Hasbeen power (U.S.) & rising power (Brazil) face-off as tensions rise

GREETINGS,

”  America has not only lost and is still losing friendship all over Asia and Africa,…but she is now losing friendship right here with her next-door neighbors, Central and South America. “–pg.109(tfoa)

 

……….”  However, the scripture must be fulfilled; they shall eat America’s bread and burn her body with fire.

  I quote from Rev. 17:16, “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore…and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire!” The ‘horns’ here are a symbolic reference to Central and South America (America’s satellites).

  This means that America’s gifts and what-not will be accepted, but this does not mean that America has bought their sincere friendship. They will take all the gifts which America offers, but still this does not mean that America has their heart.“–pg.109(tfoa)

Is Obama wary of Brazil and Dilma Rousseff?

Although superficially relations between Brazil and the US seem warm, geopolitical posturing is increasing.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

New York, NY – Are there hidden tensions which stand to undermine the important diplomatic relationship between Washington and rising star Brazil? During a recent meeting at the White House, Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sought to put on a good face. Brazil had made “extraordinary progress” under Rousseff, Obama declared effusively. Returning the praise, Rousseff called for greater Brazilian-US economic cooperation.

The meeting built upon a flurry of back and forth visits intended to solidify greater ties: in March, the US deputy secretary of state travelled to Brasilia, where he lobbied for greater joint trade and investment. On the defence front, too, the two nations recently signed an important cooperation agreement. Officially then, the US and Brazil enjoy cordial relations.

Look below the surface, however, and all is not well. Washington, which is used to calling the shots in South America, is wary of Brasilia’s intentions, and has been slow to accommodate the region’s newest up and coming player. In Brazil, many commentators claimed that Obama snubbed Rousseff in Washington by not granting her leader the honour of a full White House dinner.

Such slights were not lost on the likes of Caio Blinder, a columnist for Brazilian magazine Veja, who declared that Obama had intentionally “downgraded” Rousseff’s visit. Going yet further, the Veja writer lamented the “considerable lack of mutual respect” between the US and Brazil.

A growing rivalry?

For some time, the Brazilians have coveted a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, yet in Washington Obama failed to recognise the South American giant’s wider aspirations, choosing to simply remark, rather blandly and non-commitally, that the US “expressed appreciation” for Brazil’s geopolitical ambitions.

Inside Story Americas – Brazil and the US: A relationship of equals?

Writing for Inter Press Service, correspondent Jim Lobe noted that the summit “could not escape a mutual sense of disappointment in how relations have developed during Obama’s presidency”. Lobe notes that “Washington had clearly hoped that, under Rousseff, Brazil would move much closer to the US on a wide array of global and regional issues than had been the case under her charismatic predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva”. However, the correspondent adds, “the changes have not been as great as the administration had hoped”.

According to the New York Times, the tension between Rousseff and Obama was palpably apparent at times. During the Washington summit, the paper noted, the “leaders’ eyes rarely met and Ms Rousseff rarely looked at Mr Obama as he spoke. He looked intently at her during her remarks, nodding in agreement at times. But he seemed to bristle when she expressed concern that America’s ‘monetary expansion policy’ could impair growth in emerging economies like Brazil’s”.

Brazil and the US vie for influence

An exporting dynamo and powerhouse with a growing middle class, Brazil is using its newfound economic clout to venture into world politics like never before. In contrast to Venezuela, which routinely launches rhetorical broadsides against the US, Brazil espouses a less confrontational foreign policy. One wonders, however, whether Brazil might reach the limits of its patience at a certain point, if it believes the US is steadfastly standing in its way.

Secret US State Department cables recently disclosed by whistle-blowing outfit WikiLeaks underscore Brazil’s growing sense of self-confidence. In one cable, for instance, leading members of the Brazilian political establishment told US officials that their country should serve as “the natural leader of Latin America, or at least of South America”.

Such assertiveness has discombulated US officials, and it is clear from just a superficial read of the diplomatic correspondence that US diplomats are more cautious and level-headed with the Brazilians than elsewhere in Latin America, where officials tend to be direct, and even confrontational…….MORE HERE

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