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Jem: I love the way people are always so proud when we pay them a diplomatic visit... yet they have to spin it in some negative fashion?
Why the manifest dysfunction? Why not just be proud you were allowed a seat at the table and be manly about it?
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March 1, 2010
SouthAmerica: Hillary Clintonâs visit to Brazil is not a regular diplomatic visit â it is an exercise in begging for Brazil to go against the self-interest of Brazil.
By the way, as I mentioned on my article from 5 years ago â âA new world order is indeed emerging - but its architecture is being drafted in Asia and Europe, at meetings to which Americans have not been invited.â
As you can see the table has been turned and Brazil has a seat at the table for many years â the United States is the country that is looking from the outside and begging to be part of the new world order.
Eventually Americans have to realize that they lost its influence over South America that they once had. It is history and it is long gone.
From the South American perspective it looks Pathetic to see Hillary Clinton going to South America including Brazil begging for support on her agenda against Iran.
As I said on my article 5 years ago: âSome South American countries including Brazil, instead of whining or crying over spilled milk, did something about it, as a capitalist country they started searching around the world for new partners to establish new ties to replace their lost business.â
Americans are so blind and they are so consumed on their old self-importance that they canât understand that Iran is part of the solution for Brazil and itâs pursue for new markets and that is why Lula will be traveling to Iran in the near future to expand business between Brazil and Iran.
I wrote the enclosed article 5 years ago, and since last year China has become the most important partner of Brazil in international trade.
It does not look good for the United States to send an American Secretary of State to countries such as Brazil and other South American countries on a begging for support mission for a very shaky cause â the destabilization of the government of another country on this lost cause the American target is once again Iran.
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Brazzil magazine - Thursday, 02 June 2005
âWhile China Rises the US Falls in Brazil and Latin Americaâ
Written by Ricardo C. Amaral
http://www.brazzil.com/2005-mainmenu-79/152-june-2005/9296.html
â¦US Influence Declining in South America
The Arab-South America Summit offered to the Arabs commercial alternatives not available before, which will reduce the European and American hegemony in the Arab world.
The Arab Summit laid the foundations to further reduce the gap between the Arab world and South America, an area of the world that is becoming one of the major industrial and commercial trading blocs in the world.
On January 26, 2005 The Financial Times of London had an interesting editorial - "How America became the world's dispensable nation."
That Financial Times article started by saying: "In a second inaugural address tinged with evangelical zeal, George W. Bush declared: "Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world." The peoples of the world, however, do not seem to be listening. A new world order is indeed emerging - but its architecture is being drafted in Asia and Europe, at meetings to which Americans have not been invited.
....The US, it turns out, is a dispensable nation. Europe, China, Russia, Latin America and other regions and nations are quietly taking measures whose effect, if not sole purpose, will be to cut America down to size.
Ironically, the US, having won the cold war, is adopting the strategy that led the Soviet Union to lose it."
To further illustrate the United States loss of clout and influence in South America, we just have to look at the results of the latest election of the head of the OAS.
One of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's goals in her trip to Brazil in late April 2005 was to convince President Lula to change his mind and have Brazil vote for the US candidate that would head the Organization of American States (OAS) for the next 5 years.
One week later, the candidate that Brazil was supporting all along, in opposition to the United States, Mr. Insulza from Chile was the winner. It was the first time in the organizations 60-year history that the candidate supported by Washington did not win.
This particular election sends a clear signal to the world of how fast the United States is losing its influence in South America. At the same time that the US is losing its influence, China is quickly replacing the United States influence in the Area.
China's Rising Influence
In a very short period of time China is becoming the most important business partner of Brazil. China has been quickly replacing the United States' influence in Brazil - and that is also happening in other South American countries.
On May 17, 2005 - The Financial Times of London had another article trying to explain why US influence was declining in South America: "Latin lessons the US faces a loss of leadership."
The article said: "Why have relations turned so sour? Economics is part of the reason. During the late 1980s and 1990s Latin America embraced free market policies and moved enthusiastically into the US orbit. But when reform often failed to produce growth that began to change, with many Latin Americans blaming the US for their problems.
"The failure of the Bush administration to help Argentina when it ran into a disastrous debt crisis at the end of 2001 was particularly damaging to its image in the region. "Whether or not Washington or Wall Street really bear the blame, many Latin Americans believe the US led them down the primrose path but then were simply not interested when times got tough," says Julia Sweig, a Latin America specialist at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
"After a number of South American countries embraced democracy, and many of the economic policies prescribed by Washington including all kinds of privatizations, the result of these changes did not benefit the South American population as expected.
"And South America's less than impressive economic performance over the past 15 years has led to a fresh bout of soul-searching about what kind of economic model is right for the region.
"... In particular, the role of the state - which policymakers were trying to cut back for most of the 1990s - is undergoing a rethink, in part reflecting South America's growing economic relationship with parts of Asia that have achieved much higher rates of growth."
There is another factor that contributed to the current state of affairs in South America. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States lost its interest regarding South America.
Some South American countries including Brazil, instead of whining or crying over spilled milk, did something about it, as a capitalist country they started searching around the world for new partners to establish new ties to replace their lost business.
The US decline of influence with Brazil did not happen overnight or because of political reasons; it was as a result of economic reasons as Brazil found new partners.
The Brazilian need to find new markets for its products coincided with the economic explosion that has been happening in the Chinese economy in the last few years. Today, China has an insatiable need for commodities of all kinds to feed its amazing production machine.
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