Argentina loses again

 (Bloomberg) – Argentina must give up its controlling stake in signature energy company YPF SA within two weeks after a New York judge sided with litigators in a $16 billion judgment. 

Judge Loretta Preska gave Milei’s government 14 days to surrender 51% of the company’s shares to a global custody account, from which they’ll be transferred to plaintiffs, former shareholders suing Argentina over its 2012 nationalization of YPF. 

Argentina’s sovereign bonds and YPF shares both dropped after Monday’s ruling. Shares for Burford Capital, which is leading the litigation, saw their New York-traded shares soar more than 20% before paring gains.

Pic.: A drilling rig shown in the Vaca Muerta shale region of Argentina. Image: YPF

I was in high school in Buenos Aires when I had an idea for a special oil additive and decided to sell it to YPF. In the main office - a monumental building in El Centro - nobody deigned to talk to me, and I was asked to submit a written proposal. Which I did, and they never answered me. Still, 63 years later, I retain the impression of that enormous organization, Argentina's largest company. 

Jews moving to Israel

 The Jewish Agency reports: 

In 2024, 32,281 immigrants came to Israel from 94 different countries. We stand at about 4 million immigrants since the founding of the state, and 45 thousand immigrants since the beginning of the war, even amid the days of 'Iron Swords'. We are seeing in recent days a sharp increase in the opening of immigration files: 92% in France, 45% in England, 34% in Canada, and 22% from the USA.

LA PLAGA

The Twelve Days War

 
This war was not good for me.  The alarm was waking me at 4 AM and ruining the rest of the day. I did not feel it during the war, but I am still not back to my regular self.

Exhausted.

Luttwak's Take

 "The Ayatollah Has a Plan" NYT June 26, 2025

Vali Nasr who lives in Washington but follows Tehran explains that Khamenei is not the boastful buffooon who wasted 100$B+ on Assad's Syria, Hezbollah & Hamas all now dead dogs but a strategic genius

Pic. Khamenei visits Khumeiny.

He is married to a Sistani woman. Sistani, I discovered, are the Saka aka Scythian. It appears that the historical Saka still exist as a minority in Northern Iran.

Annealing Prime Numbers

 The current interest in quantum computing is based on the possibility of solving equations by annealing, that is, reaching the lowest energy level of an analog system. That would make it possible to solve the crypto coins and keywords.

 So what?

Ethnic Vote in New York

 

Mamdani is a young Muslim Indian, born in Uganda, the son of a University professor of African Studies. He is extremely pro-Palestine and socialist. One of his plans is to create a chain of city-owned grocery stores focused on affordability (low prices). The last time it was tried was under Chavez in Venezuela. The City of Flint may be America's future.

New York City has over 300,000 employees and a budget of over $110 billion.