he could face a bitter battle for control of his own Peronist party, while seeking to extend its hold on the government. Despite hopes that he might spend his new political capital on policy reform, his latest actions suggest he could go on accumulating it instead—by attacking foreign interests.