When French politician Pascal Lamy set the process in motion to replace himself as the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it was an interesting outcome that the two last candidates for the position were both from Latin America and were both from economies either from BRICS nations or …
Brazil’s economy has turned tepid. Last year growth was one perccent, the lowest rate of any major emerging economy. Mexico is now Latin America’s growth darling. Meanwhile Sao Paulo’s jetsetters are squirreling away their savings in Miami real estate, a trend that perhaps has less to …
On January 28, a band playing in the popular Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil decided to add some flare to their show — literally. Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band lit an outdoor use flare, the cheapest available, which in turn ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling. The …
It’s that time of year again. Another 12 months has flown by. Companies and organizations are celebrating their 2012 achievements and are looking for areas of improvement in 2013. Offices, malls and schools are filled with holiday music and lights. South Africa is no different, but there is some stress, …
This week’s election in Venezuela was important for reasons outside of Venezuela itself. The victory of Hugo Chavez with over 80% of the electorate voting and a sizable minority voting against the current President showed that Hugo Chavez does have a great deal of support as well as a …
Marcela Valente of the ipsnews.net published a very interesting article this week discussing why Mercosur has decided to pass up a recent offer of a free trade agreement with China. Mercosur fell off the radar screen in the discussions on international trade after the FTAA …
After more than a year of planning, much diplomatic hype, and thousands of attendees, last month’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro produced what one activist called a “failure of epic proportions.” The few agreements—including yet another “universal intergovernmental high level political forum” to talk some more—seemed to fall …
Behold, Foreign Policy has announced “a new golden age of oil and gas.” Here’s the good news: unlike previous booms this one stands to benefit a wide swath of humanity, including places as far flung as the Canary Islands and the Falklands, Brazil and the Arctic.
The bad news: …
U-2’s front man is an able writer on developmental economics, this much became clear when he penned the foreword to Jeff Sachs’ “The End of Poverty” in 2005. A few days ago, Bono published a column for TIME. His premise: the world is on the cusp of another natural resource …
The recent BRICS summit at the end of March 2012 led to a substantial amount of controversy surrounding South Africa’s membership. Various political analysts were seen on television and in newspapers all answering a similar question to this one: Given its economic, military and population numbers, is South …
A report released last month discussed the rising profile of BRICS countries–Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa–in health and development assistance and called upon the group to further their cooperation for better global health in the developing world. ”Shifting Paradigm: How the BRICS are Shaping Global Health and Development” …
(cntasul.blogspot.com)
In the September 2011 issue of National Geographic, to which I subscribe through my beloved grandmother, Cynthia Gorney chronicles the steep decline in fertility rate of Brazilian women. It is a thought-provoking coincidence that, in the short-term at least, this decline has coincided with a woman ascending to the presidency.
While democracy struggles to take hold in Myanmar and the Maldives, last weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Colombia raised some interesting questions about development and democracy in the Western Hemisphere. Events at the conference itself have been addressed …
A recent article by IPSNews.net discussed the downside of Brazil’s investment relationship with China. While much of the article discusses the positive exponential growth between Brazil and China, the different nature of growth and long-term investment between the two BRICS are quite different, and in some cases …
A few weeks back we discussed on this FPA blog how Brazil was likely to choose the French candidate as its new fighter jet over its American and Swedish rivals. Part of the decision to choose the French Rafale jet was based on past restrictions by the US on Embraer …
