Re:EU – Brazil: working together towards a gold standard in ...
by dfc on Thursday June 12, 2014 @02:32PM
(#7885168)
The aspirational bit is spot on and the G4 membership is a great example of the bigger aspirations. When I said I had never heard Brazil mentioned as anything other than a regional power I kind of lied. I have frequently heard that Brazil aspires to be a major power.
I am glad that you did not take any offense to my comments. I actually have always been interested in Brazil, the flag was probably one of the first countries' flags I could recognize as a child after US, Canada and USSR (at the time). My mother went to Brazil with American Foreign Service in the 60s. So ever since I was a little kid I remember getting a Christmas card from her host family and I have always wanted to take them up on the open offer to come visit.
Brazil aspires to be a world power but its execution is always sub par. I really like the quote that says "Brazil is the country of the future, and will always be". It is so true.
We're certainly no military (our presence in Haiti is a joke) or economic power (our GDP is increasing mainly due to population size and small improvements in quality of life for really poor people, but industry productivity and innovation are, again, a joke and not taken seriously here). We like to think that in diplomatic issues Brazil has played some kind of middleman role but that's questionable (people won't give you status/credit just because.. and we don't even use the economic weight correctly, often trying to be the good guys) and in cultural sphere.. well, soccer and carnival are not something I'm proud of.
Thanks again for your explanation, it's certainly spot on.