At the United Nations, President Barak Obama reiterated and preached, Ahmadinejad obfuscated and raged in vitriol, Gadhafi equivocated and ranted but Presidet Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was poised and statesmanlike on all the major issues facing the world , from global recession to global warming to the developing nations increased importance to the crisis in Guatemala.
He called for a greater role in global affairs for CRIB....China, Russia, India and Brazil. He blamed the " unfettered financial markets for causing the global crisis" and said that " it is not fair for workers and the poor or the developing countreis to pay for runaway speculation" He demanded more voice for developing countries in the World Bank and in the International Monetary Fund that would reflect "the growing importance of emerging markets in Chuina, Russia, India and Brazil". He wants more ambitious goals to cut greenhouse emissions and stressed the need to forge a pact on global warming by December and serious negotiations on the global economy at the G20 meeting in Pittsburg, not the economic models that discourage regulation, and the " senseless way of thinking and acting which dominated the world for decades" and that "has proved itself bankrupt".
It is , however on the political crisis in Honduras that Lula and Brazil will be tested and judged on its ability to claim the mantle of leader in Latin America and thus a greater role in world affairs. Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpaq and thus brought pressure to bear on Lula to negotiate a successful outcome. The de facto President Roberto Micheletti and his foreign minister have raised the possibility of talks and Lula has to seize on this. He has called for the immediate return of Zelaya to the presidency, warnig that "unless there is popular will, we will see more coups like the one that toppled the constitutional government of Honduras".
Latin America can ill-afford to return to those wretched times of wholesale death, destruction and instability. Over the past 20 years, there have remarkable and peaceful changes, that have seen democracy, economic growth, progress in health, education and human rights and the elections of progressive governments in Brazil, Venezuela, Chile Uruguay, Peru, Argentina and eleswhere. Twenty years ago, 19 of 20 governments were authoritarian/ military dictatorships at war with its people. Tens of thousands died, many tens thousands were imprisoned, tortured and fled. Latin America has emerged from the darkness and while a lot more need to be done, surely but surely, with peace, stability and legitimate, accountable government, real progress and a more equitable society is being created.
Honduras which suffereed as much, if not more than the others, must be peaceably resolved and soon, before the rot sets in and the virus of coups spread.
Update.............Update..................Update
The developing countries gained some concessions at the G-20 meeting, on economic issues that will see them more involved on global economy strategy and on the IMF and the World Bank.
Honduras continues to be a problem, defying calls for the return to power of Zelaya. The stand-off at the Brazilian embassy remains and the possibility of violence has increased.
West Germany has rejected the SDP and returned the Centre-right to power. Merkl will be a force to be reckoned in Europe and Afghanistan.
Scorates and the left has retained power in Portugal, but with a reduced majority.
He called for a greater role in global affairs for CRIB....China, Russia, India and Brazil. He blamed the " unfettered financial markets for causing the global crisis" and said that " it is not fair for workers and the poor or the developing countreis to pay for runaway speculation" He demanded more voice for developing countries in the World Bank and in the International Monetary Fund that would reflect "the growing importance of emerging markets in Chuina, Russia, India and Brazil". He wants more ambitious goals to cut greenhouse emissions and stressed the need to forge a pact on global warming by December and serious negotiations on the global economy at the G20 meeting in Pittsburg, not the economic models that discourage regulation, and the " senseless way of thinking and acting which dominated the world for decades" and that "has proved itself bankrupt".
It is , however on the political crisis in Honduras that Lula and Brazil will be tested and judged on its ability to claim the mantle of leader in Latin America and thus a greater role in world affairs. Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpaq and thus brought pressure to bear on Lula to negotiate a successful outcome. The de facto President Roberto Micheletti and his foreign minister have raised the possibility of talks and Lula has to seize on this. He has called for the immediate return of Zelaya to the presidency, warnig that "unless there is popular will, we will see more coups like the one that toppled the constitutional government of Honduras".
Latin America can ill-afford to return to those wretched times of wholesale death, destruction and instability. Over the past 20 years, there have remarkable and peaceful changes, that have seen democracy, economic growth, progress in health, education and human rights and the elections of progressive governments in Brazil, Venezuela, Chile Uruguay, Peru, Argentina and eleswhere. Twenty years ago, 19 of 20 governments were authoritarian/ military dictatorships at war with its people. Tens of thousands died, many tens thousands were imprisoned, tortured and fled. Latin America has emerged from the darkness and while a lot more need to be done, surely but surely, with peace, stability and legitimate, accountable government, real progress and a more equitable society is being created.
Honduras which suffereed as much, if not more than the others, must be peaceably resolved and soon, before the rot sets in and the virus of coups spread.
Update.............Update..................Update
The developing countries gained some concessions at the G-20 meeting, on economic issues that will see them more involved on global economy strategy and on the IMF and the World Bank.
Honduras continues to be a problem, defying calls for the return to power of Zelaya. The stand-off at the Brazilian embassy remains and the possibility of violence has increased.
West Germany has rejected the SDP and returned the Centre-right to power. Merkl will be a force to be reckoned in Europe and Afghanistan.
Scorates and the left has retained power in Portugal, but with a reduced majority.
