It’s Friday again!

And honestly I have no idea why I sound so cheerful when in fact everything that happened this week pretty much sucks.

Seriously! People dying, prices skyrocketing and on top of that, Big Brother Argentina is back. It’s been a tough week.

So I will understand if after reading this you decide to go spend your Friday night drowning your sorrows in alcohol.

Unless you’re reading this on Sunday morning while having breakfast. If that is the case then I’ve totally made your Sunday ever more horrible than it already is, and for that I apologize.

Here’s what you need to know:

• 

  "Come on, let's blow this joint," Obama said. Cristina agreed, giggling. (Photo/Wikipedia)

  Alright guys. Honestly it’s very strange, but the US has suddenly had a change of heart and it seems that all it wants to do is become Argentina’s totally cool BFF these days. Remember last week when I told you that Barack Obama had asked for a private meeting with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner when they met in Cannes for the G20 Summit? Well it happened! What did they talk about? Are they best friends yet? Will Argentines continue to require a visa to enter the US? Did they swap spit? No, yes and maybe. So after the meeting they said the usual: blablabla “important business partners,” blablabla “opportunity to be friends again,” blablabla “we both care about science and technology,” and not much more, all while they were trying to fight the strong sexual tension between them. That’s it. Here’s a video of the joint conference they held afterwards, and if you want to know more, then go check the news and find out for yourself. I’m not your bitch.

• Minutes before the first meeting between the G20 presidents yesterday, Obama, Fernández de Kirchner and French President Nicolas Sarkozy got together for a brief chat. What did Obama do? He pointed at Cristina and told Sarkozy that “they both needed to learn lessons from her” after she managed to get reelected by such a large percentage of the population. Cristina then spontaneously combusted.

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also called the President this week and told her that she wanted to congratulate her on her reelection and looked forward for renewing their bilateral relationship and being friends again. A few days later, Clinton’s mother passed away and President Fernández de Kirchner was one of the first to send her a letter offering her deepest sympathies. Told ya! The have gone from this to this in less than a week.

• As if that weren’t enough, yesterday a congressman from New York (a Democrat, obviously) asked Obama to declassify all files that the CIA has on the Argentine dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, since he believes it may help identify many of babies who were born in captivity and improve relations with Argentina.

• So yeah. I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but if you Americans are thinking of asking for money, let me tell ya, we don’t have any. In the meantime, Argentines are loving all this kind of attention, proving that the reason why Argentina hates the US so much is because they want to marry it.

• In other G20 news, Italy’s Prime Minister and perverted womanizer Silvio Berlusconi will continue to behave as such and he doesn’t give a shit about what you think.

• As of last Monday, the National Government announced that the AFIP Tax Agency would require background checks for anyone trying to buy dollars, since for the last few months the Central Bank reserves have been going down like crazy after paranoid crazy fucks, fearing that Cristina herself was going to come for their savings, began sending their money abroad. So now, in order to increase the supply of dollars on the local market, the Argentine Government has gone all post-9/11 US on our asses. Tough shit!

• In a completely unexpected move, yet totally expected, the National Government announced this week that they had decided to begin eliminating the subsidies that they had put in place in 2003 in order to help a majority of the population when the economy was in the crapper. Now that Argentina is like, the best country in the history of the universe and everyone is rich again, there’s no more need for them! So they announced they would begin by eliminating energy, gas and water subsidies for corporations and eventually for families. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but chances are that very soon your utilities will triple from one month to another. You live in Palermo and you pay $50 a month of electricity? Well, by January you will surely be paying $150. Tough shit, part 2!

Send Adrian your comments, thoughts or tips at adrianbono@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @AdrianBono

Following the publication of confidential US diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks website that question president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s mental health on Monday, she is yet to comment publicly.

Ex ambassadors for the United States in Argentina and diplomats that worked with them in Buenos Aires have said that the President’s silence following the Wikileaks revelation will help to maintain and consolidate the relationship between the two countries and overcome the “unfortunate” information leak.

They said that a reaction from the president would only worsen the situation, which was made public by the Spanish newspaper, El País, on Monday.

Over 250,000 US diplomatic cables were leaked to the media by Wikileaks. Cables were published revealing that Hillary Clinton raised questions about the president’s “mental health” and asked US diplomats to investigate whether she was taking medication to “calm down” and whether anxiety was affecting her decision-making.

“In my opinion, the worst thing President Kirchner could do at this point in time is to fan the flames,” said James Cheek – ex ambassador to the United States under Bill Clinton. “I believe that, with time, if there is willingness, we will overcome this,” he said.

Another ex ambassador from the US, who wanted to remain anonymous, said in an interview with Clarín: “Her silence is a virtue, a signal that she wants to maintain the relationship. The United States will remember this gesture.

“If she maintains her silence it will mark a change from the policy of her husband Néstor Kirchner, who seized every opportunity to criticise the United States and accuse us of interfering in Argentina’s internal affairs.

“All countries have the right to react as they wish but this silence is helpful,” they said.

The president of the United States, Barack Obama, has also remained silent. Clinton has been charged with making apologies and promising that it won’t happen again.

Ex ambassador Lino Gutierrez said that, “It is generally the work of all diplomats to record what they hear and what they see in the country that they’re posted to and to send the information back.

“Argentine diplomats do the same. There are people who speak to you in trust, who understandably don’t want their name in the papers - so this is devastating for everyone that works in diplomacy,” he said.

In one of the reports published yesterday, the current US ambassador in Argentina – Vilma Martínez, quoted the ex leader of the cabinet - Sergio Massa – saying that he thought the Kirchners had no chance of winning the 2011 elections and calling Néstor a “psychopath” and a “monster” whose “bullying tactics” reflected an inferiority complex, during a dinner in November last year.

Ricardo Alfonsín said: “It’s embarrassing. You can’t behave like this – it’s an insult to each country, it’s barbaric.”

The US embassy’s press office said yesterday in an interview with Página 12 that they regretted the release of messages that “could overwhelm president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at this particular moment in her life and add anxiety to her suffering.”

Ex foreign minister Jorge Taiana has made the harshest criticism of the leak so far. On Radio Continental he said it was “a huge blow to the prestige of the US which will bring political consequences – particularly with countries that they have cordial or old relationships.

“I’m surprised at what we could call a low level of professionalism and almost gossipy character of the documents as well as the lack of levity with which this information is revealed and managed.

“It’s a set of assumptions and low-class gossip – if that’s what policy is based on, it’s not good news for the world.

“There will obviously be some immediate consequences like the loss of trust in one of the essential tools of diplomacy, which are discretion and reserve. Maybe this will affect the way diplomatic relationships develop in future,” he said.

The creator of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange, is currently under investigation by the Swiss justice system following two allegations of rape. He claims that he is being persecuted by intelligence services.

Interpol, the international police organisation, has released a request for Assange’s capture following an extradition request from Switzerland, putting its 188 member countries on “red alert” for his arrest.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced on Thursday that the United States would be restoring financial aid to Honduras, which was suspended after the former president Manuel Zalaya was toppled by a military coup on 28th June 2009. Under the program, Honduras is set to receive over $30m.

Speaking during her visit to Costa Rica, one of the final stops in her tour of Latin America, Clinton told the press “We think that Honduras has taken important and necessary steps that deserve the recognition and the normalisation of relations.”

The steps that Clinton referred to were the election of Honduras’s current president, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who took power in January this year. After a period of turmoil following last year’s coup, Lobo was elected in polls presided over by an interim government installed by the military. Several countries have refused to recognise the results, as the elections took place without the restitution of the ex President Zelaya, and were boycotted by several members of the opposition.

Clinton has pressed other American countries to recognise Lobo, saying that while it was “their right to wait” to resume relations with Honduras, she didn’t “know what they’re waiting for”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) followed suit with Clinton, as just one day after her statement it released $160m for Honduras, from accounts that had formerly been frozen.

However, several countries in the region including Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have refused to resume ties with Honduras, maintaining that Lobo was elected in an environment that was unconstitutional. Appearing in a meeting with Clinton on Wednesday, Brazil’s foreign minister Celso Amorim stated that, while he believed that some of Lobo’s actions since taking office had been positive, a military coup is “not the kind of thing that can be easily absorbed.”

As well as the misgivings of Latin American leaders, Clinton has received a letter from the United States Congress, condemning human rights abuses in Honduras against opponents of the current government. Members of congress wrote that they “denounced the continuation of assassination, persecution and abuse against leaders of the resistance opposed to the coup of the 28th June”.

Hillary Clinton has placed partial blame on the US in the Mexico drug wars. She affirmed that the country’s “insatiable” demand for illegal drugs fuelled the trade. She also acknowledged that the deaths of policemen, soldiers and civilians is closely linked to the flow of illegal arms from the US to Mexico.

These statements were made shortly before meeting with Mexican president Felipe Calderón on Wednesday.

Clinton announced that the Obama administration would invest US$80m in Black Hawk helicopters designed to combat the drug cartels.

Mexican foreign secretary, Patricia Espinosa, says that the new measures are “much along the line of co-operation we’ve been trying to build upon”.

At the same time, it was announced that both countries will establish a joint office in an effort to combat organised crime. The office will be based on Mexican territory.

The Secretary of State stressed that the issue of drug trafficking is a “shared responsibility” and that the efforts of Felipe Calderón to control the cartels are much appreciated.

Clinton today is travelling to Monterray in the north-east, to attend a signing of agreements between universities. These will explore environmental initiatives with groups of indiginous students.

The trip made by Clinton is the first in a historic diplomatic campaign for the White House, whilst Obama is scheduled to arrive on the 16th April.