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Caribbean-Latin America
An Arab- Southern American summit in December in Brazil
2004-05-10
The foreign minister of Brazil, Selzo Amorim, announced on Saturday that the leaders of the Arab states will be meeting with their counterparts from Southern America in Brazil in December this year.
Road trip!
This will be in the context of an initiative to give the developing countries a higher voice in the international affairs.
"Gimme gimme gimme!"
Amorim said following talks in the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo that the summit will include 34 leaders and is expected to concentrate on political relations and trade, investments and technical cooperation.
"Invest enough money and we'll coperate with practically anything."
The summit was proposed by the President of Brazil Lula Da Silva, who proposed his initiative on the Arab leaders during his Middle East tour by the end of 2003. Amorim said that it is almost confirmed this summit will be in the first phase of December, but "we are still in the phase of drawing a certain date. it is expected to be on the 8th and 9th of December."
"We'll get back to you."
However, some 10 million Brazilians (out of 175 million) are of Arab descent,
- Good population base to hide jihadis in -
including Lebanese whose number are greater than the population of Lebanon.
Bet there's a reason for that. I'll wager they're christian Lebanese.
This summit will be the first of its kind. Amorim said after that the summit will be held periodically. He said:" we feel so much in commons with the Arabs. Of course we have good relations with Israel. But we actually show our solidarity with the Arab states when we vote at the UN general Assembly and other organizations."
That last sentance sez it all.
Posted by:Steve

#12  By the way, there is an American who blogs a lot on Brazilian – and Latin American, in general – issues. But he does it from a very leftist perspective.

I can't let a statement like that go unchallenged. I spend a lot of my time posting on how much of a useless demagogue Hugo Chávez is and hammering Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba.

As for Lula, I admire the fact that he has sought his goals through democratic means, but I have been critical of him in the past and will continue to be critical of him whne I feel the need to be. It's called nuance and I try to be neither reactionary nor obsessed with dogma.
Posted by: Randy Paul   2004-05-10 10:13:00 PM  

#11  Nelson Ascher is a Brazilian expat who's occasionally back in his home country...
Posted by: someone   2004-05-10 5:32:11 PM  

#10  Saideira, I have to agree. The fundies would go apolectic at carnival time
Posted by: cheaderhead   2004-05-10 4:57:53 PM  

#9  Hi, Jen. I read that article and yes, it's pretty silly. Like I said, this guy is an absolute embarrassment and most Brazilians despise him now. He can't even speak Portuguese properly.

Most Brazilian bloggers are teenage girls who probably wouldn’t know much about politics. But when I move there, I will start my own blog.

By the way, there is an American who blogs a lot on Brazilian – and Latin American, in general – issues. But he does it from a very leftist perspective. He actually supports Lula, so I am not sure you would get outlook you want from him.

http://beautifulhorizons.typepad.com/

Oh, I just remembered a Miami-based Venezuelan blogger who is pretty right-wing on a lot of issues. But he covers everything, not just Latin American politics.

http://val.dorta.com/
Posted by: Saideira   2004-05-10 4:46:56 PM  

#8  Now there's concern that Lula has a drinking problem--that would explain the bad decisions!
(Is anyone else aware of how many bloggers there are in Brazil, BTW?)
Posted by: Jen   2004-05-10 4:33:19 PM  

#7  Thanks for the welcome! I am a long time lurker and really enjoy this site.

Just for the record, more than anything I want to bring my fiancee to NYC to be with me, but the new immigration laws make it a very time-consuming process to bring a foreign spouse into the country. She also wants to be close to her family, at least initially. I'm tired of having a long-distance relationship, so I see this as the best option for me.

Believe it or not, it's actually easier to live there for a few years and then bring her back when I apply from Brazil.

We tend to forget that in the early part of the 20th century the ABC countries -- Argentina, Brazil and Chile -- we on an economic par with the U.S. Hard as we've sometimes tried, we've never managed to produce a Lula.

Actually, Chile is a stable and propserous country right now. They have a pretty good standard of living. One that could equate with many Western European countries. Argentina was doing well too until recently. Brazil has always been an economic mess. Sad to see a country with such vast potential wasted like this.
Posted by: Saideira   2004-05-10 4:28:25 PM  

#6  We tend to forget that in the early part of the 20th century the ABC countries -- Argentina, Brazil and Chile -- we on an economic par with the U.S.

Hard as we've sometimes tried, we've never managed to produce a Lula.
Posted by: Fred   2004-05-10 4:19:47 PM  

#5  Welcome to RB and thanks for the info Saideira, I didn't realize there were than many Lebaneese in Brazil.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-05-10 4:13:46 PM  

#4  I’m moving to Brazil this fall to be with my fiancee. I’ve been there a few times and it’s actually a wonderful country (hence my nickname). There a lot of misconceptions about it and I’ll try to clear them up.

Yes, Brazil has more Lebanese than Lebanon and the vast majority of them are Catholic. Actually, the Lebanese and Jewish populations get along pretty well there and both comprise of the wealthiest class. Indeed, Brazil’s richest family is Jewish-Lebanese.

Islam never really caught on in Brazil and it’s not spreading like it is in the US and other Western countries (it is the fastest growing religion in the US, after all). Most of them are in the lawless tri-border region of the country, which is famous for the waterfall and, of course, being a Hezbollah base. Islam is simply incompatible with the Brazilian lifestyle. You think the Brazilian men there want to see their beautiful and bikini-clad women in burkas? I doubt it!

Also, I would not categorize Brazil as a 3rd world country. It’s a 1st world and a 3rd world country clashed together. You’d be surprised how many rich people are there and of their extravagant lifestyles which would put those of the richest here in the US to shame. Nonetheless, there are a lot of poor Brazilians too and the discrepancy between the rich and the poor has been noted as perhaps the worst in the world. It’s probably the main reason for the sky-high crime rates.

As far a Lula’s support for the Arabs, he’s talking out of his ass as he always does. He’s a communist. Thing is, his party is so unpopular now for broken promises, corruption scandals and breaking the party line. So who knows if this thing will actually go through? Brazil was supposed to have a summit with the US a few months ago, but it never happened. Lula says a lot of things, but never does anything. Why? He’s scared shitless that the rich Brazilians (and that includes the Jews) will take all of their money out of the country and totally ruin the economy. I’d like to see it before I believe it.
Posted by: Saideira   2004-05-10 4:07:41 PM  

#3  This will be in the context of an initiative to give the developing countries a higher voice in the international affairs.

They're gonna castrate 'em?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-05-10 3:44:58 PM  

#2  "your poverty and humiliation is obviously the fault of the occupying Israelis" - the big trick is to be able to say this to haitians and brazilians without breaking a smile
Posted by: Frank G   2004-05-10 3:37:22 PM  

#1  "Developing Country"
A Developing Country is a place where the wealthy 5% maintain control by whipping up the poor 95%, and through corruption. They don't invest in growth domestically, or develop abundant natural resources. They then convince the poor 95% that all the poverty is the result of the USA. Am I correct?
Posted by: BigEd   2004-05-10 3:27:36 PM  

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