A
Quick Look at the Brazilian Press
Thursday,
May 20, 2010
Summary:
Media coverage today continued to be dominated be reaction to the U.S.
announcement on sanctions against Iran. Reports highlight that President
Lula urged the UNSC to negotiate with Iran to avoid undoing the achievements
made thus far through dialogue.
Iran
–
news:
Lula,
Amorim insist that UNSC should focus on negotiations with Iran, not
sanctions
Lula:
situation with Iran will “go back to zero” if UNSC fails to
negotiate –
O
Estado de S. Paulo
A16/
Folha
de S. Paulo A14/
O
Globo 27/ Blog do
Noblat: http://migre.me/GztH
Brazil
wants more global power, says Lula –
Valor
Economico
F1
Amorim
says sanctions would postpone peaceful solution of Iranian case by 3 years
– http://migre.me/GzEd
Amorim:
“If Iran were smart, it should just ignore all this and continue doing
what it’s doing” – Blog do Noblat: http://migre.me/Gzuu
President
Lula warned on Wednesday that the UN Security Council would risk wasting what
has so far been achieved with the Iranians if it fails to show a willingness to
negotiate with Tehran. “It is up to the UN Security Council to sit down
with a willingness to negotiate, because if it feels like it does not want to
negotiate, everything will be rolled back,” he told a business conference
in Madrid. “The deal is exactly what the United States wanted to do five
months ago.” According to Lula, “As long as we have only one country
wanting to solve this we will have no tranquility in the Middle East. If the UN
continues like this we will have serious problems with global governance.”
Iranians
scoff at proposed sanctions; Brazilian dailies carry contradictory forecasts
about UNSC vote
Iran
tries to reduce impact of possible sanctions -
O
Estado de S. Paulo
A17
Iran
reasserts commitment to Brazil-Turkey agreement, questions feasibility of
sanctions -
Folha
de S. Paulo
A15
Estado
NY correspondent
Gustavo Chacra reports that despite the deal between the five UN Security
Council members to press forward with sanctions against Iran, a vote on this
issue is unlikely until June, and there are questions about whether the U.S. and
its allies will manage to get enough votes to approve it. However,
O
Globo New York
correspondent Marilia Martins reports UN sources say on background that the
measure is expected to get unanimous support from the five permanent members of
the UNSC, as well as to get the vote from a majority of the non-permanent
members. Brazilian dailies highlight that Iranian officials scoffed at the
proposed sanctions, noting that they are far less strict than the USG originally
wanted and would be highly ineffective if ever approved.
Tehran’s
uranium enrichment announcement caught Brazil by surprise on Monday –
O
Estado de S. Paulo
A16: Andrei Netto reports from Madrid that GOB officials have acknowledged
that they were caught by surprise on Monday when
Iran
announced that they would resume enriching uranium at 20%. A top Brazilian
presidential advisor is quoted as saying that the GOB was not expecting that
Iran would approach that issue right after the meetings in Tehran. He also
quotes another advisor close to Lula as saying: “We were caught by
surprise.” http://migre.me/GzLb
Brazil
and Turkey send letter to UNSC members
–
O
Estado de S. Paulo
A17 /
Valor
Economico A12:
Papers report Brazil and Turkey sent a letter to the UNSC members urging them to
refrain from more sanctions against Iran. “Brazil and Turkey are convinced
that it is time to give a chance for negotiations and to avoid measures that are
detrimental to a peaceful solution of this matter," the letter said. http://migre.me/GzKj and http://migre.me/GzOW
The full text of the letter is available, in English and Portuguese, at
http://www.mre.gov.br/portugues/imprensa/nota_detalhe3.asp?ID_RELEASE=8243
Vice-President
Alencar says Iran has “right to credibility” –
Jornal
do Brasil A4:
Vice President Jose Alencar defended yesterday the nuclear agreement mediated by
President Lula and Foreign Minister Amorim with Iran. According to Alencar, it
is too soon to say that Brazil has isolated itself and even if it has, it will
have done so in the defense of international dialogue and peace. According to
Alencar, Iran must “have the right to credibility.” http://migre.me/GzUj
Iran
– opinion
Editorial:
The U.S. response –
O
Estado de S. Paulo
A2: Editorial claims that while the Obama administration may welcome
Brazil’s efforts to reach an agreement with Iran, the USG response is
driven by powerful domestic and global/geopolitical considerations. http://migre.me/GzM1
Editorial:
The anatomy of a foreign policy failure –
O
Globo 6:
According to the daily, while “the Lula administration has the legitimate
and correct strategic goal of increasing Brazil’s global influence”,
the agreement Brasilia brokered with Tehran was “tragic” because
“it demonstrates, for all of the GOB’s hastiness, the desire to
postpone the adoption of sanctions, which ultimately helps Iran build nuclear
weapons.” According to the daily, Brazil’s policy for Iran
“drives Brazil that farther away from having a UN Security Council
Seat” and has been “pathetic and shameful.” http://migre.me/GBEL
Column
(Merval Pereira): VP Alencar’s defense of A-bomb sheds new light on
Brazil-Iran relations –
O
Globo 4 and Blog do
Noblat: Columnist Merval Pereira criticizes Vice President Jose Alencar’s
insistence in saying that nuclear weapons may serve as a “containment
weapon” or an “assurance for peace.” According to the
columnist, statements like Alencar’s “prompt an important political
question... about Brazil’s role as negotiator of an agreement that
formally appears to try to reinsert Iran in the international community, but
that in practice allows it to buy time to press forward with its program away
from the oversight of international organizations and safe from UN
sanctions.” According to the columnist, “It is known that there are
sectors within the [Brazilian] government that believe that the policy that led
to the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty... was a strategic
mistake.” http://migre.me/GB80
Blog
(Eliane Cantanhede): Iran causes Brasilia-Washington “open conflict”
– Pensata:
Folha
columnist and senior
reporter writes in her blog that, “despite reassurances from U.S.
Ambassador Thomas Shannon,” the Iranian issue has caused an “open
conflict” and “immense tension” between Brasilia and
Washington. According to the columnist, while the Brazilian government argues
that its nuclear agreement achieves what Washington always wanted, the USG
counter-argues that the issue of enrichment and inspections remains unaddressed.
She refers to the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb as an
“incalculable risk.” http://migre.me/GzCC
Column
(Sonia Racy): Famous Brazilian physicist faults Brazil-Turkey agreement
– Direto da
Fonte: Famous Brazilian physicist Jose Goldemberg takes issue with the
Brazil-Turkey-Iran agreement for ignoring Iran’s enrichment activities and
for attracting the wrong kind of international attention to the Brazilian
nuclear enrichment program. http://migre.me/GzkN
Op-Ed
by Clovis Rossi: “An answer is missing” –
Folha
de S. Paulo A2:
Clovis Rossi asks why has the USG “torpedoed” the Iran-Turkey-Brazil
deal if “it was Barack Obama who urged [Lula] to dialogue with the
Iranians in the first place?”
Op-Ed
by Kenneth Maxwell: “The deal with Iran” –
Folha
de S. Paulo A2:
Maxwell claims that part of Washington’s strategy is to avoid an Israeli
military attack against Iran.
Column
(Sonia Racy): M. A. Garcia says Brazil was always aware of risks in Iran talks,
“but it was worth it” –
O
Estado de S. Paulo
D2: Sonia Racy says that when questioned by an
Estado
reporter in Europe about the diplomatic risk Lula ran by interfering in the
Iranian issue, GOB’s Foreign Affairs advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia stated
the President knew the risk he was taking, but “we thought that even so,
it would be worth it.”
Blog
(Gustavo Chacra): Brazil and Turkey want to be “treated like
grownups,” but “irritate” the U.S. –
De Beirute a Nova
York: By
Estado’s
New York
correspondent. http://migre.me/Gzkf
Analysis
(Helio Schwartzman): “Implementation of sanctions will only complicate
scenario” –
Folha
de S. Paulo A14:
Schwartzman says in the end Washington will have to go back to the negotiation
table. He says the sanctions being discussed are too weak to threaten Iranian
authorities or its economy so after approving the sanctions the U.S. will need
to give a second step. “It is unlikely that the U.S. opts for a
confrontation policy....Therefore, everything indicates Washington....will end
up going back to trying to reach an understanding with Iran. [And] it is in this
context that Lula’s efforts might be worth something.”
Consular
Issues
Man
accused of contracting Dorothy Stang’s killing allowed to wait for trial
in liberty –
O
Globo 13 and Blog do
Noblat: Rancher Regivaldo Pereira Galvão (a.k.a.
Taradão)
sentenced to 30 years in prison for contracting the murder of American
missionary Dorothy Stang in Anapu, Para, was granted provisional release by a
Para State Court and will wait for the result of his appeal in liberty.
http://migre.me/GzrJ
Blog
(Paulo Moreira Leite): “Farce in Belem”
– blogger
warns that Stang’s killer might flee from Justice if released from custody
before trial – http://migre.me/Gzxg
Per
columnist Ancelmo Gois: The Hague
Convention –
O
Globo 16: Columnist
Ancelmo Gois writes that the Brazilian grandparents of Sean Goldman made a
request at the Human Rights Secretariat, in Brasilia, yesterday demanding
Sean’s return to Brazil and visitation rights in the US (which were denied
in April by a New Jersey court). Gois writes that they haven’t spoken with
Sean since March 2. http://migre.me/GCfX
U.S.
travel agencies want to eliminate need for tourism visas for
Brazilians –
O
Globo 11: The daily
writes that at a moment when other important markets are retracting, the number
of Brazilian tourists that visited the U.S. in the first two months of 2010
increased 33.8%, in comparison with the same months of 2009. The U.S. Travel
Association, therefore, reinforced its lobby for Brazil, as well as Argentina
and Chile, to be included in the Visa Waiver Program that dispenses the need of
an entry visa for tourists with passports from specific countries, such as those
in the European Union. http://migre.me/GBDQ
U.S.
Mission news
Column
(Flavia Oliveira): farewell to Camille
Richardson –
O
Globo 25: Columnist
Flavia Oliveira notes that U.S. Commercial Consul Camille Richardson is leaving
Rio [after almost five years] and will be replaced by Alan Long.
Government
and politics
President
Lula’s official agenda for today
– Blog do
Noblat: The president arrived in Brasilia early this morning and has a brief
agenda at Planalto Palace today. http://migre.me/Gzij
The
above summary reflects the reporting and opinions expressed by the cited news
media. Candex does not independently verify information, nor do the
reports necessarily reflect the opinion or reporting of the board of
Candex.