[IronJack]

Given the perilous laxity in our intelligence community of late, I'd trust this author's analysis as much as the CIA's. This is a situation probably worth keeping an eye on.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[PhilDragoo]

Anti-Castro/Anti-Chavez/Anti-Silva bump.

[marron]

I hate to get paranoid, right at the moment I am orgasmic at the approach of Castro's demise, but this is the scenario that most worries me.

Chinese money bought a US president. Chinese money bought a Panamanian president. Chavez and da Silva probably don't need to be bought, but are a good investment anyway. A few well placed dollars could cause the tectonic plates to shift dramatically and not in our favor. A hostile Brazil would be horrifying to contemplate.

Chavez is potentially bad enough, with the potential he has to cause trouble with his neighbors, through his support of radical officers, and his support of the FARC. But he is about one mass demonstration away from being overthrown, unless...

If da Silva takes power, and consolidates power as Chavez did, the whole picture changes.

The war in Colombia, already difficult, becomes effectively unwinnable by the usual methods. A latin america that allows Chinese operations free reign could make life very difficult for us.

[VRW Conspirator]

Prediction: DeSilva will win; Brazil will go to hades in a hand basket; South America will follow; He will be run out of office; The garbage left behind will stink for a couple of decades.

[Red Jones]

bump

[mrustow]

Darn! I thought this was about them rebs!

[Kenny Bunk]

For decades, da Silva has blamed democracy, market-oriented institutions, and the United States for all the social and economic problems of his country and of Latin America. The Workers' party has long opposed the involvement of Brazil with international financial institutions and international borrowing and has argued that Brazil should suspend payment on its large foreign debt. ...

Gunner, even a miserable Third World Commie wannabe can't be wrong all the time! What they don't understand is that their problems are caused by American Commie wannabe's.

But look at the bright side, if the Commies do take over Brazil, the economy of the place will really implode and we'll have about a hundred million new illegal aliens to worry about.

It's pretty tough to walk here from Brazil, but if you're really determined, you might drive! Actually, I am not that worried about it. The Mexicans run a pretty tough border on THEIR Southern Frontier.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Brazil 'gets it' (Clinton's former Chief of Staff runs strategic advisory firm) *** Representing 41 percent of economic output south of Mexico and three-quarters of all foreign direct investment in the region, Brazil is the economic engine that drives Latin America. The region's prosperity cannot rev into high gear unless Brazil is stable and growing. If it should fail, joining Argentina, then economic calamity may well ripple through already-shaky Venezuela and Colombia while also swamping Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru, and others. The result could be a contagion that will weaken the US economy as dozens of Fortune 500 companies are forced to report earnings eroded by losing investments in Brazil. ''Irrational exuberance has given way to irrational panic,'' the head of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America recently explained of Brazil.***

[Tailgunner Joe]

Marxist May Win the Presidency in Brazil This Fall

The Brazilian 2002 Elections:
A Stacked Deck?

Jesse Jackson compares Brazil candidate to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela

A New Axis Of Evil