Free Republic

Brazil will buy 34 1A2 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks from Germany to provide security at World Youth Day and major sporting events, officials said Thursday. The tanks are likely to be used when Brazil hosts the World Cup next year and the 2016 Olympic Games. A Defense Ministry statement said the contract would be signed in the coming days with the total value still under negotiation. The used, 47.5-tonne tanks, which were upgraded in 2010 and fitted with new radar systems, will be able to operate until 2030, the G1 news website quoted anti-aircraft artillery brigade chief General Marcio Roland Heise...

You'd be hard-pressed to find similarities between the Amazonian jungles of Brazil and the mountains of Afghanistan, but there are some. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, kicked off a trip to South America with a stop here in the capital of Amazonia. During a briefing from Brazilian Maj. Gen. Eduardo Dias da Costa Villa Boas, the commander of army forces in the region, Myers was struck by the similarity of tactics the coalition uses in Afghanistan and tactics the Brazilian government is using in this far-flung region of the country. The Brazilian...