Brazil And Barack Obama

For some strange reason, many Europeans and Americans do not see Brazil as a Western country.

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Brazil is a democracy since 1985 when the military left power, there is freedom of expression and the government is transparent to the extent possible. No religion controls the Brazilian state, thus making the Brazilian state a secular state.

However, clearly lack that much so that Brazil can be considered a democracy like France and the United States. I cite as an example the issue of human rights (in this sense there is still much so that Brazil can be compared to major Western democracies). And above all, there is economic inequality in the country.

Despite these problems, Brazil should be considered part of Western civilization, it is very different from Russia, India and China culturally and politically.

The reason I am talking about these things is because the American president, Barack Obama, is coming to Brazil in March, in an official visit. Hillary Clinton interrupted her vacation to come and attend the inauguration of the new Brazilian president Rousseff. A gesture that is very important in the diplomatic world.

It is important because it symbolizes the importance the U.S. gives to Brazil. And this trip of Obama only confirms this.

In the last two years, Brazil and the United States have disagreed on several issues, from ethanol to Iran, but this does not change the status of the relationship between the two countries. The United States has always been important for Brazil, although Brazil is an independent U.S. ideologically. The American influence in Brazil is lower than the United States would like.

This independent stance of the Brazil bothers United States, because Brazil influences several other countries in South America Brazilian foreign policy, which in recent years has preferred an approach with other developing countries than with rich countries, something that has caused a series of friction between the two countries.

In that sense, Obama's trip to Brazil indicates that the U.S. wants (or may need) the support of Brazil in multilateral affairs. Nobody challenges the U.S. hegemony around the world, but the Brazilian influence has grown tremendously, especially in Latin America, Africa and Middle East.

The change of presidency in Brazil may be the appropriate time to return to the United States to seek support from Brazil in the world on important issues, such as Brazil’s new president has made clear that she is against the way Iran treats women (Iranian diplomats complained that the statement to Rousseff). Does this mean that in the future will happen a certain distance of Iran?

And of course, there is another important issue: the U.S. wants to sell 36 F/A-18 Hornet to the Brazilian Air Force. This purchase of billions of dollars and is in the interest of the U.S. government that Brazil spends tens of billions of dollars to move its economy.

Anyway, Obama's coming to Brazil can play a small but significant difference in the relationship between the two countries. We will see the results of this trip soon.