While acknowledging the advances made by the country in recent years, the paper, via its Sao Paolo correspondent Joe Leahy, urges the BRIC giant to be more selective about the countries it deals with.
This is especially important now, he thinks, that the Country is developing so fast in so many ways.
Sometimes countries have to pick sides and always should try to act on principle more than expediency. Brazil does sometimes act in this way (as with its criticism of Iranian ‘stoning’ executions) but is unfortunately often more ambivalent.
A lot of the gist of the article seems inspired by the recent visit to Cuba of President Dilma Rousseff and what many see as her soft-pedalling in Havana on the human rights issue in the island nation. It is also focused largely on the Cuban regime-critical internet blogger, Yoani Sanchez, someone who is decidedly not a popular figure in government circles there!
Mr.Leahy analyses that Brazil is leaving the so-called Third World and is emerging as a global power (after all, the country is now in sixth place in terms of national GDP, having recently overtaken the United Kingdom). In this situation her international attitudes will have a profound effect on many things, not least the inward flow of international investment which is so vital to national prosperity
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This all means the country’s government and diplomats should be more discerning about which side of the fence, or indeed multiple fences, they should aim to be on.
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