Category: Brazil

Not to Pick on The Donald

By , May 4, 2011 2:27 pm

But this guy is richer than you are and apparently has the facts to back up his braggadocio. Oh, and better hair.

And he seems to have bigger things in mind than himself. A quote from the Jornal do Brasil story (translation mine):

Minha missão é mostrar a jovens brasileiros que eles podem se orgulhar do que estão produzindo. Alguém tem que mostrar que é possível. [My mission is to demonstrate to young Brazilians that they can be proud of what they’re producing. Someone has to show (them) what is possible.]

Brazil Must Be Doing Something Right

By , April 25, 2011 10:57 am

Greenpeace activists mark the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl with a puff of orange smoke in front of BNDES, Brazil’s development bank, to get it to suspend financing of the Angra 3 nuclear plant.

All the coal miners who’ve died in mining accidents were unavailable for comment.

More Walter Russell Mead on Brazil

By , April 22, 2011 9:26 am

As I say below, this time Brazil’s resurgence is for real. So does Walter Russell Mead, with lots of qualifiers. His analysis is obviously much more in depth than mine–I based mine largely on a YouTube video, for heck’s sake. An interesting read.

At Least Someone’s Interested in Controlling Inflation

By , April 21, 2011 10:07 am

Brazil’s Central Bank raises its interest rate 0.25% to 12% out of fear of losing control of inflation. And the usual suspects cry foul.

Brazil. This Time It’s For Real — And Here’s Why

By , April 20, 2011 9:14 pm

Brazil has experienced so many failed coming out parties, that many people in the know are wary that the economic boom currently taking place in Central and South America’s largest country and strongest economy–and one of the four BRICs–will fail as well.

I don’t think so. This time it’s for real. I could point to all kinds of economic indicators to support my position. Instead, I’ll direct you to a YouTube video. But first, a little background.

Three years ago–February 2008 to be exact–my wife and I traveled to Brazil, her for the first time, me for my first visit since my two-year mission to that beautiful country back in 1971-73. I spent most of my time in Rio, though I also served in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, and in Joao Pessoa, Permanbuco. Janet and I spent 10 days in Rio. Among other things, we toured the Theatro Municipal, a beautiful building inspired by the Paris Opera of Charles Garnier. Though its previous beauty was obvious, the Theatro was in terrible condition due to years of neglect.

Today I was on the phone with Pedro Casotti of Rio Negocios, Rio’s business development agency. I asked him about the Theatro. “Were they ever going to refurbish it?”

They had already, he told me. I’d wondered about that ever since I’d read that President Obama gave a speech in the Theatro earlier this month. After we hung up, I searched YouTube for a video of the Theatro. What I discovered tells me that this time Brazil’s resurgence is for real. Watch the video. I think you’ll agree.

That Sound You Hear South of Panama? It’s More Than The Samba.

By , April 16, 2011 10:10 am

Walter Russell Mead writes in The American Interest that the relationship between the U.S. and Brazil have changed, for the better.

The new US-Brazilian relationship does not quite live up to [the US-India relationship], but the ramifications of the changing relations between the two dominant powers in the western hemisphere will nevertheless make waves. It is likely in the 21st century that Brazil will join the group of countries Americans listen to and rely on the most, and the countries whose interests Americans take the greatest care to address.

With the fall of the Soviety Union, Mead argues, the U.S. no longer has a reason to meddle in South American affairs. And for Brazil?

On the Brazilian side, something even more important has happened: Brazil has begun to believe that the world economic system might just work to Brazil’s advantage. . . . Brazil’s success in a range of industries, like aviation, and the success of Brazilian companies that have become fully-fledged multinational players (a Brazilian firm now owns Anheuser-Busch, for example) make more and more Brazilians feel that on a level playing field, Brazil can win.

That’s certainly the feeling I get as I read the Brazilian press. That was the feeling I had yesterday when I spoke to Roberto Garibe, Special Advisor of the Executive Office of the Presidency of Brazil. I was calling to interview him for an article I’m writing about foreign investment in Brazil in preparation for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. I asked him about the Reuter’s story I posted about the other day, the one critical about PAC, Brazil’s accelerated growth program. He acknowledge that they might not meet the people’s expectations, but thought those expectations might not have been realistic to begin with. That said, he reminded me, PAC is much more than the Word Cup and the Olympics. Long after those sporting events have turned off the lights, Brazil would be busy improving its infrastructure and the standard of living of its people. He sounded like someone intent on making sure that would happen. And if my experience with him is indicative of the work ethic of the people working with him, Brazil will meet its development goals.

More on Brazilian Airports and the World Cup

By , April 15, 2011 6:14 pm

According to O Globo, Brazil’s Civil Aviation Secretary, Walter Bittencourt, guarantees that his people are working so that the nation’s airports can handle the influx of people attending the World Cup in 2014.

We’re discussing the exact strategies we can use to accelerate the work on the airports . . .

Of course, promising that you’re working hard is different than promising that the airports will be ready. I’m hoping they will be.

Cutting It Close

By , April 14, 2011 3:44 pm

Nine of the 12 airport projects underway in Brazil won’t be ready until the World Cup in 2014. In other words, they won’t be ready until after the last goal has been scored and the last fan has flown out of the yet-unfinished airports.

Obrigado Hollywood

By , April 12, 2011 10:59 pm

The movie “Fast and Furious 5 Paints a Corrupt Image of Rio.”

Realengo, Brazil’s Colombine

By , April 10, 2011 9:36 pm

This past Thursday, a young gunman entered a school in Realengo, a neighborhood in Rio, and killed 12 young students. The story has dominated the pages of Brazil’s newspapers and the coverage of its television stations.

And it led to protests in favor of disarming the Brazilian people.

My sympathies go out to those who lost loved ones and to those injured in the gunman’s mindless rampage. That said, this bumper sticker never spoke more sense, even in Brazil:

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