Brazzil

Dafne Melo and Luis Brasilino write for Brasil de Fato.

AND...AND...who is this Moniz Bandeira? I wish our good friend,distinguished fellow blogger, scholar and "Chief Conspirator", Lloyd Cata will clarify this doubt.

Your facts are very much incorrect. The United States has never had nor do we have plans to have a base in Colombia. The Colombian Govt has given the US permission to use their bases. To make the base usable the US is spending money to bring it up to standards. But there is no US Base in Colombia or in any South American country. The only true fact is that Colombia has become a prominent military power but poses no risk to its neighbors. On the other hand it seems that Chavez would play the fear card in order to increase his military and Lula's advisor's are probably far more concerned with Venezuela's purchases as opposed to the bases in Colombia. The US does not have an interest in the Amazon now nor will it have one 20 years from now. Perhaps the Brazilian should be more concerned with their own self inflicted deforestation, which in about 20 years will leave no Amazon forest.

Ricardo: Hans it is time for you to start thinking with your other head.

When a foreign country has direct access to seven military bases on your country then your country is under foreign military occupation.

It seems to me that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has sold the sovereignty of Colombia for a fist full of dollars = US $ 5 billion dollars.

Here are a few examples of what the U.S. mainstream media was reporting on this subject.


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The Wall Street Journal
By Gerald Jeffris, Dow Jones Newswires
AUGUST 28, 2009

…The comments seemed directed particularly toward Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who suggested earlier in the event that the U.S. planned to use military bases in Colombia as strategic points of attack against South American countries.

According to local press reports, Chavez distributed an alleged copy of a U.S. military plan at the event entitled "White Book of Aerial Mobility Command and Global Strategy of Support Bases," which he said showed U.S. intent to "mobilize for war" in the region.

http://online.wsj.com/article/...13711.html


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The New York Times
By REUTERS
Published: September 9, 2009

…The Venezuelan president said he wanted more clarity from the United States on its foreign policy, adding that he was disappointed by recent U.S. dealings in South America, including the installation of military bases in Colombia.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters...ia"&st=cse


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The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 11, 2009

…As he arrived Thursday night, Chavez called on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to hold peace talks with the leftist rebel group FARC under mediation by Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Brazil or Argentina, and possibly Spain. Chavez also urged Uribe to cancel a recent agreement to let U.S. forces use seven military bases in Colombia.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin...es"&st=cse

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Ricardo: Here is an example of what the Chinese official media was reporting on this subject.


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“Planned U.S. military bases in Colombia increase regional tensions”
by Li Rong
Xinhua News Agency

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. deal on military bases in Colombia is pitting Bogota against many neighboring countries, which feared the bases would threaten their national security and heighten regional tension.

Venezuela, which borders Colombia to the north, is the most vehement opponent of the plan. Its president Hugo Chavez on Tuesday instructed the foreign ministry to get prepared to sever ties with Bogota.

Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed Wednesday that South Americans vote in a continent-wide referendum on the issue. Others,including Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil supported the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) to intervene in the case.

The Unasur has decided to meet on Friday in Argentina to discuss the issue.

VENEZUELA PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ARMED CONFLICT

Chavez said on Tuesday there is no possibility of repairing ties with the Colombian government and told Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro to "begin preparing for the rupture with Colombia."

Chavez has frozen diplomatic ties with Colombia on July 28 after the deal ensuring Washington's access to at least seven Colombian bases by the year 2019. In return, Bogota will get some 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid.

Venezuela began last week establishing 70 "peace bases" on its border with Colombia, and their construction would be finished around beginning of next month.

"Each Venezuelan has to be a soldier to defend Venezuela," Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister, told a press conference, saying that Venezuela was seeking to take creative initiatives to prevent conflicts.

There are reports that Chavez will buy tanks when he visits Russia in September. "This trip has been planned since the beginning of the year, but now we have much more important reasons to step up cooperation," Chavez was quoted as saying.

Venezuela also decided to end an agreement to provide fuel to Colombia. Venezuela's Energy and Petroleum Minister, Rafael Ramirez, said they were implementing rigorous security measures to prevent fuel contraband to Colombia.

PREVAILING SENSE OF INSECURITY

Venezuela is not alone in being upset by the deal. "If the Colombian president wants his bases to be used, I say I want a referendum in South America so the people of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina -- all 12 countries -- can decide," said Bolivia's Morales.

Ecuador's national assembly passed a resolution Tuesday saying the establishment of U.S. military bases in Colombia would undermine peace in the region.

Many urged the Unasur to intervene and discuss the case with Washington. In a phone conversation last Friday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that a meeting with the Unasur countries would help restore the confidence across the region. Obama replied that he would consider such a meeting.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is expected to attend the Unasur meeting scheduled for Friday in southern Argentina to explain the controversial agreement.

Uribe insists the agreement, which allows the presence of 800 U.S. soldiers and 600 civilian contractors of the Pentagon or U.S. security organizations for 10 years at Colombian bases, is aimed at combating drug trafficking and terrorism in South America.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl...952719.htm

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Ricardo: The “Fourth Fleet” reactivation was the first step on this process.

The establishment of seven US military bases is another step on that process.

With that structure in place the United States can complete a full military occupation of Colombia in just a matter of hours; the US military can place 10,000 soldiers or more in each one of these seven military bases with the blink of an eye.

The Colombians are too stupid to figure that one out. Basically they are selling their souls for nothing.

The above article said: “With the installation of these bases, is there any legitimacy to the argument that Colombia may become the "Israel" of Latin America?”

The answer is: not even in a million years. The Israelis are a very smart bunch of people and here in Colombia case we are dealing with a bunch of “Morons.”


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“Fourth Fleet Sets Sail”
Carlos Macias
Americas Society (New York City)
July 15, 2008

The U.S. Navy officially reactivated its Fourth Fleet in Latin American and Caribbean waters on July 12, nearly six decades after it was disbanded. While the fleet’s goal involves humanitarian assistance and support for counternarcotics operations, its reactivation drew concern from some Latin American governments. With the goal of taming fears of U.S. military intervention in the region, the U.S. Navy reiterated their commitment on building regional relationships and what Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead described as the “interoperability” with partner navies and coast guard services.

The Fourth Fleet was first established in 1943 to protect the South Atlantic Ocean from raids during World War II, then deactivated it in 1950. The new fleet, based at Navy Station Mayport in Florida, will not have permanent vessels assigned to it. Instead, it will plan, coordinate, and deploy all missions within its designated area of operations. “Reestablishing Fourth Fleet allows us to more effectively employ naval forces to build confidence and trust among nations through collective maritime security efforts,” said Roughead at the inaugural and change-of-command ceremony.

But not everyone is thrilled by the fleet’s reactivation at a time when alliances such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Brazilian-backed Council on Military Defense are gaining support to safeguard the region’s population, biodiversity, and energy reserves. Some Latin American leaders voiced their concerns over the new military initiative; Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro speculated that the real intentions behind the fleet’s reestablishment involved exercising greater control over Latin America’s vast energy resources.

The United States responded with quick moves to quell such fears. After the administration of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner raised questions about the purpose of the fleet’s reactivation, U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere Thomas Shannon traveled to Buenos Aires. During a joint press conference with Kirchner, he said that U.S. will inform Latin American countries on the fleet’s naval activities in a timely fashion, reports Mercopress.

During a speech at AS/COA’s Latin American Cities Conference in São Paulo last week, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Clifford Sobel raised the fact that some had suggested the fleet could have more agressive purposes. “Let me be very clear. Let me use this forum to say it is not true,” asserted Sobel, saying the fleet will have no offensive capabilities.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was among those who cataloged the Fourth Fleet’s activity in southern waters as a threat and ratified his support for the Council of Military Defense. However, his comments come as Venezuela appears prepared to step up its own weapons purchases. Chávez bought 24 Sukhoi air-fighters, an air defense missile system, and multiple attack and transport helicopters from Russia since 2005. He plans to visit Russia on July 22 to further bolster Venezuela’s military arsenal as well as to improve energy and economical bilateral cooperation. In the last decade, Venezuela’s military expenditure has increased fivefold, pushing the country into the list of the top 25 arms importers in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

http://www.as-coa.org/article.php?id=1134

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"The Militry's Heart and Soul" a stirring narrative brings much deserved honor to our militry and their families.

Your reference to Colombians as a bunch of morons was an incredibly ignorant comment. As far as the activation of the Fourth Fleet, that probably has far more to do with the Russians conducting maneuver's off the coast of Venezuela than a preemptive invasion of the Amazon. Everything you have posted clearly shows a leftest agenda with little or no facts. The U.S. will only allow 800 troops within those seven bases in Colombia.

To speculate over a U.S. invasion only serves to divert attention from the real facts. Those of course being that countries like Venezuela and Brazil have begun an arms race which will limit an already overstressed economic system. Chavez claims he fights for the poor but borrows money to purchase even more weapons. Brazil's favelas are growing at an exponential rate while the Amazon forest is destroyed and cleared by the very people who state they are there to protect it. I assure you that poverty of worst kind is still wide spread in both these countries and requires far more investment.

Truthfully, I do not think that neither Venezuela or Brazil will have the capacity to stop an invasion from U.S. no matter how much armament they buy. The fact is that if the U.S. truly needed to invade it could do so easily because of its vast resources, technology and military.

Perhaps Lula isn't so concerned with the U.S. but rather is competing with Venezuela to remain the dominant regional power. If this is the case, what hypocrisy.

what goes no in another country is only the worlds business if it si
to harm or provoac a hostial act.

The Us in coulmbia is no big deal except to the far left with a idea of some sort of twist of the term internal disorder .

Chaves could be spending his country into a down fall much like PBO is doing the US .

The US simpley out spent the USSR on military hard ware the people got fed up with the rual of law and took action but with a bank rupt socity it was an easy take over .

chaves is going down the same trail but trying to suck in the rest of the leftes with him .

spending ones oil cash on over priced military hard ware is a fools aerin .

at any given time the major military powers can move machines to work kill the interscutra of a country and not even leave the comforts of there offices .

but look at the south the people all ready live with very little most have no running water little if any electrial power .
so to kill a country by knocking out its power grid no real bid deal in brasil . but to kill its only road north the south you have done something soon the south would starve kill the dam and you kill RIO and SP .

and do it during carnival you could take over the country in a few days but why you would have to rebuild , and even build the countrys water , sewer , roads , rail, airports , shiping ports ,

brasil is not worth the trouble it would take to kill it

so take hart brasil you are not worth killing as you are doing a grate job of doing it yourself

As far as the activation of the Fourth Fleet, that probably has far more to do with the Russians conducting maneuver's off the coast of Venezuela than a preemptive invasion of the Amazon.

I don't think it has anything to do with the Ruskies. Pirates and drug carrying home made mini subs seem to be more likely a reason.

But I still think that the Yanks have gotten into a big quagmire in Afghanistan (after Iraq). Using Mr.Brown´s logic, "what goes no in another country is only the worlds business if it si
to harm or provoac a hostial act."

Perhaps Lula isn't so concerned with the U.S. but rather is competing with Venezuela to remain the dominant regional power. If this is the case, what hypocrisy.

There is a very nice article in this site written by a Brasilian and titled "Polarization of Latin America". Few articles below this one. I might be wrong, but his theory coincides with the above statement of yours.

so ,,brazil thinks u.s. military bases in colombia are a threat????... very funny,,,yes, very funny indeed.. well ,,most americans feel brazil,s trafficking of its people to the u.s. with the assistance of smugglers in honduras,guatamala,mexico is very disrespectfull and arrogant.. brazil has done nothing to dismantle,arrest,and prosecute the illegal alien traffickers operating in minas gerais,rio,etc.illegal brazilian nationals in the u.s. are facing deportation as they elude u.s. authorities with their fraudelent,counterfeit documents...the overwhelming majority of americans are fed up with latin americas trafficking of drugs,and people,to the u.s.a...as for the marxist f.a.r.c.insurgents in colombia ,,well lets just say there fate is now sealed...

Reply to Mr. Pinto

Ricardo: You said on your posting:"Truthfully, I do not think that neither Venezuela or Brazil will have the capacity to stop an invasion from U.S. no matter how much armament they buy."

I am not concerned about an U.S. military invasion of Brazil for two major reasons:

1) The U.S. economic system is imploding and sinking like the Titanic, and the worst is ahead of us.

Here is a reality check about the state of the U.S. economy and its future:

http://usdebtclock.org/

What happened to the military system of the Soviet Union after the collapse of the Soviet system in the early 1990's is a very good guide to what is in store to the military system of the United States in the coming years.

The major enemy of the U.S. military system is future funding - I don't know for how long the Chinese are going to continue financing the U.S. military adventures around the world including the latest adventure into South America.

And the other source of funding - the U.S. taxpayer it is in deep trouble since they have to fund a collapsing economic system, and also has trillions of new liabilities that are coming due related to the cost of the Baby Boom generation.

The big question for the U.S. military is: who is going to continue funding it in the coming years?


2) The Brazilian government is very quiet on this issue, but Brazil also has nuclear weapons.

Brazilian biotech is very advanced, and Brazil has biologic weapons as advanced as the ones from the old Soviet Union, and the United States.

And above all, Brazil has some of the best software engineers in the world and they would be in the forefront of a Cyberwar. They are capable of jaming all the U.S. communications systems including the U.S. military.

As you can see Brazil would not be a cake walk like in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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Reality check:

http://usdebtclock.org/

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As a U.S. Military adviser training the Brazilian Army , specifically the Captain's at EsAO, and a veteran of OIF and OEF I can assure you that you are gravely mistaken. Brazil's doctrine is completely American based and it's weaponry is fine for its regional efforts but no where near what the former Soviet Union once was and very far from becoming what the U.S. currently is. As far as Brazil conducting cyber warfare, well, let's just say, I am sure you are a big Star Wars fan as well.

As far as our economy, it is wishful thinking on your part (as well as many others) that it is a sinking ship. The U.S. still continues to be the largest economy. China's economy and that of India may be the next in line, however, until they address the issue of poverty within there own country it will be a very long time before this happens. The U.S. has also weathered tough times in the past, but the quality American's have in abundance is perseverance. I remember the recession of the 70's and recall that many of the same things were said then. America's resiliency and diversity have always set us apart from the rest of world.

As for Brazil, outstanding that they have finally become a reliable economy, but, if it wants to become a global leader it will also have to accept much of the responsibility which the U.S. carries on its shoulders. Not to mention that poverty and inequality in Brazil continues to be its most pervasive problem.

It is my opinion that much of the world relishes the idea of a collapsing U.S. Truthfully I view this as nothing more as penis envy of the worst kind.

Ohhhh sure and this this date the US$ went down from 4,3 to 1...to.... 1,02 to 1.....against my country currency.

And during the same time the Brazilian currency erased 3 x 3 zeroes against....... the already weak US$ !!!!!!!
And Brazil latest game of erasing 3 zeroes at a clip in 1994 it was not only by "only" 3 zeroes but by further of 2,75 to 1 !
Meaning 2750 Braziilian currency ended as US$ ONE !
And since then you AGAIN need 1,80 Brl for US$ 1.-.
Or a further devaluation of about 45 %, meaning a US$ 80 % APPRECIATION against the Sooooo strong apparent Brazilian Currency as you stated a few times in the not so old past of about ONE year ago !!!!!
Right or not....RICARDO THE APPARENT ALWAYSRIGHTGENIUS ?

Stupid question specifically for you :
By how much the Brazilian currency was devaluated against my country currency ?

Lets face it the answer is conservatively a devaluation of 99,99 % !
Or you may add 1 or 2 more decimals to be closer to reality !

There is only one country on earth that devaluated its currency more than Brazil since the 1970s :
ZIMBABWE
Very Sadly & Shamefully & Insanely CORRECT !

all a big guess .

Here is a fact

one late after noon a flight B2B takes off flys south about 20:00 hours all of brasils new planes and ships exploed , a few munits the military complex does the same , from the north to the south J dams rain from above . no one heres or see a thing around 06:00 the planes return and the crews have a breakfast of steak and eggs

brazil awakes to a different way of life with the understanding any one any where can be gotton to .

but sence you live in NY and your Family tree is protected by devin law you should go back and become king ,

Bretter ye Joao should be king you his lap dog

forrest, your guns are c**ked too tight on your boat...

ch c, rio is better than geneva any day of the year...

r amoral, you really think you got it all figured out , huh?just like obama and the presedential election...

I am not concerned about an U.S. military invasion of Brazil for two major reasons...

Very interesting comments, Ricardo.

But firstly, isn't the Chinese government trapped into funding the US? If it stops, what happens to it's three trillion in US bonds, as well as the main export market on which it still currently depends to grow? China seems stuck between a rock and a hard place ... though at the same time the dollar's gonna collapse anyway, so I guess that's how China will get out of its bind -- albeit at the loss of its "investment" in US bonds.

Secondly, once the dollar collapses, won't it just be replaced with the Amero, and then things will just continue as before. Sure, the middle class may cease to exist, but that doesn't mean that the military won't be able to continue receiving funding.

Also, isn't this talk of a global carbon tax a way for the Anglo-American oligarchy to continue to fund their global-hegemony plans once the current system of petro-dollar hegemony is no longer viable?

I have to say, I'm glad to hear of Brazil's possession of a MAD deterrence with nuclear weapons and biological weapons. I was getting really worried about this swine-flu bio-weapon (at least that's what a lot of people who's opinion I respect say it is) and the danger it posed to a country like Brazil. Now knowing of Brazil's capacity to hit back has allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.

By the way, if you're in Rio we should meet up over a beer or something!

I am not entirely sure who your comments were for, but I am currently living in Leblon and would love to have an intelligent discussion with an opposing view point. In fact, that is part of my job here in Rio.

Hi Hans Pinto. I was actually directing my question to Ricardo.

Wow, Leblon? The US military is paying you well!

Ricardo: First I want to remind you about a few facts:

1) The US military was never able to defeat the North Koreans in the early 1950’s.

2) The US lost the Vietnam War – and every time I think about the Vietnam War the image that comes to mind is that last US military helicopter lifting from the roof of the US embassy.

3) Over the years I spoke with many European veterans of WW II – from England, and some of the other European countries and the history that they tell me from their perspective of being there is very consistent and they told me that the Soviet Union was the country that really defeated the Germans in WW II.

4) The US military has a terrible record about fighting in the ground including WW II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, in Somalia, in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan.

They were able to beat Manoel Noriega in Panama, and Ronald Reagan had a great victory when the US managed to beat Granada and their 150 people army.

US military expertise about other countries weapons capabilities is nothing to write home about it. From the fiasco in Iraq, in the last 30 years countries such Israel, India, Pakistan, South Africa, North Korea, Brazil and others developed nuclear weapons without the US catching on to what was going on until it was too late.

Saddam Hussein was supposed to be building nukes and biologic weapons, and Colin Powell made a fool of himself in front of the entire world when he gave that high school level presentation at the UN before the US attacked Iraq.

The US military is not that capable of figuring a lot of things up.

The US military is not able after 8 years of even catching Osama Bin Ladden the person responsible for 9/11, and if I can recall that was priority number one of the US government.

When you say that the US military is training the Brazilian military that makes me wonder - training for what purpose?

It must be something that they are good at.

How to torture people?

5) The only area the US military has an advantage is when they drop bombs from the air – and Hiroshima, and Nagasaki comes to mind.

I almost forgot, the US was also able to beat the Serbs, and Bosnians, but also most the damage was done from the air.

I understand that the US military does much better in Hollywood movies, but again in that world even the Jews managed to beat the Germans and win WW II; according to the last blockbuster that came out of Hollywood.


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Hans H. Pinto: Brazil's doctrine is completely American based and it's weaponry is fine for its regional efforts but no where near what the former Soviet Union once was and very far from becoming what the U.S. currently is.


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Ricardo: Brazilian doctrine is so American based that the Brazilian government decided to by billions of dollars of military hardware from…the French.

Ups.

You want to take a pissing contest to see which biologic weapon is more powerful?

The old Soviet Union biologic weapons, the United States and the Brazilian weapons…

That would happen only in a final showdown that we all hope that never materializes.


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Hans H. Pinto: As far as Brazil conducting cyber warfare, well, let's just say, I am sure you are a big Star Wars fan as well.


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Ricardo: I have news for you I never saw any of the Star Wars movie, because I don’t like that kind of movie.

But I assume that you are aware that the Brazilian cyber hackers are among the best in the world.


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Hans H. Pinto: As far as our economy, it is wishful thinking on your part (as well as many others) that it is a sinking ship. The U.S. still continues to be the largest economy.


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Ricardo: Keep in mind when you read this article, I wrote it in December of 2004.

Brazzil Magazine - February 2005 - "It’s 2008. The US Has Dragged the World into a Depression." - Written by Ricardo C. Amaral
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/1424/49/


You also can read some of my other articles which includes articles about nuclear weapons at:

http://brazzilnews.blogspot.com/


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Hans H. Pinto: The U.S. has also weathered tough times in the past, but the quality American's have in abundance is perseverance. I remember the recession of the 70's and recall that many of the same things were said then. America's resiliency and diversity have always set us apart from the rest of world.


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Ricardo: The US economy and Wall Street it was able to survive the US civil war, WW I, a Great Depression, and WW II, but the entire US economic and financial system collapsed in 2008. And that country that most Americans still think that is here, in reality that country does not exist anymore, and it has been gone forever.


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Hans H. Pinto: It is my opinion that much of the world relishes the idea of a collapsing U.S. Truthfully I view this as nothing more as penis envy of the worst kind.


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Ricardo: How it can be penis envy when you take in consideration that the US economic and financial system has been castrated in 2008.


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Hans H. Pinto: It is my opinion that much of the world relishes the idea of a collapsing U.S. Truthfully I view this as nothing more as penis envy of the worst kind.


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Ricardo: By the way, a penis that can get up these days only with a ton of Viagra.

Viagra = Massive US government bailouts, and all kinds of US government financial intervention.

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You are back in one piece, eh?

hans is the only one who makes sence...

I have been reading his comments and seems to be a welcome addition to this blog. I agree with him on the U.S. economy recovering as it did in the 70´s and certainly would not bet on a doomsday scenario. You are fully aware of my position on that. However, Ricardo has asked some relevant questions on the several wars the U.S. were involved in. He forgot to mention about the latest adventure in Afghanistan, though.

It would be very interesting to hear his answers as he is a military officer and a veteran of several wars.Like our other distinguished fellow blogger and friend Forrest.

Another interesting comment Hans Pinto made was:

As for Brazil, outstanding that they have finally become a reliable economy, but, if it wants to become a global leader it will also have to accept much of the responsibility which the U.S. carries on its shoulders.

What sort of "responsibility" Brazil should offer to carry on its shoulders ? And in his opinion, is Brazil politically and socially ready to do it?

praca benedito calixto was a lot of fun, augustus said he was going next week...missed him by 7 days...
and vila madalena and penha were places i enjoyed a lot.i must say i had a differant look at sao paulo than i did before...

yes, ive seen some of your points recently i agree with a lot (how did you like my devastating retort to cata about fingers in places and how hypocritical it is for him to champion cubas leaders and blast the usa while he is doing it on a free media, something he couldnt do in cuba? i cant find that blog anymore)

...and i want to see what hans pinto has to say to what r amoral said, but i need to get a peice of this myself now....

r amoral...buddy, your distortion of world war 2 is a peice of work, and, could only been thought of by someone dwelling very hard on how much they hate those joisey bastards...i f**king dont blame you one bit, at the end of 8 years living there, those sobs and the ones from staten island, da bronx and brooklin and queens and conneticut with their false nationalism and horrible accents, just made me want to vomit also...so i dont blame you for coming up with such incredible fantacies and mischaractorisations...

man, the soviet union was closer to germany... doh....any more real explanation of why germany lost is beyond what you are capabale of absorbing at this point by your clouded buffoonish vision of world war 2

korea ? you have to be kidding...americans gave their blood and guts so south koreans can charge a police line like a bunch of jackie chans, what would happen to them in north korea ? your mind works in strange ways....

viet nam ? was lost because the people didnt want to get drafted...i thought you knew all that basic stuff

its about asymetrical war these days, a whole differant ball game.......but .....hey.....

YOU ARE THE GUY THAT MADE A BUNCH OF GOD AWFUL IGNORANT STATEMENTS ABOUT WHY AMERICANS WOULDNT VOTE FOR OBAMA TO BE PRESIDENT....!!!HEY EVERY BODY, THIS IS THE GUY THAT MADE A LOT OF WEIRD STATEMENTS ABOUT WHY OBAMBA WOULD NEVER WIN THE ELECTION !!!! OH OHO HAHAHAHAH

Your opinions are clearly based on your limited knowledge of military history. You remind me of Cliff Clayborn for the Cheers television series. Nonetheless, one of my Brazilian student Captain's posed the very same question and I was too happy to reply.

Let me begin by with the Korean War:

The war was a consequence of North and South Korea attempting national reunification under their respective governments. The Korean peninsula was politically divided as a legacy of the geopolitics of defeating the Japanese Empire. Soviet forces fighting the Japanese advanced up to the 38th Parallel, which later became the political border between the two Korea. North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.

The United States and the United Nations intervened on the side of the South. After a rapid UN counteroffensive reversing the initial North Korean invasion; soundly defeating Korean forces; the People's Republic of China intervened on the side of the North. The fighting ended with an armistice that approximately restored the original border between the Koreas; it became the Korean Demilitarised Zone.
Thus, your claim that the U.S. did not defeat North Korea is incorrect. In fact, even China was unable to reverse the fortunes of North Korea.

Now Vietnam:

Vietnam (formerly part of the French colony of Indochina) was actually fighting against the French seeking independence. The U.S. chose to support its ally the French (ironic is it not) and provided logistic support to the French who were nonetheless soundly defeated by Ho Chi Minh's forces in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, marking the end of French involvement in Indochina.

The same strategy that proved successful against the French would be applied against American forces during the Tet Offensive at the Battle of Khe Sanh. The North Vietnamese offensive proved to be a military failure, being soundly defeated by American ground troops but during this time American opinion polls a showed a dramatic decrease in support for the war. Even though, the North Vietnamese were being defeated in the field of battle, back home in the U.S., the country was divided and much of the country wanted out of the war.

Severe communist losses during the Tet Offensive allowed U.S. President Richard M. Nixon to begin troop withdrawals. His plan, called the Nixon Doctrine, was to build up of South Vietnamese forces, so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam. The policy became known as "Vietnamization". Saigon would later fall to North Vietnamese troops on 30 April 1975. The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops.

Arguably, U.S. forces were never defeated, but instead the immense success of North Vietnamese propaganda and information operations proved to be the most effective tactic.

Now Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan:

Somalia was yet another U.N. led mission to provide food to millions of starving civilians. Unfortunately, no security measures had been put in place to secure the food shipments and thus were being seized by criminal militant groups and sold. As a result the U.S. chose to dismantle the Somali warlords in order to facilitate food shipments, even though, our contingent there was only prepared to conduct a Humanitarian mission. The end result was the battle of Mogadishu; part of Operation Gothic Serpent; where 19 U.S. soldiers and over 1,000 to 1,500 Somali militiamen were killed. Again, the American appetite to support the mission had wavered and the U.S. redeployed its troops back to the U.S. leaving Somalia to fend for itself. In truth, why would Americans want to stay when what we did was help the poor and starving and yet we are again treated as the antagonist.

Iraq, well let's just say few people understand the complexities of this war. To begin with, Sadam and the Republican Guard were soundly defeated in the Gulf War. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sadam's forces were destroyed or captured in approximately one week. What ensued was an occupation in order to reestablish infrastructure and a stable government. During this period several groups to include Iran and Al Quaeda began what was essentially a civil war among rival Sunni and Shia militia groups. Piece meal we dismantled, destroyed or killed many of these groups and provide security and protection to millions of Iraqi citizens. The Iraqi armed forces trained and equipped by U.S. forces took control of security earlier this year allowing U.S. forces to leave. Since then Iraq has again erupted into bloodshed with dozens of bombings in markets and mosques throughout Iraq. The U.S. liberated Iraq, provided billions in aid for both military and civilian, but the Iraqi's themselves would rather kill their neighbors than become a prosperous democracy. By the way, did you know the Iraqi government has given the Chinese the rights to drill and refine much of the oil in Iraq which is considered the second largest oil reserves in the world. Amazing that the Empire didn't steal that too, huh?

The Taliban and Al Quaeda were defeated and stripped of power in Afghanistan, not by a U.S. invasion force but by U.S. Special Ops and the Afghan Northern Alliance. Today's fight is against the remnants of the Taliban that fled to Pakistan when they were defeated by combined U.S. and Afghan forces. Again, the war in Afghanistan is not a U.S. mission to steal oil but a U.N. mission sent to protect a sovereign and democratically elected government.

SOBERING THOUGHT:

As Lula demands a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council, I wonder how many Brazilians are prepared to see their soldier's return home in body bags. I would love to see my former soldiers return home to be with there families and allow the new emerging economies to take on much of this responsibility. On average the U.S. soldier is deployed to a combat zone from 12 to 18 months. He returns home for one year, during which, he prepares for his next deployment with a combined 6 months deployed to the field for training exercises. This leaves less than 6 months during a 3 year period with his family during which he must still continue a normal duty day. The U.S. has shed a lot of blood in defence of other nations and democracy. And, they do this without hesitation and without complaint, true professionals and the best soldiers in the world. Will Brazil send troops to Somalia now, where Al Quaeda slaughters thousands of civilians under Sharia law, will it send billions of dollars in aid to countries when natural disasters destroy infrastructure and leave death and disease in its wake. Will Brazil take action as did the U.S. to stop the genocide of millions of Muslim Serbs.

I hope Brazil is granted the permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council along with Japan, and India. With added involvement in world affairs, these countries can take on many of the responsibilities of world leadership as well as all the criticism and attacks.

U.S. Economy:

Ricardo, I am sure you savor the thought that the U.S. is no more. Why that is I have no idea, but I assure you that for those who acted responsibly and did not plunder the economy are doing extremely well. As one of those individuals, I have capitalized greatly with the depreciation of homes and purchased a second home in Miami at a fraction of the cost. The interest rates are phenominally low, up to 0% for credit worthy individuals. The financial crisis has been a windfall for me and I am sure that this is merely a case of Social Darwinism. It is a cyclical process that allows a society to purge unworthy leadership and replace it with a competent one. Bush was a poor leader but perhaps had it not been for his disastrous presidency the people would not have elected Obama. Simple cause and effect. For me the question is, will the U.S. remain the World Leader? I hope not because I don't think much of the world deserves our sacrifice. It's time for others to step up and "put their money where there mouth is." Let others bring home ther sons, fathers, brothers in flagged draped coffins. I am in favor of a more isolationist policy.

FINAL NOTE:

To those who claim that Afghanistan is a U.S. problem, I would like to remind you that the attack on the World Trade Center was not only against the U.S. The demographics of those who died shows that a vast percentage were foreign nationals visiting or immigrants who worked in the U.S.

I just read an article quoting Lula as saying that his is the one country that can talk with Iran about nuclear development because Brazil is the only country whose constitution prohibits the development of nuclear weapons. So what the hell were you talking about in all your above references?

Man, have you lost credibility in my eyes

lot of grammatical and spelling errors in my posting, sorry

ASP: r amoral...buddy, your distortion of world war 2 is a peice of work, and, could only been thought of by someone dwelling very hard on how much they hate those joisey bastards...i f**king dont blame you one bit, at the end of 8 years living there, those sobs and the ones from staten island, da bronx and brooklin and queens and conneticut with their false nationalism and horrible accents, just made me want to vomit also...so i dont blame you for coming up with such incredible fantacies and mischaractorisations...

man, the soviet union was closer to germany... doh....any more real explanation of why germany lost is beyond what you are capabale of absorbing at this point by your clouded buffoonish vision of world war 2


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Ricardo: It is not a distortion of WW II - it is just the local perception of the Europeans that also participated on that war. They were on the British Army, and in the army of some of the other countries that participated on WW II in Europe.

From what they witnessed first hand in Europe during WW II these various people from various countries told me a consistent story – from their perspective the Soviet soldiers (Soviet Union) were the ones who won the war in Europe and beat the Germans.

I was surprised to hear all these accounts from the European perspective, since before that my idea of WW II was influenced by the movies produced by Hollywood regarding that subject.

If you want a clouded buffoonish vision of world war 2 - then check the latest American version of WW II:

http://www.allposters.com/gall..._bastards/

In another generation in the United States the young Americans are also going to point out this movie as an example of American participation on WW II – and this new version of WW II will become what they think happened in WW II.


I don’t know from which area of the United States you came from, but I can tell you that you are completely wrong about your idea of New Jersey.

New Jersey is the state where some of the smartest people live in the United States – that the location where Thomas Edison had his famous lab. That the location of Bell Labs and all the Nobel Prize winners that work and worked over the years on that place creating the world of tomorrow.

That is the state where Princeton University is located – the number one university in various subjects.

New Jersey is where the biotech and pharmaceutical industry is located – the industries of tomorrow.

We probably have per capita more super-smart people working in New Jersey than in any other state in the United States.

When you put the state of New Jersey down you look like a fool.


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ASP: YOU ARE THE GUY THAT MADE A BUNCH OF GOD AWFUL IGNORANT STATEMENTS ABOUT WHY AMERICANS WOULDNT VOTE FOR OBAMA TO BE PRESIDENT....!!!HEY EVERY BODY, THIS IS THE GUY THAT MADE A LOT OF WEIRD STATEMENTS ABOUT WHY OBAMBA WOULD NEVER WIN THE ELECTION !!!! OH OHO HAHAHAHAH


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Ricardo: I still disappointed that Al Gore did not enter the presidential race in 2008.

But you can read about what ASP is talking about at my thread on Elite Trader Forum:

Al Gore - Democratic Party candidate in 2008
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=74835

Hits: 36,600
Comments: 762

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joao , it was great, wish i could have seen augustus...

Let me assure you that Augustus feels that way too. BTW, he sent me an e-mail on his arrival. If his visit was not too short, I would have insisted on his visiting us here so that we could display our hospitality. Who knows, we can catch up with him in NYC.

yes, ive seen some of your points recently i agree with a lot (how did you like my devastating retort to cata about fingers in places and how hypocritical it is for him to champion cubas leaders and blast the usa while he is doing it on a free media, something he couldnt do in cuba? i cant find that blog anymore)

Lloyd Cata grew up in your favorite city of New York and a Vietnam veteran also. Though I loved your comment addressed to him, I think that he loves to dig our mouths and contest him.

...and i want to see what hans pinto has to say to what r amoral said, but i need to get a peice of this myself now....

He has already replied giving a lecture on Military history and later on I will be commenting. If he wants intelligent discussions, we shall oblige him.

BTW, you haven't said a word about the "palhaçada" that is going on in Honduras. Worried being politically incorrect?

listen, ricardo, again , i want to remind you ,i am a big fan of your country. i wish it nothing but prosperity and good things in the future...

i just dont understand your logic in a lot of things about mischaractorising the usa , sometimes in a foolish way

kudos to hans for answering your questions in full, hope you stick around this forum for a while , hans, but there are a lot of conspiricy theory wackos that could drive you away. great you are in rio willing to have discusions with a lot of people who have been brainwashed about america in the last decades...its a great city too

r amoral....joisey ? well, you made some good points ( the truth is you do a lot of good research then spoil it with grandiose mischaractorisations, that reminds me a lot of people , or i mean some people from......joisey), but, you can have it, you know exactly the joisey idiot false nationalists i am talking about...like you said...you work with them...

Hi Hans,

Great debate going on between our friend Ricardo and yourself. I am not as pessimistic as Ricardo is about the U.S. economy, though I am not overjoyed about ours.What you said about the resilience of the Americans is true. Our friend ASP (who is an ex-pat American living here and doing a splendid job of promoting the image of Brasil) has mentioned about this fact. So is another distinguished American blogger Mr.Brown.

BUT....BUT..., I think you are justifying the intervention of the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, from the point of view of your government and not by that of well informed Americans. I don't blame you for it, because the American Military personnel are taught to obey their C-in-C, who is supposed to uphold the constitution.After the WW 2, you had 3 presidents who served in that war and the first one did a great job, the second and the third ones were more focused on using their service records to boost up the power of their clans. The rest of the Presidents never served or evaded the draft. Ricardo is very correct in saying the French outwitted you by involving you in the Vietnam War, though I do not understand why he is applauding our government´s decision to outsource our defense to the French. BTW, I wonder what your Captain students have to say about it. Probably, they wouldn't contest you, because our boys and girls are taught to obey what the teacher says (They may rebel later, though). During my time, I have come across many veterans of Vietnam, who voluntarily went there, survived and came back disillusioned. Not just enlisted men, but officers.

Now coming back to Afghanistan and Iraq, your answers do not convince me much. Hate to say that, though. I am afraid that you understand about Sharia laws, Sunni, Shiites as much as your former President did! I think the current POTUS understands much better.No educated and right minded Brasilian would fall for it, because Brasilil is a secular country, whether you want to believe or not. It may be the largest catholic country in the world, but we do not ask what religion one belongs to.Knowing Ricardo Amaral & another fellow blogger (and writer) Mr.Augustus Severus, they will vouch for this fact.

As for your view on "isolationist policy" for U.S., I am in favor of it for Brasil too. I am not in favor of UNASUL. Being a Southerner, I am in favor of MERCOSUL, though.

For additional clarifications, please do not hesitate to ask!!!!!

Oh, Hans I forgot to add a couple of points:

As for Brazil, outstanding that they have finally become a reliable economy, but, if it wants to become a global leader it will also have to accept much of the responsibility which the U.S. carries on its shoulders.

If your comment about Brasil "accepting much of the responsibility which the U.S. carries on its shoulders" means sending our troops to Honduras and Afghanistan on "peace keeping missions", forget it.Negativo.

FINAL NOTE:

To those who claim that Afghanistan is a U.S. problem, I would like to remind you that the attack on the World Trade Center was not only against the U.S. The demographics of those who died shows that a vast percentage were foreign nationals visiting or immigrants who worked in the U.S.

Final Note? Sound like "Final solution"

Afghanistan was (and is) not U.S. problem. Created by the Brits who knew that the Sun set a long time ago in their empire, but refused to acknowledge the fact. The Russians fell for it. The Americans shouldn't have with all the highly "informative" media they have free access to, but fell for it too.Probably watching soap operas during the prime time like a majority of us do.

BTW, you guys found OBL, dead or alive?

Hans H. Pinto: Thus, your claim that the U.S. did not defeat North Korea is incorrect. In fact, even China was unable to reverse the fortunes of North Korea.


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Ricardo: The implication of your response is that the United States also defeated China the close ally of North Korea on that war.

I am sure the North Koreans and the Chinese don’t agree with your interpretation of which country really lost the Korean War.

If the US was the winner of the Korean War then how do you explain why up to this day the North Koreans have been able to drive Americans crazy about the North Koreans military achievements?

If you want a refresher course on the subject then read the following thread on the Elite Trader Forum that I started exactly 4 years ago in September 2005.

North Korea's Nuclear Weapons
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=55728

Hits: 6,260
Comments: 130

A reminder: And today Americans can’t afford to piss off the Chinese with this kind of talk, since they are the ones that are helping keep the US economy and financial system afloat otherwise we would have had a total US economic collapse.

Thanks God the Chinese still like to collect “Confetti” otherwise the US dollar would be trading by the Kilogram by now.

Real 1 = 1 kg of US dollars


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The Korean War was a war that started between North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea, ROK) on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July 1953….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War


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The key word here is “armistice”.


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An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning weapons and statium, meaning a stopping.

A truce or ceasefire usually refers to a temporary cessation of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area. A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice. An armistice is a modus vivendi and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on. The 1953 Korean War armistice [1] was a major example of an armistice which was not followed by a peace treaty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice


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Are We at War With North Korea?
Um, sort of, in a way …
By Juliet Lapidos
Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Slate Magazine

North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Monday, the second such test in less than three years. In response to the incident, a senior administration official told the New York Times "that the United States would never grant full diplomatic recognition to North Korea, or sign a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, unless its nuclear capability is dismantled." Wait, we're still at war with North Korea?

http://www.slate.com/id/2219060/


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I am not concerned about an U.S. military invasion of Brazil for two major reasons...

Very interesting comments, Ricardo.

But firstly, isn't the Chinese government trapped into funding the US? If it stops, what happens to it's three trillion in US bonds, as well as the main export market on which it still currently depends to grow? China seems stuck between a rock and a hard place ... though at the same time the dollar's gonna collapse anyway, so I guess that's how China will get out of its bind -- albeit at the loss of its "investment" in US bonds.

Secondly, once the dollar collapses, won't it just be replaced with the Amero, and then things will just continue as before. Sure, the middle class may cease to exist, but that doesn't mean that the military won't be able to continue receiving funding.

Also, isn't this talk of a global carbon tax a way for the Anglo-American oligarchy to continue to fund their global-hegemony plans once the current system of petro-dollar hegemony is no longer viable?

I have to say, I'm glad to hear of Brazil's possession of a MAD deterrence with nuclear weapons and biological weapons. I was getting really worried about this swine-flu bio-weapon (at least that's what a lot of people who's opinion I respect say it is) and the danger it posed to a country like Brazil. Now knowing of Brazil's capacity to hit back has allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.

By the way, Ricardo, if you're in Rio we should meet up over a beer or something!

My last comment was not intended to give the impression that I was justifying the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. It was in response to commentaries insisting, from what I could understand, that the U.S. had failed in every conflict from Korea to current Afghanistan. I was merely stating that both Sadam's Bath Party and the Taliban were defeated and replaced by democratically elected government's.

My personal opinion regarding Iraq is that it was in fact a terrible blunder and that the Bush administration had a hidden agenda in invading. Sadam was a murdering tyrant who oppressed the Shia majority with an iron fist, but there are tyrant throughout the world so why chose to invade Iraq? I don't know.

However, as a soldier it was my duty to serve there and by doing so I ensured that my soldiers did the right thing and not indiscriminately kill and torture as our myopic blogger Ricardo has suggested. My soldiers and I killed the enemy, and I can assure you those I fought were no saints, but we also built schools, water treatment facilities, hospitals and many other things that were not available to the Iraqi people even before the war.

As for Afghanistan, this one I justify. The Taliban and Al Quaeda planned and orchestrated several attacks against U.S. military and civilian targets from Afghanistan. To turn a blind eye and do nothing would have shown how weak western culture had truly become, and I do think much of Europe will not act out of fear or will act only out of self interest and will tolerate everything from genocide to war as long as it doesn't affect them.

My question to you is this: should the world allow rogue nations to freely murder and terrorize? To what point is enough enough? Should we also allow repeats of Rwanda, Serbia and Timor?

As a soldier I am very privy to what happened to British and the Russians in Afghanistan, but even with our mounting casualties we have taken away their base of operations and have them on the run. It is not the same fight the Russians fought, not by a long shot.

As far as Brazil not sending a Peace Keeping force to Afghanistan, why then request a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Even Colombia will be sending regular troops to Afghanistan and is in the process of sending Special Ops forces as we speak. Clearly Brazilians would rather play it safe but at some juncture you will have to pick a side and take action if it is expected to have more influence in world affairs. Not to say that they should or that it is a good idea but it seems that this the path Brazil wants to take.

Now coming back to Afghanistan and Iraq, your answers do not convince me much. Hate to say that, though. I am afraid that you understand about Sharia laws, Sunni, Shiites as much as your former President did! I think the current POTUS understands much better.No educated and right minded Brasilian would fall for it, because Brasilil is a secular country, whether you want to believe or not. It may be the largest catholic country in the world, but we do not ask what religion one belongs to.Knowing Ricardo Amaral & another fellow blogger (and writer) Mr.Augustus Severus, they will vouch for this fact.

Whether Brazil is secular or not is incidental. One can say the U.S. is far more secular but the issue is not understanding Muslim culture or religion, this can easily be taught and learned. The real issue is that the U.S. military objectives in Iraq were to defeat the Sadam regime. Many think the U.S. lost the war in Iraq. The truth is that the military objective was completed, the ensuing violence and chaos was created by rival factions in Iraq that used religion as the excuse to kill one another in order to claim leadership of a leaderless Iraq. We had won the war, we were now simply trying to keep the peace and get out of Dodge as quick as possible. We believe that both Iran and Al Quaeda orchestrated attacks at mosques and markets in order to prolong the U.S. commitment in Iraq and thus tying our hands to act should the need arise elsewhere. This why Iran has felt so empowered, because the U.S. has been fighting two wars simultaneously. A third would have been out of the question.

As far a my understanding of the Muslim religion, I think I have become a subject matter expert. I believe that religion is the tool utilized to manipulate ignorant impoverished masses into atrocities and war. In fact, it is my opinion that the solution in Afghanistan is not so much military as it is education. We need to educate these people with a broader fundamental understanding of the world we share. Let them learn about science, history, literature. Perhaps then they won't chose to kill themselves and others for the sake of salvation.

I guess one can say it is all objective. In my opinion, the North Korean's invaded the South, got there asses handed to them, and had it not been for the Chinese, would have lost North Korea. The U.N. objective was to restore South Korea which it did, thus my conclusion is that yes the North Korean's in a sense were defeated because they failed to complete their objective and were pushed back to the exact location they started from. Today South Korea has a prosperous and growing economy thanks to the sacrifice of many American soldiers, while North Korea keeps its people impoverished and ignorant.

Ricardo, if you really believe that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of North Korea or Iran is a good idea, I wonder if you really have any clue what so ever. Truthfully, what do you know of war and its consequences?

Hans H. Pinto: Now Vietnam…


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Ricardo: I know the history of the Vietnam War better than you think.

The French were very happy when they found a new sucker (the USA) to take their place in that war. The French probably still laughing to this day regarding what they left behind in Vietnam for the United States.

The country that won the Vietnam War can be summarized with a single picture: by that final helicopter lifting off from the US Embassy roof – a vision that still very fresh on my mind as if it had happened yesterday.

Regarding the Vietnam War I was qualified A-1 on the first year of the draft and I got lucky that my number was not called before the end of that first year. If they were allowed to call me for another week in the beginning of the following year then the US Army would have reached my number on the draft and they would have called my number to go to Vietnam. I got saved by the bell, but many of my friends who ended up in Vietnam, when they went to Vietnam they were normal people – when they came back most of them were basket cases.


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Hans H. Pinto: Arguably, U.S. forces were never defeated, but instead the immense success of North Vietnamese propaganda and information operations proved to be the most effective tactic.


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Ricardo: I understand that being part of the US armed forces they indoctrinate you to believe in a lot of that stuff which is part of the exercise of being in the army.

Americans love symbolism like lifting the flag, destroying a statue of a dictator such as Saddam Hussein, the “mission accomplished” fiasco that George W. Bush staged on board of an American war ship, and so on…

In Vietnam the symbol of that war was that final helicopter lifting from the roof top of the US Embassy.

According to you that final helicopter lifting off from the US Embassy roof top - a scene that the entire world remember to this day – maybe on this latest interpretation (and new re-write of history) that was the USA way of taking a final victory lap.


*****


Hans H. Pinto: Iraq, well let's just say few people understand the complexities of this war…


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Ricardo: We have been discussing about that war since before the US attacked Iraq and you can read about it on the following threads regarding that mess:

1) Middle East Meltdown and US Foreign Policy
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=72712

Hits: 19,820
Comments: 359


2) The United States is planning to attack Iran with Nuclear Weapons
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=67053

Hits: 16,830
Comments: 258


3) The Iraq "Civil War"
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=55784

Hits: 9,083
Comments: 160


By the way, my screen name on the Elite Trader Forum is: South America.


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Hans H. Pinto: The Taliban and Al Quaeda were defeated and stripped of power in Afghanistan, not by a U.S. invasion force but by U.S. Special Ops and the Afghan Northern Alliance. Today's fight is against the remnants of the Taliban that fled to Pakistan when they were defeated by combined U.S. and Afghan forces. Again, the war in Afghanistan is not a U.S. mission to steal oil but a U.N. mission sent to protect a sovereign and democratically elected government.


*****


Ricardo: I would like to suggest that you read one of my articles in particular, since that article covers a lot of ground that we are talking about and most of that article still very relevant today.

I can connect the dots and see things that most people can’t see about the future – just read my articles going back to 10 years ago and you see what I mean. Here is another example, I did not write this a week ago, or last year. I wrote that six years ago mostly in March of 2003.

Brazzil magazine – April 2003
“The Art of Deception”
http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../3528.html

Hits: 7,000

Here is a quote from that article: “The Bush administration's judgment on foreign affairs is very questionable at best, and worrisome to everyone around the world. I would not be surprised to see the United States involvement in future events in Colombia and Venezuela to escalate and get out of control—and turn it into a Vietnam type of war. That would be catastrophic, and could affect many countries in South America, including Brazil.”


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Hans H. Pinto: Today's fight is against the remnants of the Taliban that fled to Pakistan when they were defeated by combined U.S. and Afghan forces. Again, the war in Afghanistan is not a U.S. mission to steal oil but a U.N. mission sent to protect a sovereign and democratically elected government.


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Ricardo: I have been writing for many years that Afghanistan is where former superpowers go to die a slow death.

First, the Soviet Union, and now it is the turn of the United States.

And there’s no two ways about it.

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Hans H. Pinto: I just read an article quoting Lula as saying that his is the one country that can talk with Iran about nuclear development because Brazil is the only country whose constitution prohibits the development of nuclear weapons. So what the hell were you talking about in all your above references?

Man, have you lost credibility in my eyes


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Ricardo: I am aware of what the Brazilian Constitution says about nuclear weapons development.

Anyway, are you that naïve?

There is one important document that was written in stone -- the Ten Commandments.

And most people don’t even follow it.

Do you think the Brazilian Constitution was also written in stone?

Even in the United States where most Americans worship the US Constitution, in the last 8 years the Bush administration manage to shred into pieces that great document.

Why don’t you guys concentrate in trying to figure out where Iran is building its nuclear weapons?

Officially Brazil does not have nuclear weapons just like Israel also does not have nukes.

Until the day the Brazilian government decides to announce publicly that Brazil is also armed with a nuclear arsenal then you have to wait and guess.

I don’t think the United States has anything to worry about regarding the Brazilian nukes.

I don’t see anybody in the mainstream media writing or worrying about the Israeli nukes.

If you want to lose sleep over a nuclear arsenal then start thinking about the 100 nuclear warheads that they have in Pakistan.

The nuclear weapons risk is not in Brazil, Israel, North Korea, and Iran – I have been writing for years that the real risk regarding nuclear weapons is in Pakistan.

If you want to have a few laughs then read the following thread on the Elite Trader Forum:

Brazil and Nuclear Weapons
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...genumber=1


Quoting from that thread: June 22, 2007

SouthAmerica: Reply to version77

“Historian James Blight is supposed to be the foremost expert on the subject of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Mr. Blight mentioned on that interview that since the collapse of the Soviet Union historians got access to many archives in the Soviet Union documenting a lot of information that they did not know regarding the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis including the fact that the Soviets had stored in Cuba 162 nuclear warheads. The nuclear warheads were never returned to the Soviets because the United States were not aware that they had that stockpile of nukes only 90 miles from Florida.

At that time “Che Guevara” wanted to use some of these nukes on a pre-emptive attack against the United States – Fidel Castro was the person who thought that the nukes would be used only as a last resort - if the United States had attacked Cuba.

Fidel Castro and Chavez are very good friends – Castro is at the end of his life – there is a sweet way for him to get even with the United States if he wanted to – all he had to do is sell ten of 15 of his stockpile of nukes to Chavez. – Cuba needs oil, and money for survival – and Chavez need the protection of Cuba’s nukes to make sure his country is not invaded by the US in the same way the US invaded Iraq to try to grab its oil resources.

The United States changed its tune regarding North Korea after North Korea proved that they have nukes.

If Pakistan was not protected by its nukes – you can bet the Bush administration would attack that country to destroy Osama Bin Ladden and Al Qaeda in the same way the US attacked Afghanistan in 2002.

A country armed with nukes takes away the advantage the US has in matters of warfare.

You don’t have to look further than North Korea and Pakistan to understand what I am saying.

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Hans H. Pinto: U.S. Economy:

Ricardo, I am sure you savor the thought that the U.S. is no more. Why that is I have no idea, but I assure you that for those who acted responsibly and did not plunder the economy are doing extremely well.


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Ricardo: I could write a very long book explaining why the US economy has reach the end of the line including the US dollar as a global Reserve currency.

But here are a few threads that will explain to you what is going on.

A lot of people have been reading this thread that I started in December 2006:

1) Central Banks and the US Dollar
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=81958

Hits: 49,165
Comments: 396


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Here is something that I posted on Elite Trader recently:

August 13, 2009

SouthAmerica: The actual job market in the U.S. is already a lot worse than that.

More Evidence Great Depression II Is Here: 30mm Unemployed in U.S. (19% of workforce)
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...did=172870


1) The people who still have a job are getting all kinds of cuts on their benefits, salary, and hours of work.

I hear many people complain that their companies have cut their salary from 10 to 20 percent. On top of that they are asking employees to take days off without pay.

2) Government payroll tax receipts reflect this decline in earnings by the people who still have jobs.

3) The illegal immigrants still going home to where they come from, because the U.S. job market is in shambles. And the amount of money these people sent back home reflects this reality.

4) The U.S. stock market is going up based on artificial figures, US government intervention, and at the end of the day mostly by stock manipulation.

The insiders buying/selling ratio tells the real story:

For each share an insider buys there are 30 shares being sold by the insiders – a ratio of 1:30

That means the smart money is selling and the suckers are buying.

This is a bad market for investors, but a very good for traders.


***


2) The economic impact of the current Exodus from the United States
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...ost2013667

Quoting from that thread: July 31, 2008

SouthAmerica: I have been mentioning for a long time on this forum about the exodus of illegal immigrants from the United States – finally the US mainstream media started grasping the trend that is going on for a while.

I hate to bring this up but this exodus of Americans and also of illegal immigrants has a major economic impact on the United States. You can bet that the exodus is affecting in a negative way the local economy of many towns around the country including everything related to real estate, to local businesses, and local economic activity in general. Never mind the loss of human capital.

It seems to me that everybody is trying to leave the Titanic.

Today I was reading the latest issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine (Aug 4 – 11, 200 and they had an special articles as Social trends: “The Quiet Exodus” by Jay Tolson.

The article said that there are: “…4 to 7 million the number of non-government- employed Americans living abroad – and 1.6 million households had already determined to relocate abroad; 1.8 million households were seriously considering such a move while 7.7 million more were somewhat seriously contemplating it.

…More interesting, the biggest number of relocating households is not those people in or approaching retirement but those adults ranging from 25 to 34 years old…"

The U.S. News and World Report article is referring to an exodus of Americans at their prime age.

The article below it is about the exodus that has been going on for a while of illegal immigrants.

Just keep in mind that the illegal immigrants represent the canary on the coal mine.

The last one to leave the country please turn off the lights.

.

On a recent posting here on Brazzil magazine dated 8/23/09 I had mentioned on my reply to Asp that: “on his posting he expects that new technological advances are going to save the day for the United States, but I don’t believe that will be the case. I read one article in one of the major business magazines – I don’t remember if was on Business Week or on Fortune magazine – the article said that a large number of Indians (the new generation) are going back to India because they think they have a better future in India, and the article also mentioned that in 2008 alone 100,000 Indians returned to India from the United States.

Under regular circumstances that would not be a big deal, but after you take in consideration some other important factors such as that during the last few decades these Indians started a large number of the high tech companies in Silicon Valley then you would realize that the United States is also imploding on its intellectual high tech capabilities.

And to make matter even worse in the last few years the United States has been exporting highly educated brain-power to places such as India, and at the same time the US has been importing by the millions unskilled workers from Mexico and other places to work as landscapers, construction workers, domestic help, and so on…”

.

I don’t believe the Amero is going to become the currency of the North American Union.

But it is possible that in the near future Mexico and Canada will adopt the “New U.S. dollar”

The New United States Currency – “The New US Dollar”
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=86842

When the US dollar finally collapses it will be the mother of all international monetary crisis that the world has ever seen – and it will be the end of the current international monetary system.


*****


Brazuka: Sure, the middle class may cease to exist, but that doesn't mean that the military won't be able to continue receiving funding.


*****


Ricardo: Yes, the US military will continue receiving funding in the same way the Soviet Union military still getting paid today, but the funding that they had before the collapse of the Soviet Union was higher than the reduced funding that they have today.

The British military also continued being funded after the demise of the British Empire, but again at an imploding rate.


*****


Brazuka: I have to say, I'm glad to hear of Brazil's possession of a MAD deterrence with nuclear weapons and biological weapons. I was getting really worried about this swine-flu bio-weapon (at least that's what a lot of people who's opinion I respect say it is) and the danger it posed to a country like Brazil. Now knowing of Brazil's capacity to hit back has allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.


*****


Ricardo: I have been aware for many years that Brazil has a very advanced biologic weapons technology.

Today Brazil probably has an advanced biologic weapons technology as good as the latest weapons biologic technology from the US and the Russians.

I hope that any of these countries will ever use any weapon biologic technology against any other country.

.

why is it that a couple of generals who served in the amazon and an american military guy make more sence about what is happening in the world than all the other opinions i have heard here recently ?

Ricardo, you blur the lines regarding my comments on America's past conflicts. I have given my response to João regarding Iraq and Afghanistan; I think this a good rebuttal for your comments as well. As far as continuing down this rabbit hole with you, I will post this last response to your blog. Your statements regarding the U.S.'s inability to win wars and that it would be met with greater fruitlessness if it chose to invade Brazil are completely flawed, and this is what I rebutted.

I am hesitant to continue commenting on this fantastic scenario but I would like to clarify something in order better inform your readers of much misinformation you have posted. The Vietnam conflict, not war, was never lost on the field of battle but in the hearts and minds of the American people. The helicopter flying off the U.S. Embassy was transporting that last State Department personnel, not military personnel (with the exception with the Marine Guards posted at the embassy).

Even though, you state you know more than anyone regarding everything, I would say you clearly are Cliff Clayborn.

Your statement,

"The French were very happy when they found a new sucker (the USA) to take their place in that war. The French probably still laughing to this day regarding what they left behind in Vietnam for the United States.",

Again full of incoherent inaccuracies. The French were beaten, and beaten good, several years before the U.S. even sent their first advisors to South Vietnam (in support of the South Vietnamese government, not the French), so how the hell can you even make up suck BULL s**t like what you posted above.

Afghanistan was a response to an attack against civilians on American soil. No American would have chosen to fight in a Afghanistan for "s**ts and giggles". The Taliban and Al Qaeda drew first blood, without provocation, and the U.S. bit back, stripping them of power and a country.

Ricardo, with all due respect, you cannot cite yourself as a source when reporting. Everything you have posted is conjecture and opinions based on half-baked notions and conspiracy theories. I am attempting to provide all the readers here with an explanation of current American policy, not to propagandize it but to clarify the many misconception and falsities that people like yourself state as though it were fact.

Lastly, I have cited an actual and legitimate report regarding Lulas statement clearly stating that Brazil has no nuclear weapons and you respond with another hokey bull s**t theory. It's amazing that you half such insight on what top secret wiz bang gadgets the Brazilians have, like your WMDs. For a guy living in New Jersey that's freakin' amazing.

why is it that a couple of generals who served in the amazon and an american military guy make more sence about what is happening in the world than all the other opinions i have heard here recently ?

Why is it that you are excluding you and me? Remember our stance about U.S. economy and your assertion that U.S. will come out with a new technology? I always maintained that it was going to be in the energy field! Here is a link for you to go through and appreciate and admire our "vision of the future".

http://tv.estadao.com.br/video...,254,0.htm

i dont know about that guy....looks like he could hang with ricardo amoral....too many broad generalisations...

its like looking at vietnam, hans has it right, and that is what i know too. the usa didnt loose battles in vietnam, it lost the support of the american public...painting fantacy pictures that the usa got its butt kicked by the north vietnamese or viet cong is misleading.

but what vietnam did show was that you cant police a nation...vietnam started the perception of assymetric war, and, how even if you are militarily victorious ,doesnt mean you can hold and dominate a nation or a people.its up to that people.

by the way, i didnt say tecnology is definitly going to save the usa from decline...i said it could if the right people were able to get some innovative ideas on the table and have it reach the size that the computor revolution did, creating huge new markets, jobs and new big money people, a very desirable thing to have new money people instead of just the same old ones...

same as if they get rid of arcaic drug laws. just marijuana alone, to quit investing money in hunting and incarcerating marijuana users (400,000 people were incarcerated for just marijuana use under the bush administration) and making it legal and taxing it would be a gigantic input into the american economy...

im saying if the right people and ideas can take root in the usa, they could pull themselves out of this decline...

people who just say this will automaticly happen and that will automaticly happen, i dont trust their judgement...i always say this could happen or that could happen...

meanwhile we have a bank strike and mail strike down here ( hopefully resolves soon)...that is always hard on my business progresion

i mean joao, how could i ever doubt you or me or augustus?

If Pakistan was not protected by its nukes – you can bet the Bush administration would attack that country to destroy Osama Bin Ladden and Al Qaeda in the same way the US attacked Afghanistan in 2002.

But the US already is attacking Pakistan! The geopolitical analyst I respect the most, Webster Tarpley, predicted in mid-2007 that the US would start unilaterally bombing Pakistan, basing his analysis of what Barack Obama said during the presidential campaign, advocating unilaterally bombing Pakistan when it seemed like the nuttiest thing possible. Tarpley interpreted this is as the final sign of the Brzezinski/Trilateral Commision faction takeover, displacing the neoconservative faction.

Today Brazil probably has an advanced biologic weapons technology as good as the latest weapons biologic technology from the US and the Russians.

Regarding Brazil's apparent possession of nuclear weapons, what would Brazil's means of delivery be? Brazil, I'm sure, wouldn't have any ICBMs. Would the delivery system be by plane? The submarines to deliver nuclear weapons aren't ready yet, so I wonder how such would be delivered. Delivering by plane would be a useless deterrent against the US, since such can be easily neutralized.

I've heard that there are a number of nations with an undeclared nuclear-weapons capability, such as Germany and Saudi Arabia, so this subject is quite fascinating.

It's a pity you're not in Rio, as it would have been good to meet up.

Ricardo: I can guarantee to you that the rest of the world understand that the last helicopter lifting off the roof top of the US Embassy in Vietnam became the symbol of the United States losing the Vietnam War.

I understand were your comments are coming from and you have to defend your employer’s adventures the best way you can. Your employer does not pay you to think, you are trained to follow orders and defend the official position of your government even though I doubt that there are many people here in the United States who think that the United States was the winner of the Vietnam War.

It is very clear to me that the winner of the current Iraq War – is not the United States or even Iraq – it is Iran.

The Financial Times (UK) dated September 24, 2009 had an entire special section about Colombia with articles titled “Confidence returns after years of turmoil”, “Battle to help ex-fighters change ways”. “Bonanza follows improved security and privatization”, “Vast resources remain largely untapped”, “Safer, calmer, Lucky, more prosperous”, “First steps to give industry more polish”, “Far from winning the war on drugs.”

After reading many of these articles on the Financial Times the reader has the impression that everything is doing well in Colombia – the cover article said: “Confidence in the economy has recovered and Colombians are thinking globally.” Another article shows how the tourism industry is booming, and another about investments opportunities in Colombia.

The picture that the Financial Times paint about Colombia makes me wonder why they still need the US foreign aid which is made up mostly of all kinds of military hardware (Colombia is the number 2 country right after Israel in the list of countries that gets foreign aid from the United States).

One question that becomes even more important is: If Colombia is doing so well then what kind of justification the Colombians have regarding the current agreement of letting the United States taking over seven military bases in Colombia.

Did the current president of Colombia sold his country to the United States and the US is just making sure that they have enough military bases to secure their newly acquired territory in South America?

The Louisiana Purchase was one of the largest land deals in history, and now the United States has acquired a piece of South America.

Colombia is going to become a new state like Hawaii with the right to have a senator in Washington, or it will operate like Puerto Rico?

When Colombia will adopt the US dollar as its new currency?

When Colombia will call back their ambassador at the UN, since Colombia as part of the United States the US Ambassador would represent it in the UN for now on.

The Colombians soccer players from now on will be eligible to play for the US national soccer team and Colombia will lose the right to have their own national soccer team.

The Colombian government has to clarify to the world if Colombia has become a country under foreign military occupation, or if Colombia has been acquired by the United States like the Louisiana Land Purchase of the 1800’s.


*****


Hans H. Pinto: Lastly, I have cited an actual and legitimate report regarding Lulas statement clearly stating that Brazil has no nuclear weapons and you respond with another hokey bull s**t theory. It's amazing that you half such insight on what top secret wiz bang gadgets the Brazilians have, like your WMDs. For a guy living in New Jersey that's freakin' amazing.


*****


Ricardo: Lula says what he has to say after all he is a politician.

Here is an insight for you: It is whom you know and not where you live that counts on this case.

And I know a lot of important people in Brazil in government, the military, and also in the private sector.

.

Ricardo: The fact that you don’t know or are not aware of the Brazilian WMD it does not mean anything. Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea also developed nuclear weapons and the United States learned about it only after the horse had left the barn.

It is nothing new that American intelligence can’t figure things out even the most basic such as the WMD that Saddam Hussein was supposed to have.

You want an example of how good American intelligence is: here we are 8 years after 9/11 and the person responsible for that attack has not been caught. And Osama Bin Ladden is not a little guy, he is a giant and you could not miss him even if you wanted.

Maybe in the NBA he would blend well, but still his beard would give him away.

Catching this guy it has been the number one priority of the United States military since 9/11.

Fidel Castro has a museum in Havana about how many times the United States tried to kill him in the last 50 years. And he is finally going to die from old age.

I don’t know how old Osama Bin Ladden is today, but based on the record of the United States military he probably is going to die of old age as well.

I know the US military is the best in the world, and Osama Bin Ladden once in a while send a video to you to give you a new clue, and also to bust your chops.

I guess the Bay of Pigs was also another US military (CIA) victory on your book.

Basically Osama Bin Ladden has become the symbol to the world for how good the US intelligence really is.

The US military made a big mess once again. They did not finish the job in Afghanistan, then they made a mess in Iraq resulting in Iran becoming a lot more powerful in that area of the world.

The Taliban is back and strong with some help from Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and right now the top US general is requesting more US troops because they are losing that war.

Barack Obama has escalated that war since he became president in January 2009 and he has doubled the number of US troops since that time. That has been a major mistake that will make him a one-term president.

Anyway, Afghanistan is the cemetery where former superpowers go to die a slow death and get buried.

.

Hi Hans,

My personal opinion regarding Iraq is that it was in fact a terrible blunder and that the Bush administration had a hidden agenda in invading.

Thanks for responding and expressing your honest personal opinion. I do appreciate it.

However, as a soldier it was my duty to serve there and by doing so I ensured that my soldiers did the right thing and not indiscriminately kill and torture as our myopic blogger Ricardo has suggested.

I perfectly understand your point of view. Since you are a career soldier, you have to obey the hierarchy unlike a bunch of whining wimps who were drafted against their will. You went to West Point? I don't want to know if you are not willing to say.

Lets forget for a moment about the wars the U.S fought and supposedly won or lost.Or for that matter the "sinking economy" of the U.S. Of A. What interests me the most is the following question of yours:

As far as Brazil not sending a Peace Keeping force to Afghanistan, why then request a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

A good question. I will answer your question with questions of mine:

a) Why should we aim for a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council, knowing full well that U.N. is going the same way as that of the erstwhile "League of Nations" b) By sending our troops to Afghanistan, are we assured of a seat and is it worth all the losses we are bound to incur? In case you remember, the boss of the U.N. mission in Baghdad after your "Operation Iraq Freedom" was a Brasilian and nobody including the current "rulers" of our country care to remember him. All he got was a bronze bust, installed in his honor in Geneve, the space donated by the Swiss!! c) What do you think of our as well as your supporting of Zé Zelaya in Honduras, encouraged by PBO? Do you think that it will facilitate our entrance into the U.N. Security council?

To get a seat in the U.N. Security Council means shedding Brasilian blood and spending Billions of Dollars and Euros on imported Fighters,submarines and other armaments, my answer is a firm NO. The money can be utilized for better purposes.

It is funny that I remembered (while writing my comments) our distinguished fellow blogger Mr.Forrest Brown who keeps on saying "The wars are fought by men who are too afraid not to fight". Fighting the bosses in front of the factory gates or involving in court room fights are not necessarily right qualifications to lead a country.Unfortunately they are better orators and have more convincing power among the masses that elected them!!!

You might think that this is a conjecture and opinion based on half-baked notions and conspiracy theories.

But at the end of the day it will become part of world history and a fact:

Afghanistan is the cemetery where former superpowers go to die a slow death and get buried.

.
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Lula says what he has to say after all he is a politician.

Here we agree 100%

Regarding Vietnam. Again you seem to misunderstand, perhaps I was unclear. We failed in Vietnam miserably. However, the original premise of our discussion was based on your belief that our military was defeated which it was not. At the end of the day a lot of good men died in that conflict and the ones who failed them were the politicians. A soldier can fight and win, but without a clear task and purpose it becomes meaningless process. And I will concede that this was one conflict we shouldn't have gotten into, just like Iraq. Not that you actually provided any evidence to the contrary.

By your statement regarding Lula, I understand that he is a liar and cannot and should not be trusted by the U.S. Outstanding, it's great to see how much you contribute to world diplomacy.

I have never been accused of being a diplomat, and if you read most of my articles you can see what I mean.

About an hour ago when I was having dinner, we had the television on CNN – Lou Dobbs show. I don’t know if you guys are able to see on CNN International the same things that CNN shows in the New York Metropolitan area.

In case you are able to see the same things that they show here in our area – during tonight’s show they were discussing the days’ events and they were having a discussion about nuclear weapons they talked about Iran’s new nuclear facilities, they talked about the India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, the French, the Russians, and the Chinese. And then they started talking about president Lula, because today sometime during the day Lula said that Brazil has the right to develop nuclear weapons. Then they said that if Brazil acquired nuclear weapons that would open the door for Argentina, and so on….

Did you get the hint now? Or you will believe only when you see a Brazilian nuclear test?

Israel is well known to have nuclear weapons, but I can’t remember Israel having a nuclear test of any kind over the years.

The fact that you are not aware of the Brazilian nuclear weapons it does not mean that Washington does not know.

It is clear that the Brazilian government is not ready to let the rest of the world know that Brazil is armed with nukes for obvious reasons.

I would not be surprised that Washington knew all along about the nuclear weapons development in Israel and also in Brazil.

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Hi Ricardo,

May I bring to your attention to the following comment of Hans Pinto?:

A soldier can fight and win, but without a clear task and purpose it becomes meaningless process.

He sounds like our favorite General. It doesn't matter if he is an American, Brasilian, South African, Pakistani, Indian, etc; The fact remains that he lives in our country. So stop harassing him. What has he got to do with Korean war, WW2, etc;? As he long he pays his taxes regularly (like I do) while living in Rio, it is fine with me.

Not that I support Hans all the way. But there again, I don't agree with you fully either.

btw, you haven't said a word about our "support" to that buffoon Zelaya in Honduras. I would really request you to focus on this issue. Are we going to send our troops on a "peace keeping" mission to that country like we did in the case of Haiti? Are we going to "shoulder" the responsibility with the U.S. to be Policemen of the world and send our boys and girls to Afghanistan? These are the issues that are going to be of interest to our well informed electors in 2010 and I suggest we stick to these crucial questions. BTW, I continue not trusting the French in general and specifically their current "ruler" Sarko and therefore wouldn't like to see a "Centavo" of my tax "Real" to buy their RAFALE.

In short, I am in favor of Brasil being aloof and practice its famed neutrality (64-85) and don't get involved in conflicts that are of not our making.

And I know a lot of important people in Brazil in government, the military, and also in the private sector.

Excuse me, Ricardo. This comment aroused my curiosity.Is Roberto your brother?

Hans H. Pinto: Ricardo, with all due respect, you cannot cite yourself as a source when reporting.


*****


Ricardo: The problem is that in many occasions I am the only person that I know of that mentioned a particular subject as is in the case that I mentioned below.

I don’t think there’s any source anywhere from 6 years ago or before that I can quote other than my own article when I said: “I would not be surprised to see the United States involvement in future events in Colombia and Venezuela to escalate and get out of control—and turn it into a Vietnam type of war. That would be catastrophic, and could affect many countries in South America, including Brazil.”

Six years ago when I wrote that on my article you would probably have laughed as just some crazy talk. But six years later it does not seem to be a laughing matter anymore.
That is called foresight.

I am not a “Monday Morning Quarterback”, I write about things long before they happen.

***

I can connect the dots and see things that most people can’t see about the future – just read my articles going back to 10 years ago and you see what I mean. Here is another example, I did not write this a week ago, or last year. I wrote that six years ago mostly in March of 2003.

Brazzil magazine – April 2003
“The Art of Deception”
http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../3528.html

Hits: 7,000

Here is a quote from that article: “The Bush administration's judgment on foreign affairs is very questionable at best, and worrisome to everyone around the world. I would not be surprised to see the United States involvement in future events in Colombia and Venezuela to escalate and get out of control—and turn it into a Vietnam type of war. That would be catastrophic, and could affect many countries in South America, including Brazil.”


******


Ricardo: Here is another example. As you can see by today’s article on the Financial Times the United States prestige and influence is declining very rapidly around the world.

I have been writing about that for years and many people such as you thought that I was full of hot air.

Brazzil Magazine - June 2, 2005 - “While China Rises the US Falls in Brazil and Latin America” - Written by Ricardo C. Amaral
http://www.brazzil.com/2005-ma.../9296.html

Hits: 14,227
Comments: 92

The following quote from the Financial Times (UK) articles says volumes about the reality of global perception regarding the US prestige and influence around the world:

“American power in the region has been hobbled by the war in Iraq, the insurgency in Afghanistan, and by a consequent perception among Arab states that Washington cannot deliver.

By a stroke of irony, the diminished status was given concrete form this week by America’s closest ally in the region. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Mr Obama’s call for Israel to meet its international obligations by halting the expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

… Mr Obama’s task is made no easier for his recognition of these facts of geopolitical life. The question asked by allies as well as opponents in Washington is why, if everyone likes him so much, Mr Obama is not getting what he wants. The answer is an unpalatable one for a superpower accustomed to winning: the world is not like that any more.”

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Part 1 of 2


“Four things you need to know about the global puzzle”
By: Philip Stephens
Friday, September 25, 2009
Financial Times (UK)

From New York to Pittsburgh you could hear the crunching and grinding of geopolitical plates. The latest jamborees at the United Nations and the Group of 20 leave the new global landscape still very much a work in progress. Some of the contours, though, stand in sharper relief.

To my mind, four things stood out from this week’s surfeit of summitry: China’s, albeit reluctant, embrace of multilateralism; the rising challenge from the Middle East to western and, especially, US power; Barack Obama’s effort to frame new rules for the global game; and Europe’s place on the margins of influence.

Hu Jintao grabbed many of the headlines with a softening of his position on climate change. The Chinese president’s pledge to cut the carbon-intensity of China’s economic growth is no guarantee of a deal at December’s global warming summit in Copenhagen. Mr Hu’s initiative underscored, though, a big shift in China’s approach to the world.

Beijing is at last owning up to the fact that it is a leading actor on the global stage. A year or so ago, China was still clinging on to an essentially passive role in international affairs. Western injunctions for it to act as a responsible stakeholder in the multilateral system were met with protestations that such demands were premature: China was still a developing country, and it prized non-interference above western concepts of mutual dependence.

The global economic crisis upended that strategy by showing that Beijing cannot detach its domestic from its international interests. True, China has had a good crisis, demonstrating that it can continue to grow while the west is in recession. But the collapse of its exports has served as a potent reminder of the inextricable ties woven by globalisation.
This interdependence is taken for granted in western capitals. For Beijing it carries the uncomfortable implication that states have a legitimate interest in the framing of others’ domestic policies.

None of this is to say that China is about to become an easy touch in the international diplomatic game. But it has begun to understand the importance of soft power, exchanging a prickly resentment at anything that smacks of interference for an effort to make friends and influence people.

The challenge to the west from the Middle East was symbolised by the malevolent presence in New York of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. But the shifting balance of power is about more than Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its president’s Holocaust denial. American power in the region has been hobbled by the war in Iraq, the insurgency in Afghanistan, and by a consequent perception among Arab states that Washington cannot deliver.

By a stroke of irony, the diminished status was given concrete form this week by America’s closest ally in the region. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Mr Obama’s call for Israel to meet its international obligations by halting the expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. The Israeli prime minister’s blunt rebuff signalled that he, too, sees the US as a waning power. The only way for the US president to recover his authority would be to set out publicly Washington’s parameters for a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. The question is whether he will take the risk.

The US, of course, remains the world’s sole superpower, stronger than its rivals in every dimension. If Washington cannot always get its way, no other nation is anywhere near ready to replace it as the guarantor of global security. That said, Mr Obama’s appeal for the rest of the world to share the burden of leadership was a neat way of admitting that the US is an insufficient superpower.

To be fair to the US president, he has understood this for some time. There is method in his diplomacy and in the effort to restore the authority of international institutions scorned by his White House predecessor. The effective exercise of US power demands legitimacy; and legitimacy requires the US to accept the rules applied to others. The US effort to revive the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is a tangible step in that direction.

Mr Obama’s task is made no easier for his recognition of these facts of geopolitical life. The question asked by allies as well as opponents in Washington is why, if everyone likes him so much, Mr Obama is not getting what he wants. The answer is an unpalatable one for a superpower accustomed to winning: the world is not like that any more.

.

Part 2 of 2


Europe’s marginalisation has been long in the making, though its leaders would like to pretend otherwise. Nicolas Sarkozy this week was once again standing on tip-toe in the effort to be heard. He wants another global summit in November. The problem is that the French president’s relentless activism seems to have become an end in itself.

Gordon Brown is not faring any better. Back in the spring he claimed a front-of-house role in tackling the financial crisis. As the threat of economic Armageddon has faded so too has Mr Brown’s lustre. This week the beleaguered British prime minister was fighting off headlines saying he had been snubbed by Mr Obama.

An invisible Angela Merkel could claim she was distracted by this weekend’s German election. But the chancellor has long pursued a foreign policy best described by calculated inertia. Friends of Germany harbour hopes that an election victory would see Ms Merkel playing a more creative role. But these are hopes rather than expectations.

Missing is anything resembling a European view of the shape of things to come. Even on climate change, where the European Union made much of the early running, its influence is now being eclipsed by talk of a grand bargain between Washington and Beijing. In Mr Obama Europeans got the US president they wanted. But, more concerned to hang on to the present than to recast the future, they had not thought what to do next.

Put all these trends together and we are left with the global puzzle. Optimists will see in America’s new-found realism and in China’s cautious multilateralism the glimmer of a chance to assemble the pieces of a new geopolitical order. Pessimists will see as many hands seeking to break the puzzle as to solve it. Success or failure in Copenhagen will give an important clue as to which side is right.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc9a...ck_check=1

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Joao da Silva: The fact remains that he lives in our country. So stop harassing him.


*****


Ricardo: If I remember correctly Hans Pinto introduced himself as an American that is in Brazil training the Brazilian Armed Forces.

I had no idea he needed a babysitter to defend him. I thought he was a grown up.

Maybe I have been too hard on him.

I am sorry if I did hurt his feelings.


*****


Joao da Silva: Not that I support Hans all the way. But there again, I don't agree with you fully either.


*****


Ricardo: I don’t want anybody to agree with me fully. If anybody agrees with me more than 60 percent of the time that means that that person is not using their own brain to think.


*****


Joao da Silva: btw, you haven't said a word about our "support" to that buffoon Zelaya in Honduras. I would really request you to focus on this issue. Are we going to send our troops on a "peace keeping" mission to that country like we did in the case of Haiti?


*****


Ricardo: I don’t want to get involved in that discussion.

First, in my opinion Honduras should be under the circle of influence of countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia or even Argentina.

Second, Brazil has better things to do than get involved in the internal business of a little country such as Honduras – population 7 million people and GDP of about $ 15 billion dollars.

If Honduras had been invaded by a foreign army then we would have a different story – in that case Brazil would have the responsibility of helping that country.


*****


Joao da Silva: Are we going to "shoulder" the responsibility with the U.S. to be Policemen of the world and send our boys and girls to Afghanistan? These are the issues that are going to be of interest to our well informed electors in 2010 and I suggest we stick to these crucial questions.


*****


Ricardo: Only a “trouxa” would get involved in the Afghanistan War.

No. I don’t want Brazil to be the policemen of the world. The United States likes to play that role. Americans love a war and since 1776 how many wars the US got involved on?

Since 1776 how many years the US was not involved in some kind of conflict or major war? - Internal and external.

Brazil it has better things to do with its scarce resources than play policemen around the globe.

And the United States has a sponsor with very deep pockets right now that can support the United States adventures around the world including the new adventure in Colombia.

That sponsor it is called China.


*****


Joao da Silva: BTW, I continue not trusting the French in general and specifically their current "ruler" Sarko and therefore wouldn't like to see a "Centavo" of my tax "Real" to buy their RAFALE.


*****


Ricardo: Why don’t you like the French? What they have done to you?

I did suggest many years ago that Brazil establish a closer relationship with the French and get from them among other things the latest in nuclear technology.

I am a great admirer of French culture, and history. The French Revolution was one of the major turning points in world history.


*****


Joao da Silva: In short, I am in favor of Brasil being aloof and practice its famed neutrality (64-85) and don't get involved in conflicts that are of not our making.


*****


Ricardo: I am a nationalist, and I am interested in Brazil developing its economy and creating a job for every person who want to work; raising the level of education of the Brazilian population, lifting all the boats and creating as a large middle-class as possible, reducing crime to the lowest level possible, creating a system of national health care in such a way that every Brazilian would be able to get a decent health care service when they need it. My priority would also include the development of the armed forces in Brazil, to create an armed force that is in tune with the future – 21st century - to be able to defend Brazil from any other country in the world. I would also support a leap forward on the Brazilian space program.

I would suggest the development of a new pension system that would be compatible with population needs and population changes for the long term.

I would also have as a priority for Brazil to adopt the “New Asian Currency” to eliminate the exchange risk between Brazil and the Asian countries that would adopt such a currency similar to the euro.

The adoption of the “New Asian Currency” by Brazil would also help integrate the financial markets of Asia with Brazil.

The other pieces of the puzzle would fall into place in due time as Brazil moved along on this economic and social development plan.


*****


Joao da Silva: Excuse me, Ricardo. This comment aroused my curiosity. Is Roberto your brother?


*****


Ricardo: No, he is not.

As I said on my postings I know a lot of powerful and influential people in Brazil. And that is not a secret.

.

Brazuca: Regarding Brazil's apparent possession of nuclear weapons, what would Brazil's means of delivery be? Brazil, I'm sure, wouldn't have any ICBMs. Would the delivery system be by plane? The submarines to deliver nuclear weapons aren't ready yet, so I wonder how such would be delivered. Delivering by plane would be a useless deterrent against the US, since such can be easily neutralized.

I've heard that there are a number of nations with an undeclared nuclear-weapons capability, such as Germany and Saudi Arabia, so this subject is quite fascinating.


*****


Ricardo: This is not the place to discuss the Brazilian options related to the use of nuclear and biologic weapons.

Saudi Arabia got their nukes from Pakistan another Sunni country. Japan, Argentina, and South Africa also have the capability of building a nuke very fast. Israel is another undeclared country. And don’t forget Cuba and the 162 nuclear warheads that have been in that island since the Cuba nuclear crisis with the Soviets.

Regarding the subject of nuclear weapons Brazzil magazine just published an article about what Jose Alencar the current Brazilian vice president and former Defense Minister said today and you can read it at:

Brazilian Acting President Wants Brazil to Build the A-bomb
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/11249/


Jose Alencar a former Defense Minister is also giving another hint that Brazil is already armed with nuclear weapons, but again the government can’t come out a make it public for obvious reasons.

.

Ricardo: Joao you probably will enjoy reading the enclosed article.


*****


Sep 25, 2009

“The president is in the trunk”
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/F...5Aa01.html

… Obama even stressed the US "can't fix it alone" - as if the war in Afghanistan and confrontation with Iran were global, and not only US, obsessions. (By the way: Lula met Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad face-to-face for over an hour on the sidelines of the UN assembly. He later said that as much as Brazil had the right to develop its own peaceful nuclear program, so did Iran).

.

oh man , please, because you run huge boring posts and rererences to your past articles in the elite trader, dont think you are convincing anyone...

your depiction of columbia again only falls undera bafoonish catagorie. do you really think you are winning any arguments with that kind of logic ? or your weak analysis of world war 2 ? please give me a f**king break...or your general mischaractorisations of the usa...i mean really, man, they suck...

and, comon man, ive been going into forums since 7 years ago telling people the falling dollar was a horrible sign and that it indicated a decline for the usa and that people better fasten their seat belts because its going to get ugly....f**k me,im a genius....im a f**king genius ...i never studied economics in my life...but i predicted what is happening right now, economicly...get the f**k out of my way because im a f**king genius...!!!

seriusly , cat, hans pinto is kicking your arguments to holly hell...and two brazilian generals who served in the amazon make your arguments look like pure grade d s**t....

but i like you , man

Hi Ricardo,

Wow, that's interesting. Yes, I recently learned that a country like Japan had the capacity to assemble nuclear weapons within a very short space of time, and basically had all the pieces assembled and ready to be put together quickly should the need arise. I was surprised to learn that Germany has a nuclear deterrence. I suppose that since Argentina pursued a nuclear-weapons capability, it stands to reason that they would still have the capacity to quickly develop nuclear weapons. With South Africa I personally suspect the "whites" would have retained a biological-weapons capability that specifically targets "blacks" as a safety measure should the "blacks" decide to turn genocidal against the "whites".

While almost everybody knows about Israel's nuclear-weapons capability, I certainly had no idea about Cuba -- that's fascinating. I wonder when the CIA finally discovered they were there. And here I was thinking that the reason that the US never subsequently tried to invade Cuba, even after the demise of the USSR, was because they were men of their word, and once they'd promised to Kruschev that they would never invade, this promise was set in stone and irrevocable. But then again, as far as the Americans keeping their word, they didn't seem to have trouble breaking the promise they gave to Gorbarchev that they wouldn't advance NATO eastwards to Russia's borders if he allowed the Berlin Wall to fall peacefully. And I'm sure Milosovic was cursing himself, once captured and delivered to the Hague, for having accepted Holbrooke's promises and reassurances.

I remember that you used to advocate that Brazil acquire a nuclear deterrent, and I supported you at the time. I felt that it would be especially foolhardy for a country like Brazil not to have such a nuclear or biological deterrent given the continuing existence of genocidal eugenicists in the world who would seek to target Brazil in order to eliminate its population or decrease it significantly. This is because such eugenicists would view most of Brazil's population as constituting a degenerate form of humanity -- untermenschen.

[More to follow...]

In the comments section to an article published here back in mid-2008, I wrote the following about these eugenicists targeting of the Brazilian population during the 1980s:

Henry Kissinger formulated in 1974 the National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM 200). The memo, which was secret until relatively recently (thanks to legal action to declassify it by groups associated with the Catholic Church), was entitled, "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security and Overseas Interests". Basically it advocated for population control (a euphemism that has successfully been used to camouflage eugenics) of the world's teeming masses of untermenschen. The thirteen countries to be targeted included: India, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and Colombia. Only a drastic reduction of these nations' populations would allow for US exploitation of their raw materials. Brazil was to be the NSSM 200 "model".

To quote directly from Engdahl's Seeds of Destruction book, from which I garnered this information (pp.64-65):

"Brazil was one of the most clearly documented examples of NSSM 200. Beginning in the late 1980's ... the Brazilian Ministry of Health began to investigate reports of massive sterilization of Brazilian women ... the result of a formal Congressional inquiry, sponsored by more than 165 legislators from every political party represented in the Brazilian legislature.

"The investigation had been initiated after information [about NSSM 200] was published in the Jornal de Brasilia, Hova do Povo (Rio de Janeiro), Jornal do Brasil, and other major Brazilian newspapers in May 1991.

"The Brazilian government was shocked to find that an estimated 44% of all Brazilian women aged between 14 and 55 had been permanently sterilized. Most of the older women had been sterilized when the program started in the mid-1970s. ...[T]he sterilizations had been carried out by a variety of different organizations and agencies, some Brazilian. They included the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the US Pathfinder Fund, the Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception, Family Health International -- all programs under the aegis and guidance of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

"...According to some reports, under the program, as many as 90% of all Brazilian women of African descent had been sterilized. ...Almost half of Brazil's 154 million people in the 1980's were believed to be of African ancestry."

So as you can see, Brazil would be foolhardy to stand naked and leave its population unprotected, with genocidal eugenicists like the Rockefeller family (who sponsor to this day eugenic enterprises) still around and active.

Regarding countries with an undeclared nuclear deterrence, it's interesting that in my country, Australia, the former prime minister, John Howard, suddenly advocated late in his administration's time in office that Australia should seek the use of nuclear power, arguing that this was the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective option available (which is always true of nuclear power). This sounded absurd to many, seeing as Australia is a major coal producer and has plentiful supplies it. I suspected at the time that the real reason for this was to give Australia a nuclear-weapons capability.

Anyway, since you used to advocate for Brazil acquiring a nuclear deterrent, somebody must have kindly whispered in your ear the good news. And since it's inappropriate for us to further discuss this fascinating (and reassuring to me) subject here, perhaps continuing (if you have time) through private email may be more appropriate. That said, that wouldn't mean our discussions wouldn't be able to be monitored. But then again, the type of people who'd be able to monitor our email communications would already know about what you discuss anyway, so it wouldn't really matter.

and has for years not once giving any though to the people that have died and are dieing so he can set in his little cornor of the free US and spout his vile and never ending verabge about how bad the US is

at least the talaban will fight with guns and bombs not hide behind the key board and cry , did you get your papers to live in the US yet

IF the US lost all thoes wars than why arnt you speaking german no RA and all of brasil with you .

the US supplyed millions of ton of equipment to all the countries of the world during the first and second worlds wars whild fighting a 2 fronts war.
the brasilian military cant even make it to the amazon

read the book on the VN war 2 seprat times the US bombed them to the point of giving up but the press mad it look so bad the people in the US cryed to the congress to stop the war , and again nyou had a bunck of politicans running the war from the whitsd house not in country .

the keorean war was fought to a point to where it started no need to take over a country just to preserve one and why fight china and russia at the same time .

as for a the OBL his group are still running around in caves moving from country to country killing off mor muslem than the US vere would .

but has brasil even given 1 real to help the millions of hungry in any of thos countries . has any of brasil politicans or stars gone to see what is going on .

and your camp with 2000 military how long and when will this happen , like the navy in san tana on the north amazon your brown water navy never leaves port as no fuel or manitence done .

yes RA you have a lot to talk down about to us but you can never talk up the country of your birth whitch you dont live in and hold so dear .

Like Z lula is trying to change the constution juts becaus the wants a bomb

and, comon man, ive been going into forums since 7 years ago telling people the falling dollar was a horrible sign and that it indicated a decline for the usa and that people better fasten their seat belts because its going to get ugly....f**k me,im a genius....im a f**king genius ...i never studied economics in my life...but i predicted what is happening right now, economicly

Even though you have never studied economics in your life, you never forgot the basic principle in life: "Never live beyond your means". That is what happened to your country and what is happening here. What amazes me about is our government encouraging the consumer spending spree by reducing IPI for cars, domestic appliances, Taxing heavily the interest earned on your savings, etc; What really bothers me is the myopic vision of the government to put more cars on the streets and the highways, without repairing or laying new highways (you must be fully aware what I am talking about). They talk so much about the need to educate the people and how the Internet is so vital to so. I would have been happier if the Government had reduced the IPI,ICMS and Import duty on both hardware and software. But what to do, we have to shut up and put up with the irresponsible acts committed by our "Rulers". Don´t be surprised if in 2011 we are bankrupt. Doomsday scenario? No. It is a reality the Brasilians have to face.

darn it , it took me a while but i finaly really get where you are coming from , you old joisey bum you...you are comedian...a regular fugging shecky green...man you are absolutly hilarious...your blatent sarcastic wit is precious, why didnt i get it before...

"Did the current president of Colombia sold his country to the United States and the US is just making sure that they have enough military bases to secure their newly acquired territory in South America?

The Louisiana Purchase was one of the largest land deals in history, and now the United States has acquired a piece of South America. "

bla ha ha ha , now there is a punch line if i ever heard it....

"Colombia is going to become a new state like Hawaii with the right to have a senator in Washington, or it will operate like Puerto Rico? "

vrrrump crash....what a fuggin riot !!!

"When Colombia will adopt the US dollar as its new currency? "

baaaaaaahahahahaha now that is funny, george carlin anyone ?

"When Colombia will call back their ambassador at the UN, since Colombia as part of the United States the US Ambassador would represent it in the UN for now on. "

oooooohohhhhhh hohohohohoho laughing my ass off rolling on the floor

"The Colombians soccer players from now on will be eligible to play for the US national soccer team and Colombia will lose the right to have their own national soccer team. "

oh no oh no will some one please get this guy a mic....my god is that hilarious

"The Colombian government has to clarify to the world if Colombia has become a country under foreign military occupation, or if Colombia has been acquired by the United States like the Louisiana Land Purchase of the 1800’s. "

oh man, let me wipe the tears from my eyes , because that is the finest example of stand up comic humor ive seen in a while....you old son of a gun you, amoral, you are a joisey comedian with that sharp joisey sarcasm....god damn that is good humor

i hear you joao...lets hope both countries will deal with the problems that are iminent and require vigilance...

yo, brazuca, if 90 percent of afro brazilian women were sterilised, how could they have the huge population growth they have had in the last 30 years ? these statistics boggle the imagination and clearly edge you towards the conspiricy theory wackos that frequent this site and feel quite at home...

do you have any idea what the statistics for families in the northeast of brasil at that time with more than 10 kids and the huge amount of kids who died in child birth ? its unbeleivable...i cant recall it at this time but it is shocking.

there may well have been some kind of interest in sterilisation around the world, but, based on the enormas poverty rates and the problems they were causing...not some kind of euthanasia to get recoutces...f**k, that sounds ridiculas

your statistics absolutly dont play out in reality, its mind boggling you cant figure that out...

Forrest Allen Brown: IF the US lost all thoes wars than why arnt you speaking german no RA and all of brasil with you .


*****


Ricardo: Since you brought the subject up.

Most Brazilians don’t know that but Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva wanted to bring professors and German labor to Brazil to upgrade the system in Brazil. He was very fond of German technology and know-how since he had studied in one of the best German universities at the time and was exposed to the brightest minds of his day.

If we were speaking German in Brazil today, we probably also would have the most advanced space program in the world, superior engineering, an outstanding chemical and pharmaceutical industry, and all kinds of military hardware to match the best from around the world.

The Brazilian educational system most likely would be more efficient and of a higher quality for most of the population in Brazil.

The only drawback is that I don’t like German food in general.

But we still would beat the Germans in soccer.

Yes Forrest, that alternative would have been a disaster for Brazil.

.

"If we were speaking German in Brazil today, we probably also would have the most advanced space program in the world, superior engineering, an outstanding chemical and pharmaceutical industry, and all kinds of military hardware to match the best from around the world. "

whooo hu whooo hu, that is just satire at its best....yeah

"The Brazilian educational system most likely would be more efficient and of a higher quality for most of the population in Brazil.

The only drawback is that I don’t like German food in general.

But we still would beat the Germans in soccer.

Yes Forrest, that alternative would have been a disaster for Brazil. "

you are funny, man, i mean, thigh slapping laugh out loud funny...now i really get you ,my man,

.

whooo hu whooo hu, that is just satire at its best....yeah

No, I don't think it was a satire on the part of Ricardo.He may be exaggerating when he says that the Brasilians might be speaking German today.My contention is that many more Brasilians would be speaking more languages than just Portuguese. That way, the ordinary Brasilians would have access to the educational system outside the country.

I am not too surprised at the admiration of Andrada da Silva for the German universities and Brasil did indeed encourage the immigration of people from Germany over 150 years ago, at least to the South.To our state and RS. If you have had an opportunity to visit the small cities in the interior of our state, you would agree that there is a lot of German influence.

Unfortunately during the WW2, the Brasilian Germans were persecuted and even forbidden to talk in German!! If you meet a guy over 70 in the interior, he would tell you stories.

BTW, one of the greatest Presidents Brasil had was Ernesto Geisel, who was a Brasilian German. He was the President of Petrobras annd later became the President. He was responsible for developing the Ethanol program for strategic reasons and his successor President Figueiredo continued the program.

In case you don't know, a large majority of German Brasilians are Lutherans and to give credit to our governments (be civil or military), they were not persecuted on religious grounds.

João, no I am not from West Point. In fact, I received my commission through OCS. I enlisted in the Army a few years after college as Abrams Crewmen and later got picked for OCS. Since then I have been an armor officer.

Regarding your comments about the UN Security Council. I couldn't agree with you more. Of course, I would love other countries to increase their involvement so they can see how easily they become the targets of ignorant and irrational hate and how painful the sacrifice and loss of a soldier really is. But, I agree, Brazil has a lot of domestic issues to deal with and it would be a fools errand to seek what they haven't lost.

Prior to coming to Brazil I really hoped that someday all of the American nations would join together much like the European Union, but after my arrival I realize that this will never happen in my lifetime.

As you know, I live in the Zona Sul but my work takes me to the Vila Militar which is adjacent to Deodoro. At first glance one thinks Rio is beautiful. The fawna and beautiful mountains are breathtaking, but once you take a closer look and see quality of life within the slums on the hillside you are quickly reminded that you are in third world country.

I usually take Avenida Brazil but at times Linha Vermelha, in both cases once I pass Tunel Reboucas all I see are slums, thousands of squared kilometers of slums. If I return late in the evening, the streets I littered with young woman and even children selling themselves for God know's how much. Copacabana gives me the most unsettling feeling. There I see what can be only described as a free market sex trade. Civil servants are clearly grossly underpaid and daily one can see reports of rampant corruption from the highest levels down to the traffic cop directing traffic.

Among the most disconcerting things I have witnessed in Brazil is how the Military fears going into public in uniform. Back home all service members; while in uniform; eat lunch outside post or even buy groceries on the way home. 99% of the time I have personally had somebody pay my dinner, and those of others soldiers present, by a grateful citizen. In the airports soldiers are applauded as the come home from the war. Grandmother's hug and kiss service-members like they were their own family. Here, in Brazil, if and when we leave a military compound we are guarded by soldier's armed to the teeth and all the officers sign out a 9mm magazine and pistol. I have already witnessed two separate attacks to garrisons at the military vila in order to steal weapons.

Many of the young Brazilian soldiers end up working with the drug gangs inside the favelas where they live. Already trained and relatively well disciplined, these criminal groups seem better equipped and prepared than some of the insurgent groups I have fought against. In my opinion, the government has allowed these slums to grow unchecked. Even near where I live, an empty lot has to have a 24 hour guard in order to stop squatters from settling in. The favelas are a cancer and I fear they have grown out of control, completely out of proportion to the rich and ever decreasing middle class.

Driving through much of Brazil I can sometimes feel like I am back in Iraq. Infrastructure is lacking in every respect, with the exception of richer areas. Highways are poorly managed and falling apart. At times I feel that the civil engineers who designed many of the roads and highways should be put in away for incompetents.

Yes, I couldn't agree more. Instead of buying second hand aircraft carriers that don't work and s**t load of third rate planes from the French, the Brazilian government should invest the money they have on education reform and infrastructure repair and modernization. It's great to see Brazil moving forward, I just hope they are compelled to contribute to the greater good.

I remember the arms race of the past in South America. Then it was the right wing governments competing to have the biggest stick in the playground, now it is the left wing f**kers that bithced and complained back then that are squandering money on war toys. Who are the war mongers now?

YOU ARE AN IDIOT. As an Colombia American I think your comments are among the most ignorant and baseless I have ever read. I can assure you that the vast majority of my friends and family that live in Colombia would disagree with your ignoramus comments. Unlike any Brazilian, Colombians have paid with blood and guts to fight an insurgency that has been helped and financed by outside governments, along with the narco-terrorism. The most recent intervention by the jackass Chavez and his crony Correa.

You can bet your ass that Colombia is the best Army in South America. 40 years of jungle warfare has turned Colombia's army into one of the best trained in the world. Ricardo, you can wargame all you want but until your soldiers have seen war you will always be at a disadvantage against a combat hardened army.

I will share a little secret with you. The operation in Ecuador that pissed so many people off and the rescue of Ingid Betancourt. Those operations were conducted completely by the Colombians alone. We were informed of the operations once it had already been initiated and could not be stopped. The Colombians did a phenomenal job and have become the blueprint for our hopes for the Iraqi and Afghan armies. They are a highly professional and mobile army with an outstanding intelligence capacity.

s**t, Ricardo, why don't you leave that oh so comfortable lifestyle that my country affords you and join the army in Brazil. Quite honestly I am sickened by parasites who come to my country and take all and give nothing. I am in Brazil training your officers, and Brazil does not pay a dime. What do you do outside blogging bulls**t and hateful vomit.

After reflecting further about what you said if the Germans had won WW II and its impact in Brazil, I realized the damage that they would have caused to Brazil such as:

1) Today the Brazilian GDP probably would be 2 or 3 times higher than the current GDP.

2) The standard of living in Brazil probably would be among the highest in the world.

3) We would have a national healthcare system of the first rate for the entire population.

4) The worst part of all is that most Brazilians would be forced to drive around in Brazil on their Mercedes Bens, and BMW’s.

I could go on and on regarding this subject, but this reflection is causing too much mental pain to me.

.

HANS PINTO: Prior to coming to Brazil I really hoped that someday all of the American nations would join together much like the European Union, but after my arrival I realize that this will never happen in my lifetime.


*****


Ricardo: Brazil alone is bigger than the European Union. The United States also is bigger than the European Union.

I hope that does not happen in my lifetime as well.


*****


HANS PINTO: As you know, I live in the Zona Sul but my work takes me to the Vila Militar which is adjacent to Deodoro. At first glance one thinks Rio is beautiful. The fawna and beautiful mountains are breathtaking, but once you take a closer look and see quality of life within the slums on the hillside you are quickly reminded that you are in third world country.


*****


Ricardo: Since we are comparing notes between our 3dr world countries, then here is something that I posted on the Elite Trader Forum on September 3, 2005:

The Decaying of America
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=54860

09-03-05 SouthAmerica: My cousin from Brazil is visiting us here in New Jersey right now – so far he did visit Florida, Pennsylvania and the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area – he took a few weeks vacation for this trip.

My cousin has visited the US more than 15 times over the years. He graduated with a MBA from Duke University about 20 years ago. He also traveled over the years many times to European and Asian countries – he has visited a lot of countries around the world.

Today when we were talking he mentioned to me that in his latest travels in the United States one thing called his attention – The decaying of bridges, the infrastructure, and neighborhoods in all the places that he visited. He also knows well the United States and has visited in the past most of the US states.

In the last two days we did spend hours watching on various channels what is happening in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

I have been watching on television in the last 3 days a reminder of the disintegration of the Soviet Union all over again.

The handwrite is in the wall everywhere you look at – the health care system, a crumbling pension system, 50 percent of the graduating high school students “class of 2005” can’t read or write, the shuttle program is in shambles you don’t know if the Shuttle is going to explode on lift off or on the way back on re-entry, the power grid of the United States is in intensive care, a month ago after a storm various towns in Bergen county had no electric power and Ridgewood an up scale town had no power for 3 days – some parts of California lost power last week – and yesterday they did not have power most of the day in areas around Ramsey and Mahwah also in Bergen county NJ – Tennesse just cut Medicaid to 200,000 people many of these people are very sick with cancer, stroke and other nasty diseases – the place where I fix my car a mechanic only 34 years old became very ill and had to apply for disability insurance, after many months of a US government run around he became so frustrated and felt so helpless that he did blow his brains with a gun on may 15, 2005 – he left behind a wife and a young daughter.

The signs are all around us – the United States is declining at the speed of light – and to make matters worse we have a “Moron” in charge.


*****


July 26, 2006

SouthAmerica: I have been watching the news on television and I find hard to believe what they are talking about the US electric power grid.

It looks to me like they are talking about the electric grid of a 3rd world country.

In California it is becoming a routine to have blackouts every summer.

But now other parts of the US electric power grid are also becoming quickly obsolete – like in New York and in other states.

Today the US is looking more like an ex- superpower than anything else.

Deregulation of the energy industry worked real well in the US - Enron scandal, regular blackouts, not reliable sources of electric power, lack of investments and poor maintenance of power grid, and so on...


*****


July 26, 2006

SouthAmerica: No - I am not jealous.

I am pissed, since I live in Northern New Jersey – a very nice area by the way – and we lost electric power a number of times in the last few years.

We are not living in the 1940's – we are living in the new millennium – and it does not make sense for a country that thinks that they have superior technology than other countries around the world and at the same time not being able even to have a reliable electric power grid.

In this day and age that is crazy to say the least and a major sign of infrastructure decline.

In my opinion, we have a situation regarding the electric power grid that is not acceptable and people should be very angry about it.

.

Ricardo: Sometime in 2007 I was watching the Larry King Show on CNN cable and he was interviewing the Police Commissioner of 3 major towns in the US, I believe they were New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and this is what they were talking about: “Today the United States has more than 2 million people who belong to gangs all across the United States – and at the same time the United States has only 1.8 million policemen to keep these guys in check.

These gangs used to be concentrated on large cities, but in the last few years they started moving all over the place including your neighborhood.”


http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...ost1686188

November 20, 2007

SouthAmerica: Americans have the illusion that everything it is O.K.

But things are not O.K. here in the US – I grant you it is better than in Iraq, and Afghanistan and some other dangerous places.

Today the United States has more than 2 million people who belong to gangs all across the United States – and at the same time the United States has only 1.8 million policemen to keep these guys in check.

These gangs used to be concentrated on large cities, but in the last few years they started moving all over the place including your neighborhood.

Americans believe in warehousing millions of people in prison and then they look the other way. But there is payback to this kind of “Brain dead system” and we are reaching the payback stage.

When you incarcerate 2.2 million people and believe in punishing them – one day these animals come out of their cages – and when they come out they are not a bunch of happy campers. That is when it is time for payback to society – and at that time Americans are going to wonder Why the United States is becoming such a violent place with all kinds of crimes going on….

By the way, I live on a very nice complex on a very supposed safe area of New Jersey - in the last 3 months we had 4 major robberies on our complex.

This type of crime was not supposed to happen here where we live.


*****


Ricardo: When I was going for my PhD at Fordham University in the Bronx (New York City) – When I was driving around the area where Fordham University is located the place looked like a war zone in the Congo.

I have been going very frequently over the years to the Brazilian restaurants in Newark, New Jersey – and there are parts of Newark that are as dangerous as the worst parts of Rio de Janeiro.

There are many ghettos around the United States in fast declining areas like Detroit, Cleveland, parts of Los Angeles, parts of New York City, parts of Newark, parts of Washington D.C., parts of Philadelphia, and so on…

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HANS PINTO: Civil servants are clearly grossly underpaid and daily one can see reports of rampant corruption from the highest levels down to the traffic cop directing traffic.


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Ricardo: The only difference of corruption in Brazil compared with corruption in the United States is that in Brazil the corruption is in measured in nickels and dimes, and in the United States the corruption is measured in the trillions of US dollars.


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HANS PINTO: In the airports soldiers are applauded as the come home from the war.


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Ricardo: If they don’t come home in a body bag.

Then the US government threat the war veterans like s**t.

During the Vietnam War over 50,000 American soldiers died on that war, and since the war ended in 1974 another 150,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide, and today half of the homeless population around the United States are Vietnam veterans.

First the US government uses all these people on their silly wars and when they return home they are discarded like a piece of garbage.

There is nothing to be proud of the way the US government threat its veterans of war.


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HANS PINTO: Many of the young Brazilian soldiers end up working with the drug gangs inside the favelas where they live. Already trained and relatively well disciplined, these criminal groups seem better equipped and prepared than some of the insurgent groups I have fought against. In my opinion, the government has allowed these slums to grow unchecked. Even near where I live, an empty lot has to have a 24 hour guard in order to stop squatters from settling in. The favelas are a cancer and I fear they have grown out of control, completely out of proportion to the rich and ever decreasing middle class.


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Ricardo: The above description sound like what we watch all the time on CNN on the Lou Dobbs program, the only difference is that he is talking all the time about these problems here in the United States.


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HANS PINTO: Driving through much of Brazil I can sometimes feel like I am back in Iraq.


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Ricardo: That is the way most Americans living around the board of US/Mexico feel as well.


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HANS PINTO: Yes, I couldn't agree more. Instead of buying second hand aircraft carriers that don't work and s**t load of third rate planes from the French, the Brazilian government should invest the money they have on education reform and infrastructure repair and modernization.


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Ricardo: I noticed a touch of sour grapes here.

But what you said: “government should invest the money they have on education reform and infrastructure repair and modernization.” – should apply to both our governments.

The educations system in the United States is nothing to write home about. And talking about US infrastructure:

http://www.wisn.com/news/13802285/detail.html

MINNEAPOLIS -- The I-35 bridge disaster over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Wednesday is the latest of at least three major incidents involving bridges or overpasses in the U.S. this year.

The 40-year-old bridge, which stretches between Minneapolis and St. Paul, collapsed over the river just after 6 p.m. According to local media reports, as many as 50 cars plunged into the river and onto the land below. The fatality report from the city has been estimated at four so far, with an additional 20 people unaccounted for.

The disaster in Minneapolis came one day after a highway overpass under construction in Oroville, Calif., collapsed, crushing a delivery truck and seriously injuring a construction worker who fell 50 feet.

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HANS PINTO: Then it was the right wing governments competing to have the biggest stick in the playground, now it is the left wing f**kers that bithced and complained back then that are squandering money on war toys.

Who are the war mongers now?


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Ricardo: There is no question about it – It is the United States.

The United States has the largest market share of the global killing business.

The more wars we have around the world the better for the United States military-industrial complex – and these wars generate lots of profits.

The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. Arms producing companies, also referred to as defense companies or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states. Products include guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, and more. The arms industry also conducts significant research and development.

It is estimated that yearly, over 1 trillion dollars are spent on military expenditures worldwide (2% of World GDP). Part of this goes to the procurement of military hardware and services from the military industry. The combined arms sales of the top 100 largest arms producing companies amounted to an estimated $315 billion in 2006.


***


“U.S. increases global arms sales and market share”
By Clarity Staff Reporter
September 13th, 2009
The Daily Clarity

We might be in the middle of a global recession, but there seems to be one export trade that the US is excelling at – the global sales of weaponry. Despite the fact that the global arms sales in 2008 was $55.2 billion, a drop of 7.6 per cent from 2007, the US managed to increase gross sales revenues and market share. The US signed weapons deals totaling $37.8 billion in 2008 – 68.4 per cent of international sales – up from $US25.4 billion the previous year. In addition to being the number one weapons exporter, is also the largest consumer.

The US also uses an ‘arms for allies’ strategy as a lynch-pin of its foreign policy, as we have reported in the past. The US gave $3 billion of arms to Israeli in 2007 alone, but this is not a singular largess.

The US has committed to provide Egypt with $13 billion of arms sales over the next ten years. At the same time it agreed to sell $20 billion worth to Saudi Arabia and five other Gulf states. The US also has less public deals with Turkey and Jordan. The US has an odd dualism in its gifting of arms. If you take Cambodia as an example, while on one hand making accusations of human rights abuses, the US just handed them military equipment worth about US$6.5 million, including thousands of Kevlar helmets, field packs, and camouflage uniforms, among other items. When it comes to the US involvement in the global arms industry, it just seems to be ‘the little engine that could’ in a currently depressed economy.

The increase in US weapons sales around the world ”was attributable not only to major new orders from clients in the near-east and in Asia, but also to the continuation of significant equipment and support services contracts with a broad-based number of US clients globally”, according to the study.

The annual report was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress. Regarded as the most detailed collection of unclassified global arms sales data available to the general public, it was delivered to the US House and Senate on Friday, ready for members’ return from the Labor Day recess.

Weapons sales to developing nations reached $US42.2 billion in 2008, only a nominal increase from the $US41.1 billion in 2007.

The US was the leader not only in arms sales worldwide, but also in sales to nations in the developing world, signing $US29.6 billion in weapons agreements with these nations, or 70.1 per cent of all such deals.

The study found the larger arms deals between the US with developing nations last year included a $US6.5 billion air defence system for the United Arab Emirates, a $US2.1 billion jet fighter deal with Morocco and a $US20 billion attack helicopter agreement with Taiwan. Other agreements were reached between the United States and India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and Brazil.

http://mydailyclarity.com/2009...ket-share/

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this is classic comedy coming from the jonathon winters of brazzil dot com

"After reflecting further about what you said if the Germans had won WW II and its impact in Brazil, I realized the damage that they would have caused to Brazil such as:

1) Today the Brazilian GDP probably would be 2 or 3 times higher than the current GDP.

2) The standard of living in Brazil probably would be among the highest in the world.

3) We would have a national healthcare system of the first rate for the entire population.

4) The worst part of all is that most Brazilians would be forced to drive around in Brazil on their Mercedes Bens, and BMW’s.

I could go on and on regarding this subject, but this reflection is causing too much mental pain to me. "

vraoooom crash....blahahahahaahahh another incredible night of comedy from the shecky greene of the brazzil forum...god i love it...a stand up comic on the forum...

oh yeah, joao, are you talking about the purposful "whitening of brazil" that occured 150 years ago ? i consider it a blight on brazil. instead of giving jobs for the freed slaves , and somehow integrating them into society, they purposly brought in german and italian immigrants in the south. our area was 60 percent afro brazilian before that, mostly slaves working in the whaling industry

this "whitening" of brazil brought out a racism that is very prevalant down here in the south. afro brazilian culture is dismissed and thrown to the side only celibrated at carnival like some discartaval diapor , easily making the south one of the most culturaly poor bannal boring locations in brazil

no i dont respect the racism down here in the south, the total ignorance to and put down of culture from the north east borders on pathetic . people are arrogant down here about it, and substitute it with really cultulrely bannal things like october fest...i stear so far clear of those things ,it bores me to no end...

sorry, i dont have sympathy about the germans ´plight down here in world war 2. ive seen the documentaries about it and what do i see? an ass hole saying the usa hit a brazilian boat to make people think it was a german boat to get brazil in the war...no i dont have patience for that s**t. there were really germans here sympathetic to the nazis

amorals hilarious comedic bafoonish referance to what would happen if the germans won world war two fails to mention that half of the brazilian population would be slaves to them after world war 2...or didnt you hear about the nazi farm outside of sao paulo that actualy did have black slaves? ...no i dont have sympathy for the germans in brazil who hoped the nazis would win....but all due respect to your wife and any relatives that were hurt in this process

yo amaral....what a great comedic technique...wow them with hot air and blubber....you got it my man....i like you

.

Oh, ok, you got me Ricardo, the US is just as f**ked up as brazil. Holy gosh darn it and while we are at it why don't we just say that Brazil won the WWII at the battle of Montecello. Happy, Cliff.

Hi Hans,

Thanks for the comments addressed to me. Your remarks on Rio and "how our Military fears going into public in uniform" don't come as a surprise to me. Over the past 25 years, military bashing has become a big vote getting "mantra" for our politicians.Unfortunately, we are at a stage where they would like to unionize the Military too!!! The situation is scary for the citizens of Rio and I sympathize with them. Rio used to be a great place, but seems to be no longer.

If the citizens of the city or the state are unhappy with their situation, it is up to them to boot the politicians out of the office in the coming elections, like the citizens of São Paulo did in the last Mayoral elections. You may be aware that the Northeastern states,RJ, MG and SP have enormous influence in the National Politics. There is absolutely no point in bashing the Military Governments we had between 64 and 85 and be under the illusion that the "pseudo leftists" will lift them off their miseries!! Or screaming and yelling for the Military to save their asses!!!!

I would not be surprised that Washington knew all along about the nuclear weapons development in Israel and also in Brazil.

I agree. I think it is often meet in the intelligence world not to reveal what you do know. I don't think the US would have known this through spies and so forth. I think they'd have known through their unmatched electronic intelligence capability. It's scary to think of what they'd know with their Echelon and so forth.

After reflecting further about what you said if the Germans had won WW II and its impact in Brazil, I realized the damage that they would have caused to Brazil such as...

But wouldn't the majority of Brazilians have been seen as untermenschen and been exterminated accordingly?

The only difference of corruption in Brazil compared with corruption in the United States is that in Brazil the corruption is in measured in nickels and dimes, and in the United States the corruption is measured in the trillions of US dollars.

Ha-ha, that's so funny! Yeah, and at least the Brazilians are open and honest about their corruption. In America it's hidden, the elite ripping the middle class off for all they're worth -- trillions of dollars worth -- and about to finish them off altogether now.

Yeah, and at least the Brazilians are open and honest about their corruption. In America it's hidden, the elite ripping the middle class off for all they're worth -- trillions of dollars worth -- and about to finish them off altogether now.

Mate, I think you have been living in Brasil for just a few years only. The "Ripping the middle class off by the elite" started in 1986. You better research about this further. If we are so "open and honest" about corruption, what the f**k have we done to stop or reduce it at least?

I hope in "Down Under" the corruption is not as rampant as it is in the U.S. or here and if it is, you guys are "open and honest" to accept it.

Brazuca, funny you make this comment. I agree, the U.S. has had some real dirt bags that have caused a lot of misery for a great many people. But a certain Brazilian comes to mind when I think of the biggest dirt bags of all, Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello. Isn't he an active politician again? Phenominal what this guy pulled off, acting president appropriating money straight from the banks and the Brazilian peoples savings. And yet, Brazilians seem completely oblivious and let him play politics again.

It looks like Brazil is getting hustled again. Brazil has it all figured out... I don't think so.

Brazuca, funny you make this comment. I agree, the U.S. has had some real dirt bags that have caused a lot of misery for a great many people. But a certain Brazilian comes to mind when I think of the biggest dirt bags of all, Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello. Isn't he an active politician again? Phenominal what this guy pulled off, acting president appropriating money straight from the banks and the Brazilian peoples savings. And yet, Brazilians seem completely oblivious and let him play politics again.

It looks like Brazil is getting hustled again. Brazil has it all figured out... I don't think so.

But a certain Brazilian comes to mind when I think of the biggest dirt bags of all, Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello. Isn't he an active politician again? Phenominal what this guy pulled off, acting president appropriating money straight from the banks and the Brazilian peoples savings. And yet, Brazilians seem completely oblivious and let him play politics again.

It seems we are operating on the same wave length!! That SOB and his predecessor started the process of dwindling the middle class. Their successors were no better either.

Joao da Silva: There is absolutely no point in bashing the Military Governments we had between 64 and 85 and be under the illusion that the "pseudo leftists" will lift them off their miseries!! Or screaming and yelling for the Military to save their asses!!!!


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Ricardo: The military in Brazil is not as dead as you guys are portraying them – all you guys are underestimating them, and they are more informed about what is happening in Brazil than you think.

Please don’t be surprised if another Castelo Branco rises to the occasion in Brazil to put our house in order.


*****


Brazuca: Anyway, since you used to advocate for Brazil acquiring a nuclear deterrent, somebody must have kindly whispered in your ear the good news.


*****


Ricardo: It was not by chance. I have been writing articles on that subject since May 2002. My article also got the attention of a fellow from the US military Colonel Thomas J. Towle - Army's Chief Armament Officer on the General Staff in the Pentagon.


Articles about Brazil and Nuclear Weapons:

1) Brazzil Magazine - May 2002
“We Need the Bomb – Part I”
Written by Ricardo C. Amaral

http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../2575.html


2) Brazzil Magazine - February 2003
“We Need the Bomb – Part II”
Written by Ricardo C. Amaral

http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../2186.html


3) Brazzil Magazine - June 2003
“Food for Nukes the Answer for Brazil”
Written by Ricardo C. Amaral

http://brazzil.com/p104jun03.htm

Note: Thousands and thousands of people around the world it did read my articles regarding Brazil and nuclear weapons.


*****

Responses and other information regarding my articles:

As soon as my original article was published on Brazzil magazine in May 2002 – On the following issue of Brazzil magazine (June 2002) there was a response to my article written by Colonel Thomas J. Towle.

Brazil Needs the Bomb... Like a Hole in the Head
Written by: Thomas J. Towle
Saturday, June 01, 2002

http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../6354.html

Colonel Thomas J. Towle, the author, is a retired US Army officer who has served in a number of very responsible positions. In addition to his formal education, which includes a BS in Marketing, an MS in Management and Economics, and a Doctorate in Ministry, he attended the Army's Command & Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

He is a former Army aviator, who served as a company commander in Germany in the Third Armored Division, and as a Battalion Commander in Vietnam, culminating his career as the Army's Chief Armament Officer on the General Staff in the Pentagon.


*****

You can see the link to my articles at:

http://brazzilnews.blogspot.com/


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so brasil would have been better off today if the germans would have wone
do you think you would be alive if they did .
do you think you would have the freedom you injoy in your host country that you dont even have in your brazil today .
do you think you would have the free speach you have now .

i dont think so .
as far as the bomb we need to dinvent it or stop it from spreading .

look at all the countries that dont have it that have tons more money than brazil . and more educated than brazilians

your takl is as cheep as your goverment

by the way you leagle in the states yet ??????

he mentioned he had his draft card...so , hey, if he is an american, he has a right to put down his country ...

but , cmon man,he is a genius at comedy ....what timing and comedic deliviery...the touch of a master

anyway,id rather deal with r amoral than the idiot right wing, running around with their anger tea parties and thinking obama is a socialist . the amazing thing about these people is they dont really get it was them and their leaders that have sunk the states so low, that comediens like r amoral get huge amounts of material to work their stand up routines

hans pinto, i apreciete your contributions. i really see colombia getting a bad rap in south america.surrounded by correa and chavez , and strange cold war residual anti american resentments through out south america , colombia's aliance with the usa almost makes it a parriah in south america.

do you perceive anti americanism in your interactions with south americans as a united states army officer ? do you find brazilian military people more sympatico than the normal average person you might discuss these things with ?

joao....hang in there bro, im getting hit too

joao....hang in there bro, im getting hit too

Thanks ASP. I am willing to put up with it as long as it continues dumping for a couple of months and discourages the "tourists" to visit us!

Very good questions you put forth to Hans Pinto:

do you perceive anti americanism in your interactions with south americans as a united states army officer ? do you find brazilian military people more sympatico than the normal average person you might discuss these things with ?

Brilliant questions and I am also awaiting his answers.

As for Ricardo´s comment:

The military in Brazil is not as dead as you guys are portraying them – all you guys are underestimating them, and they are more informed about what is happening in Brazil than you think.

He got it right and your favorite General Lessa proved it by his outspoken views.

i definitly didnt say any thing bad about the brazilian military , as you pointed out, i was impressed that brazilian generals are seeing exactly what is going on up there in the amazon

i am not arguing with plenty of points r amoral makes. i dont argue about the nuclear weapons in brazil, or , the potential power brazil could have , the value or unvalue of sarny etc

i only break out laughing when he decides to try out his standup routine about his take on the history , presesnt and future of the usa....god is that some classic funny s**t...the king of comedy is in the house...my man...i need some laughs occasisionaly and he definitly provides them...i finily got what r amoral is all about...a great comedian

i definitly didnt say any thing bad about the brazilian military , as you pointed out, i was impressed that brazilian generals are seeing exactly what is going on up there in the amazon

I know you didn't say anything bad about our military nor our good Generals (my favorite is different from yours, though).

BTW, Augustus is already in Rio after spending almost 5 days in SP, studying the "derrières"of the Paulistanas. He seems to be a bit shocked at the deteriorating Rio and his info coincides with that of Hans Pinto.

He sounds a bit upset with the situation, but happy that the Brasilian Press is quite questioning and doing its job.

As much as it may be painful while expressing any agreement to principles involving multiple loyalies, I must admit that I cannot fully disagree with the author (also noting that I~m presently in Rio de Janeiro, and thus lacked the time for exploring the comments preceding mine at this point...

With the installation and amplification of military bases on the margins of the Amazon and the Fourth Fleet navigating the South Atlantic on the margins of the enormous oil reserves discovered by Petrobras, Brazil is surrounded. South America is surrounded, and marked militarily as an economic and geopolitical space of the United States

How could I possibly disagree with the underlying essence of washington~s UNDERSTANDABLE measure in defense of its self interest, which also PROTECTS moderate South American from the UGLY, DANGEROUS VENEZUELAN POPULIST DICTATOR....

Asp: he mentioned he had his draft card...so , hey, if he is an american, he has a right to put down his country ...


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Ricardo: Wrong assumption.

The United States also sent people with green cards to fight on its behalf in Vietnam.

Many of my friends who ended up in Vietnam had green cards and not US citizenship.

By the way, the current situation in Honduras reinforces my position that Brazil should mind its business and stay away from the internal problems of the countries of the former Spanish Empire.

Nothing good is going to come out of Brazil getting involved on the internal businesses of these Spanish countries.

Mexico is the country that should be involved in the businesses of these piss ass little countries of Central America – better yet why Mexico just don’t take over this little marginal countries and make them part of Mexico?


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Asp: i only break out laughing when he decides to try out his standup routine about his take on the history , presesnt and future of the usa....god is that some classic funny s**t...the king of comedy is in the house...my man...i need some laughs occasisionaly and he definitly provides them...i finily got what r amoral is all about...a great comedian


*****


Ricardo: My best routine was about the history of Israel that I posted in one of the articles.

How can anyone take all that biblical history with a straight face?


*****


Asp: i definitly didnt say any thing bad about the brazilian military, as you pointed out, i was impressed that brazilian generals are seeing exactly what is going on up there in the amazon


*****


Ricardo: It is not only the problem in the Amazons area that is bothering the military today in Brazil, there are many other things that are pissing them off. That is what I hear from the grapevine from a very well informed source.

.

I mean, come on. Really. Seriously.

Yes, Ricardo, believe whatever you want to believe. The US military is just awful, certainly no match for Brazil.

I'm so glad you pointed out the "defeats" of the US military throughout history. That was really laughable. Please now give us all some examples of Brazil's stunning combat effectiveness throughout the world. "In ever clime and place" those Brazilian's are demonstrating their operational excellence, I tell ya!

I cannot understand why you're the least bit bothered by the expanding US presence in Colombia. I mean, you've shown the US has no operational combat capacity whatsoever. Certainly no match for the mighty demonstrated combined arms excellence of Brazil.

Cyberwarfare, huh? Well, I've been to Brazil. It's hard to even get a good internet connection. The only coding expertise I witnessed while I was there (working in e-commerce) was in the distribution of cracked and pirated software. Wow, that's an industry to be proud. A nation of lock-pickers.

So you really believe that the illustrious and world-renowned Brazilian cyberwarfare community has sufficiently mastered all the technology of the internet, programming languages, and so forth? Oh, you mean they've got their head around all of those American developed standards, technologies, languages, APIs, and hardware.

Good heavens.

And then there is your economic analysis. If the US dies, Brazil goes down with it, simple as that. Everyone goes down with it. If you think the death of the US economy could be anything other than a tragedy for Brazil, you're so clueless I don't even know where to begin.

Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires? What a ludicrous historical myth THAT is. Jesus Christ, go the library and read a book.

As much as US combat forces suck, it's notable that the mighty and brave Afghan warriors only run when they see them. Same thing in Iraq: they gave up actually fighting US forces many years ago. Much better to just blow up their own civilians. and *maybe* manage to blow up the odd US civil affairs detachment with an IED.

Sorry, Ricardo, if you knew anything you'd know that from top to bottom no military force comes close to what the US can field. From the squad level up through the entire logistics chain, to combined arms operations.

Hell, the f**king Brazilians couldn't even map their entire territory until the US did it via satellite. When I was in Brazil, there was news about an entirely unheard of tribe that had been discovered in the interior, filmed from an airplane.

Brazil's army can't even negotiate Brazil, for pete's sake.

You know, the amazing thing about Brazil is this: it's really a fascinating country, Brazil has accomplished a lot that all Brazilians can be proud of. Achievements in aerospace, civil engineering, biology, the arts, and so much more. But when I was there I was constantly left with the feeling that it was a country that was held back by itself, that it was missing its destiny, that people were looking in the wrong direction and setting themselves up for failure.

Brazil's biggest strategic vulnerability is its ridiculous anti-US obsession. The US and Brazil are such absolutely perfect natural partners: both multicultural nations formed from many threads that have flourished on a new continent. But far too many Brazilians desperately want to believe that they are Europeans, and that anti-US sentiment benefits them. It simply doesn't.

Due to proximity, the US will always be a preferred partner for Brazil. And yet so many in Brazil's left-wing try to sabotage this, scratching around in Africa, kissing the asses of the French (who, quite honestly, look at you as subhuman Latino savages), and now thinking that China (of all countries!) is going to be their key to success.

It's so incredibly sad. So sad.

Brazil is an amazing country and could be even more amazing. I so desperately would like to see closer US/Brazil relations and partnerships; in space, in military matters, in business, in the arts. But the Brazilian left has been absolutely brainwashed by their european masters, all to the continent's entire detriment.

Part 1 of 4


Richard R: The US military is just awful, certainly no match for Brazil.


*****


Ricardo: The United States are not that foolish and it does not attack countries armed with nuclear weapons including Pakistan and North Korea.

A war between Brazil and the US – it has not even to most remote possibility.

Besides Brazilians love the best that American culture has to offer, and they are the largest group of people that come to visit the Disney Park in Florida, year after year.

But as I said on an article published on Brazzil magazine 6 years ago, the United States can create another Vietnam in the North of South America including Colombia and Venezuela and so on… - A situation that would create a real problem for the Brazilian government.


*****


Richard R: I'm so glad you pointed out the "defeats" of the US military throughout history. That was really laughable. Please now give us all some examples of Brazil's stunning combat effectiveness throughout the world. "In ever clime and place" those Brazilian's are demonstrating their operational excellence, I tell ya!


*****


Ricardo: Sure you have some defeats since the United States has been involved in so many conflicts in the last 200 years.

The last war that Brazil has participated was WW II, and I never forgot the story that one of my stepfather’s friend told him about his stay in Italy. During the day he was supposed to be fighting the Italians, then in the evenings many of the Brazilian soldiers used to sneak into town and have wine with the Italian soldiers.


*****


Richard R: I cannot understand why you're the least bit bothered by the expanding US presence in Colombia. I mean, you've shown the US has no operational combat capacity whatsoever.


*****


Ricardo: Iraq was supposed to be a cakewalk. In the early 1990’s during the first Iraq War the United States did a devastating damage to the army of Saddam Hussein – most of that damage was done from the air and from missiles shot from a long distance.

That was a US victory.

But in 2003 when the US invaded Iraq for the second time Iraq was a country that was collapsing in every way – and if the US had left Iraq alone that country would have collapsed in due time without a war.

Right after the United States attacked Iraq I was wake the entire night watching on CNN live and all the stuff that they were showing directly from the battlefields.

I remember when the CNN film crew and reporter got to the Headquarters of Saddam’s Republican Guard before the US Army and they were showing all these tanks that were at the headquarter and the fields surrounding that location.

Before the war the US army was talking about the capabilities of the Republican Guard and they though they were ready to fight and they mentioned all these tanks that were ready to fight the US army.

When the CNN crew got there the place looked like had been abandoned for years – the place was in complete disrepair, and the tanks that the US military was so afraid of turned out to be just the carcass of old thanks that had been abandoned since the first Iraq war.

Since the CNN crew got their before the US army they were telling in the air that it was safe for the US army to come to that location since the place was completely dead and nobody was around.

The US intelligence got most of their information from their eyes in the sky and the thanks that they though were ready for war it turned out to be just the carcass of old thanks – in plain English just a pile of junk.

Nobody told me this information – I did watch it live on CNN as that fiasco developed.

Another very embarrassing moment for US intelligence – and that one was broadcasted live for the entire world to see it.

Then the US army had a hell of a time fighting the Iraqi insurgencies that were attacking the US army on their pick up trucks and using armament mostly vintage WW II.

In Afghanistan the US army is not doing any better against the Taliban. And the top general in charge of the US troops in Afghanistan has been complaining that the US is losing also that war.

.

Part 2 of 4


RichardR: Cyberwarfare, huh? Well, I've been to Brazil. It's hard to even get a good internet connection. The only coding expertise I witnessed while I was there (working in e-commerce) was in the distribution of cracked and pirated software. Wow, that's an industry to be proud. A nation of lock-pickers.

So you really believe that the illustrious and world-renowned Brazilian cyberwarfare community has sufficiently mastered all the technology of the internet, programming languages, and so forth?


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Ricardo: Your comments about the Brazilian software engineers it is pathetic, that shows that you have no idea about what they are capable of.

By the way, Google has a software development center in Brazil because they think Brazil has top-notch software engineers.

The Brazilian cyber community has sufficiently mastered all the technology of the internet, programming languages, and so forth that Google chose Brazil to a software cyber technology development center.

On the other hand, the software brain power that helped the United States do so well in software development in the last 30 years is leaving town – the new generation is going back to India – last year alone 100,000 Indians returned to India from the United States – and these are the people who used to give an advantage to the United States in software technology. Many of these Indians were the people who started many of the successful companies in Silicon Valley.


*****


Richard R: And then there is your economic analysis. If the US dies, Brazil goes down with it, simple as that. Everyone goes down with it. If you think the death of the US economy could be anything other than a tragedy for Brazil, you're so clueless I don't even know where to begin.


******


Ricardo: Just like all the satellites countries went down when the Soviet Union collapsed?

That is why the smart money is getting out of the US dollar before the herd starts a stampede.


******


Richard R: Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires? What a ludicrous historical myth THAT is.


*****


Ricardo: Tell that to the Soviets.

I was just talking with a friend of mine and I told him what I had mentioned to many other friends of mine - how arrogant powers don’t learn even the simple lessons from history.

Adolph Hitler did not learn from what happened to Napoleon Bonaparte when he attacked the Russians. And history repeated itself when the German armies were decimated when Hitler made the same mistake that Napoleon had made over 100 years earlier.

Today the United States is making that same mistake but this time is in Afghanistan.

Is the United States going to do better in Afghanistan that Hitler did in Russia?

I doubt very much.

And just time will prove that Afghanistan is the cemetery were former superpower go to die a slow death and get buried.


*****


Richard R: Sorry, Ricardo, if you knew anything you'd know that from top to bottom no military force comes close to what the US can field. From the squad level up through the entire logistics chain, to combined arms operations.


*****


Ricardo: I used to think that also of the Israeli army, but we know better today.

But the US and the Israelis still have an edge from the sky – dropping bombs from the sky or shooting missiles from far away.

.

Part 3 of 4


Richard R: You know, the amazing thing about Brazil is this: it's really a fascinating country, Brazil has accomplished a lot that all Brazilians can be proud of. Achievements in aerospace, civil engineering, biology, the arts, and so much more.


*****


Ricardo: Finally we have something that we agree on.


*****


RichardR: Brazil's biggest strategic vulnerability is its ridiculous anti-US obsession.


*****


Ricardo: Not on my case - I am not anti-American and I live here in the United States and have been witnessing first hand the fast economic decline of the United States year after year.

And the destructive 8 years that we had in the United States under the Bush administration, and not even the Soviet Union was capable to inflict so much damage to this country like the Bush administration did in such a short time.

Because I understand so well what is happening in the United States is that I gave up on the future of this country.

I know I am aboard of the Titanic here in the US and the ship is sinking slowly, but it is sinking and there is no two way about it.

Those crooks in Wall Street, first they pillaged the US corporations, raided their pension funds, outsourced a lot of the good paying jobs to other lands, filled these corporations with debt (to pay dividends, and management fees to themselves), then they took many investors from around the world for a ride including the investment sovereignty funds of many countries – by selling them garbage that were rated AAA by the 3 major US rating agencies.

Finally those unscrupulous people from Wall Street are empting the last source of loot that they can pillage – the US taxpayer.

They are exchanging 100’s of billions of toxic assets for new money provided by the Federal Reserve and other US government programs.

These crooks also got 100’s of billions of US government guarantees for them to continue their crooked games.

Today Wall Street is breaking the bank of the last source of money that is available around – the US government.

And very few Americans are aware of what is happening in the United States.

And after that massive meltdown and international financial crisis that we had in 2008
The US government asked the people who created that mess to come up with the new answers.

And the answer that they came up was let’s loot the US government of their last dime, and creditworthiness in global financial markets.

And all the crooks and swindlers that cause all that financial mess still are in business in Wall Street and working on their strategy for next victim.


*****


Richard R: The US and Brazil are such absolutely perfect natural partners: both multicultural nations formed from many threads that have flourished on a new continent. But far too many Brazilians desperately want to believe that they are Europeans, and that anti-US sentiment benefits them. It simply doesn't.


*****


Ricardo: What do you want from us?

If you are making these statements then you don’t know any Brazilian history.

Many of us in Brazil are European descendents. Brazil had two French invasions, and a Dutch invasion on its history, plus the fact that Brazil used to be a colony of Portugal.

Brazilian law is based on “Roman Law” and the “Napoleonic Code.”

The first Brazilian Constitution was based on the French Constitution.

The people who developed the foundations and put it into place that created Brazil as a country that we have today – they were educated in Europe and their work reflect the influence of French, English, German, and Roman best minds.

The well-educated elites in Brazil have a European ancestry.

It is not a case of belief – it is a case of a bloodline connection, and many Brazilians are descendants of Europeans.

.

Part 4 of 4


Richard R: Due to proximity, the US will always be a preferred partner for Brazil. And yet so many in Brazil's left-wing try to sabotage this, scratching around in Africa, kissing the asses of the French (who, quite honestly, look at you as subhuman Latino savages), and now thinking that China (of all countries!) is going to be their key to success.


*****


Ricardo: That is not true.

I worked in international trade for many years and in the international division of various US international companies.

I saw business between Brazil and the United States disappear, and most of the Brazilian companies and banks that were around have been gone for the last almost 20 years.

I had many friends that worked for these companies here in the US and most of them went back to Brazil. I give you just one example that tells the entire story.

The outside auditors that did audit our company also did the audit for 22 other Brazilian companies in 1986. And one of their main clients was Petrobras office in New York City. At that time the Petrobras office had over 120 people working in NY City.

By 1990 that same auditing firm had only one Brazilian client left – the Petrobras office in NY City.

Today the Petrobras office in New York City operates with only 4 people.

And I wrote articles years ago explaining why the United States lost all its influence and prestige in South America.

Today Americans are trying to go back to South America and try to recover the influence and prestige that the US lost in that area of the world – and many Americans now are trying to play Anti-American card.

Brazilians are not anti-American they just moved on – and today the US is the country that is crying over spilled milk.

The French are great admirer of Brazilian culture, and today Brazil has a very close relationship with the French government. (We probably even let them win in 1998 as a token of our friendship.)

The China strategy has been working great for many years.

China buys a lot of commodities from Brazil with the money that they earn by selling all kinds of stuff in the United States.

China is just the intermediary – The United States borrows 100’s of billions from China year after year - and Brazil is paying all its international bills with the money that Brazil earns by doing business with China. Besides paying most of the Brazilian government bills Brazil is also accumulating a lot of foreign exchange reserves – that today has reached $ 230 billion dollars level and it is estimated to reach $ 330 billion by the end of 2010.

You said: “now thinking that China (of all countries!) is going to be their key to success.”

As far as I understand it is China that is keeping the United States economy afloat. And China is enslaving the United States with all that debt – in the trillions of dollars and still growing.

If there is a country that China has by its balls it is not Brazil – it is the United States.

And I agree with you – “It's so incredibly sad. So sad.”


*****


Richard R: I so desperately would like to see closer US/Brazil relations and partnerships; in space, in military matters, in business, in the arts. But the Brazilian left has been absolutely brainwashed by their european masters, all to the continent's entire detriment.


*****


Ricardo: When Brazil had that major disaster a few years ago that devastated its space program the United States did not offer any help.

The Russians came to the rescue and offered to help Brazil get back on its feet.

Now Americans are trying to find all kinds of excuses for the problems that they caused such as Brazilians are anti-American, or the Brazilian left is brainwashed and so on…

The United States has always treated South America including Brazil as an irrelevant area in world affairs, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union the United States ignored South America even more.

Many South American countries such as Brazil instead of crying over spilled milk they moved on and they made new friends around the world.

Today the United States sounds like a crying baby with its old anti-American rhetoric.

.

"Those crooks in Wall Street, first they pillaged the US corporations, raided their pension funds, outsourced a lot of the good paying jobs to other lands, filled these corporations with debt (to pay dividends, and management fees to themselves), then they took many investors from around the world for a ride including the investment sovereignty funds of many countries – by selling them garbage that were rated AAA by the 3 major US rating agencies.

Finally those unscrupulous people from Wall Street are empting the last source of loot that they can pillage – the US taxpayer.

They are exchanging 100’s of billions of toxic assets for new money provided by the Federal Reserve and other US government programs.

These crooks also got 100’s of billions of US government guarantees for them to continue their crooked games.

Today Wall Street is breaking the bank of the last source of money that is available around – the US government.

And very few Americans are aware of what is happening in the United States.

And after that massive meltdown and international financial crisis that we had in 2008
The US government asked the people who created that mess to come up with the new answers.

And the answer that they came up was let’s loot the US government of their last dime, and creditworthiness in global financial markets.

And all the crooks and swindlers that cause all that financial mess still are in business in Wall Street and working on their strategy for next victim. "

now that is some on the money analysis , ricardo , but what about your "knock knock whos there?" joke to me about what the brazilian military is really worried about ? i give up, what are they really worried about ?

richard you made some good points about the feeling you have that the usa and brazil have so much in common (as well as the petty anti americanism ricardo doesnt address with any validity).ricardo did make some good answers about financial details and business histories and french afinities, but he failed to tap into rebutting this same feeling i have that you stated about similarities and petty anti americanism. on the street and in music and dance culture, brazil is so much more like the usa than any european country. its more of a feeling than an acutal fact. but its something that has to do with the racial break down and how our musical cultures came from very similar developements of african slaves and how their cultures dominate the popular cultures of the usa and brazil , mixed with the european culture that colonised these countries and the indian culture that was here.....cuba also has a lot of similarities on these ends , as do other caribean countries that brought slaves from africa..this swing, ginga , groove and the way people move and dance doesnt have anything like it anywhere in the world except africa, europe certainly doesnt have it but it copies it...

augustus, the quote you brought in from the article really frames the heck out of the problem. the coke drug industry has devastated brazilian cities. any one living down here can absolutly knows that it is a cancer that is at the heart of the decline into violence of the big brazilian cities .as i have pointed out over and over again the repeated connections between farc and its support with chavez and correa and others, as well as rougue elements in the paraguay army and bolivia etc,these things are much more a devastating affect directly on brazil and its well being than any bases in colombia or the usa fleet in the caribean. surrounded by correa and chavez and morales and lugo and kirshner seems a much more pressing situation than any usa fleet....dont bend over in the shower with neihbors like that

by the way, augustus, i reccomend going over to the restaurant "sobre das ondas" on atlantic ave across from the street fair and have some steamed spinich and good steak and a glass of red wine at about 10:30 at night....you wont regret it...it may kick in some hormones

I'm not quite as critical to Wall Street as you are. I blame the US politicians. The housing bubble, the US deficit and debt, and more have been created by politicians. It's their job to craft policies that keep these things from happening. When businessmen look to funky financial deals, moving their money and manufacturing off shore, etc., it's because of the climate created in the US by lawmakers.

As to your comments about the "feel" of Brazil and the musical roots, I agree! I have a deep connection to Brazilian music and love a lot of "the vibe" of Brazilians. The only part I don't like is that I feel that too many of them have a strange identity crisis, a defining themselves by opposition or antipathy towards the US. It's an annoying compensatory quality that goes too far. An unspoken, "You're a gringo so I know you think you're superior, but let me tell you something, you guys aren't as great as you might think, and you know, you lost vietnam, and you know, Santos Dumont was in the air before the wright brothers, and you know, our nuclear technology..."

It's this weird sort of unprovoked and usually unstated but unmistakable confrontrationalism of strange hostility for what they are afraid you're thinking. Nothing makes you look down on someone quite as much as a pre-emptive, "you have no reason to look down on me!" attitude.

Closer US/Brazil relations would be so good for both countries. Sadly, for reasons I find completely irrational, many Brazilians are afraid of this.

the ignorance of americans about brazil and things they could say about brazil that sound stupid , equal the implied anti americanism that you and i have remarked about...

im not saying this to you since i dont know what you know or dont, but, every american would do themselves a favor by really studying what american polocies went down in south america during the 60's and 70's, and, study what happened before that to also understand the total picture that gets lost by the implied anti americanism...

many americans come off provincial and misinformed when traveling to south america. they have no sensitivity or understanding of why lots of south americans might be anti american or why they might have gotten brain washed to be anti american...

and , i seriously beleive in dirversity of thought in brazil. this implied anti americanism we have felt is real, but,it is not the total picture of how all brazilians think. it is a huge and diversified country . the implied anti americans are like the implied concervative church and values screamers right wing obama hating tea party ragers...they arnt representative of all americans, but, you almost think they are sometimes...

not sure if i agree totaly with your financial analasys but i wont argue about it now....

damn it, augustus, if you like the cold so much, hop a flight down here and have cafe with me and joao. its nothing but cold and rainy, must be a lot like your beloved london right now

It was brought to my attention that either the author and/or some other bloggers here are also currently in Rio de Janeiro... As such would~´t it be interesting, and even agreeable if we were to actually meet during my brief visit to the Brazilian city by the bay... After all, for all one knows he/they could be at the very place recommended by asp, which sounds FAB...

by the way, augustus, i reccomend going over to the restaurant "sobre das ondas" on atlantic ave across from the street fair and have some steamed spinich and good steak and a glass of red wine at about 10:30 at night....you wont regret it...it may kick in some hormones

In the event I am successful in persuading my sister, given some commitments tonight, I shall endeavor venturing towards SOBRE AS ONDAS in Avenida Atlantica some time around 9pm -10:30pm tonight.

furthermore, in a continuous explosion of agreements, I ENDORSE the following statement:

If the US dies, Brazil goes down with it, simple as that. Everyone goes down with it. If you think the death of the US economy could be anything other than a tragedy for Brazil, you're so clueless I don't even know where to begin.

I know.... I truly wish I were in the south.

damn it, augustus, if you like the cold so much, hop a flight down here and have cafe with me and joao. its nothing but cold and rainy, must be a lot like your beloved london right now

hmmm I think the roman meant to say, after his statement about...

If the US dies, Brazil goes down with it, simple as that. Everyone goes down with it. If you think the death of the US economy could be anything other than a tragedy for Brazil, you're so clueless I don't even know where to begin.

... FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS OR SO... BY THEN ALL WILL HINGE UPON CHINA & INDIA... that´s what I supect...

Interesting exchange of comments. Here is my 2 centavos worth.

You know, the amazing thing about Brazil is this: it's really a fascinating country, Brazil has accomplished a lot that all Brazilians can be proud of. Achievements in aerospace, civil engineering, biology, the arts, and so much more.

Those accomplishments were made thanks to our professionals that took the studies seriously, went to U.S., Canada, U.S, England and Germany for further training and brought back good things to be implemented here. Of course, the splendid role played by the ex-pat foreign professionals in the fields listed by the commentator is to be remembered and lauded.

And yet so many in Brazil's left-wing try to sabotage this, scratching around in Africa, kissing the asses of the French (who, quite honestly, look at you as subhuman Latino savages), and now thinking that China (of all countries!) is going to be their key to success.

A few days ago, our friend Ricardo asked me why I don't like the French. I didn't respond, but the commentator partially responded on my behalf!!!

But the Brazilian left has been absolutely brainwashed by their european masters, all to the continent's entire detriment.

Right. With one correction. Better description is "Brasilian psuedo-left trained in Algiers, Sorbonne & Paris and fudged their Resume to assume power". Man, you cant even talk to such pseudo leftist "intellectuals" who know everything from A-Z and without being asked to prove that 2 plus 2 is equal to 4.

BUT....BUT....BUT.... our country is in the capable hands of these so called "leftists" and we are a force to reckon with. Our first conquest was Haiti, the second would be Honduras, then comes China followed by India. I am sure Sarko being our staunch ally, will help us out in our aspirations.

In the event I am successful in persuading my sister, given some commitments tonight, I shall endeavor venturing towards SOBRE AS ONDAS in Avenida Atlantica some time around 9pm -10:30pm tonight.

Make sure you wear your Bowler hat and carry an umbrella so that you will be recognized by our distinguished fellow bloggers in Rio.ASP and I would certainly not like to see you wearing a Stetson hat and be confused with Mr.Geléia.

Cheers

...kissing the asses of the French (who, quite honestly, look at you as subhuman Latino savages)...

Er, aren't the French themselves "Latinos"?

Firstly, in connection with the exchange..

HANS PINTO: Prior to coming to Brazil I really hoped that someday all of the American nations would join together much like the European Union, but after my arrival I realize that this will never happen in my lifetime.

Ricardo: Brazil alone is bigger than the European Union. The United States also is bigger than the European Union.

I hope that does not happen in my lifetime as well.

NATURALLY anything like this elusive UNION would NEVER happen in our life time or that of several generations from now!!! BUT BUT BUT I will undoubtedly happen, in the second half of this millenium, unless of course we either destroy ourselves, or, due to some natural reoccurring cataclysm, civilization is once again destroyed and we are forced to start AGAIN from scratch (as it may have been the case, circa 15-12,000 years ago...

AS FOR THE COMMENT

But far too many Brazilians desperately want to believe that they are Europeans, and that anti-US sentiment benefits them. It simply doesn't.

You are right again, I was one of them, I have always considered myself an European in South America´s former colony... Until emigrating to the United States, and even now, I remain fondly influenced by the United Kingdom, Portugal, and France (in this particular order)!

you got THAT right!!!

Er, aren't the French themselves "Latinos"?

]
They surely ARE latins... as are the Portuguese, Romanians, Spaniards, and naturally the ITALIANS, who spread the race around
In the same way we are LATIN AMERICANS

They surely ARE latins... as are the Portuguese, Romanians, Spaniards, and naturally the ITALIANS, who spread the race around
In the same way we are LATIN AMERICANS

No. The French, Eyetalians and Spaniards are "Super-Latinos" and the "Latin Americanos" are indeed sub human race. Ask some of my "educated" friends that have traveled to these countries. They would tell you stories.

As for the comments of RichardR´s comments (as well as that of Hans Pinto) on the French, I side with them fully. Sarko is an idiot and we want to buy 36 RAFALES from them. Sorry, it is going to be 34, because 2 crashed last week.

How can we be so dumb?

Make sure you wear your Bowler hat and carry an umbrella so that you will be recognized by our distinguished fellow bloggers in Rio.ASP and I would certainly not like to see you wearing a Stetson hat and be confused with Mr.Geléia

All I saw were prostitutes! (I sat out al fresco and had a bite to eat and bear.) What a sleazy joint.

Perhaps we should give physical descriptions next time, or perhaps meet at a more specific spot of the restaurant -- perhaps the entrance.

I asked a guy who was pacing back and forth -- who looked like an English aristocrat -- whether he was Augustus, but he denied this was the case; and denied being João as well. Oh, well.

Unfortunately, as much as I wished to pursue my intended plans for the evening, because the odious vehicle belonging to my sister, confined elsewhere, was unavailable, I felt exceedingly reluctant to venture around Rio by myself; indeed, nowadays I do not feel quite... prepared, Likewise I was unwilling to find myself depending on taxi cabs... Given the stories I heard... I was compelled to bail out of my exciting outing in Rio tonigh (tuesday night)

As such, I must regretfully explain my inability to attend...
Pity, for I would surely have liked the opportunity to have met the famous Brazuca! Who is legendary, in fact. (Yes, Brazuca is correct on his assessment based on my sister~s impression of the place... Filled with Ladies whose abilities once drew the attention of Jack... circa 1885 - yet another issue for my sister´s frail disposition towards meeting such an appointement, given the compromising "locus")

NO! I do NOT look like an English lord, for my family connections with the fair islands are over 300 years old (albeit all personal liaisons have been restricted thereto - LOL). In fact, I suspect Brazuca might have been surprised, had he met me in person... for most people presume my figure, complexion, manners and particularly (surprisingly) my accent) embody what most of my direct ancestors were: IBERIANS.

It is indeed extraordinary that when I speak in our language, nearly everyone in Sao Paulo - belonging to every possible social class - concluded, incorrectly that I were a Portuguese national - - go figure!

Please accept my deepest apologies for the unintended mismatch.

No worries, Augustus!

Famous, huh? Oh, shucks. I thought I was already forgotten about!

Speaking of safety, I find myself loving Rio, amazed at the geniality of the people (a city of millions, yet people interact as if living in a small country town where everybody knows each other), only to have the felicity caused by this wonderful social interaction brought crashing down by news reports of crime occurring very nearby. Now, I take into account that population density is so much denser than anything in Australia, but nevertheless, it's all very close. And robberies always with weapons -- guns, and even grenades! Granted, I haven't seen anything myself in the five months I've been here, but it does bring down the mood. One of my housemates suggested earlier that the recent spate of apartment-building invasions is a message from the drug dealers to the authorities to stop harassing them so much. If so it's a bit of a catch-22 for the authorities -- resolve to do something about drug trafficking, only to have the drug traffickers send snarled warnings to the streets and apartment buildings of Zona Sul.

I discuss the difference between violence here as compared to Melbourne, Australia here, posting as "Peter" in this Australian blog: http://eurasian-sensation.blog...urnes.html

Although I did not have the time to check your link, unless it changed considerably since early 2002, I clearly recall being apprehensive in Melbourne, where I was for nearly 2 months from dec 2001 to jan 2002.
The explanation provided back them was the existence of various hate gangs (some hated racial minorities while others hated ^social´ minorities) chiefly among which were a group of nasty vietnamese youth...
Perhaps Brazuka can clarify...

Hi Augustus,

Australia's not known for having such "hate groups". Token groups may exist, but they historically don't have much influence. They may be some attempts at imitating American gangs like those from South Central of late, like a number of male youths in the recently arrived population of Sudanese refugees are attempting to do, but such gangs are at this stage only fledgling. But I think your friends who informed you in Melbourne were exaggerating, perhaps not on purpose but rather because through lack of international experience they may have not had anything to compare with.

Australians tend to drink heavily, and recently the municipal authorities in the downtown area handed out a plenitude of liquor licenses to bars and nightclubs, swelling the population of such establishments. This, combined with the nihilistic anomie in the Gen X and younger population bequeathed to them by their Sixties-generation parents, has resulted in a phenomenon over the last few years of excessive drunken violence on Friday and Saturday nights in the downtown area that many agree has become out of control.

So I was basically contrasting the violence in Rio and Melbourne. In the former one has to worry about violence in the form of robberies, while in the latter one has to worry about violence in the form of getting bashed, since Australians are far more aggressive than Brazilians, and this becomes a problem once Aussies (at least the young ones today) start drinking, as is their wont.

Give me a bell when you have a more appropriate time to meet up.

21 8413 8164

alhough astounded by the courage of broadcasting a personal phone contact, I´m please that Brazuca took such step, thereby becoming the very first Brazzil.com blogger with whom I had the pleasure to speak directly
cheers, Brazuca

Give me a bell when you have a more appropriate time to meet up.

Thank you so much to ask me to give you a "bell", mate. But unfortunately, both ASP and I live in a city down South and not Rio. Though I have been to Rio several times and found it very friendly, that was years ago. Hope Augustus and you get to meet each other.

BTW, I received a friend from Melbourne in July and he had visited Brazil several times in the past and came back after 12 years. He was impressed with the improvements made in Brasil, but taken aback by the violence and the high cost of living compared to the purchasing power. In fact, I am curious to know about Augustus´s impressions, as he was born in Rio,lives in NYC and is visiting his home town after a few years.

Have a beer in my honor, when you guys meet.

Yeah, it was a pleasure to talk to such an urbane character. Hopefully we'll have a chance to meet up in person before you have to head back. I'll send an email.

Well, João, when next in Rio give me a bell. Though I think Sombra das Ondas is a little too sleazy for my liking.

Brazuca
The pleasure was mine!
I have already responded...
Hopefully there will be an opportunity to meet up this time; yet, I shall probably return in April

i think that area around sobre das ondas and in front of the othon hotel at the beach in the day , are pound for pound , some of the most dynamic space of earth per square foot as anyplace in the world...

my god, the energy is just ferocious and the humanity is a poets or author or any creative person's , dream of a fonte for inspiration to express the human drama....

because it is mostly white men from europe the united states and australia looking for black women, these desperate men bring with them all the phobias and societal taboos with them so that there is a sexual energy in the air that is like a lighting bolt of savage lust and desires all packed into the tropical night with copacabana ocean heaving her breast in deep breathing , as background music...you can feel it penetrating the atmosphere , it cuts through like a sharp knife...

albiet there are a plethora of serious profesionals on the scene, these women are incredible people

some of these women are as gorgous as any top model....

some of these women are well traveled and speak several languages...

some of these women are hard working mothers , supporting kids that the father has deserted....

some of these woman are devatatingly good in bed...

women there have marked me for life...ones that i didnt even profesionaly engage...just getting to know them and feel their siren song pulling you like the sirens singing to ulyses as he lay tied to the mast begging his men to untie him but they all had wax in their ears so that they wouldnt hear his desparate pleas to let him jump over board and swim to these aluring sirens of the secrests of deep pleasures....

Well, João, when next in Rio give me a bell.

Thanks mate. I will certainly do it. Hope you get to meet Augustus in person, before he leaves.

Prostitution involves the use and abuse of women who are by definition messed up and vulnerable. Most such women were sexually abused when young, hence their distorted view of their own self image, how they should use their bodies, and what they should expect from men. That you're happy to take full advantage of such vulnerability in these women is testament to your caddish abdication of the responsibility that ought to be incumbent upon men to gallantly restrain their baser urges for the benefit of the weaker sex.

In case you are feeling homesick:



Cheers

Sorry, mate. I wanted to post a picture. For some unknown reason, my PC is refusing to copy and paste to this field.

i guarentee you, ive talked with and known various women in that area, i guess you didnt take the time to really read what i said,and none of them was sexualy abused...

where i owe you no explanation for my behaviour , i did say that many of these women i know personaly and have talked to , i didnt pay to have sex with them

and i found them to be incredibly interesting and street smart , survival smart , women , the ones i talked to or know personaly ( i know there are other stories for other women)...for sure there are all spectrum of backgrounds that these women come from. the fundamental bottom line they all need money. for sure there must be some women that were abused, or are drug addicts, but, quite a few of the women i was lucky enough to get to know, had kids.the fathers abandoned them and quite frankly, even if i wasnt their trick, i could only be totaly unjudgemental if that is what they had chosen to do...quite a few of these woman i personaly know, danced in escola de sambas , which i consider a high art so my respect for these womem is automatic and unconditional, its like knowing some great bolshoi ballarina...

the huge gap in the rich and poor doesnt leave much choice for a huge number of young people in brazil.its too easy for some young men to choose drug dealing and some women go into prostitution...

i find your description naive and limited. im very liberal about wanting prostitution and certain drugs legal.i think society is hypocritical and dumb for having stupid vice laws. these are concenting adults who have made thier personal choices,who are you to judge or make up what you think the situation is?. dont try to mix child exploitation in with what is happening there.that is another subgect and i agree with cracking down on that. i think most of these women knew exactly what they were doing and were in control.i dont judge them or myself if i ever might have to , for whatever reason , to use their services , and dont hide that i have lived a real and full life and have had plenty of distant past experiance in various countries with using profesional services if i am truly alone or just broke up with a mate...and i dont accept your judgement

For a non-judgmental person you're very judgmental!

Why did you suggest that Augustus go to a place in Rio de Janeiro that is a hang out for black prostitutes?

Do you think Augustus need to get laid in Rio for him to be able to relax and forget his perceived threat that is coming from Venezuela and Ecuador and now from Honduras.

.

Asp: now that is some on the money analysis , ricardo , but what about your "knock knock whos there?" joke to me about what the brazilian military is really worried about ? i give up, what are they really worried about ?


*****


Ricardo: Nothing.

Brazil is just preparing itself to take its place among the elite countries of the new century, and most of these nations have the military power capabilities that reflect theirs economic strength.

Most of the elite countries have an army to defend their countries from foreign invasion and today even very poor countries such as North Korea and Pakistan are armed with nuclear weapons.

I just posted the following to the Elite Trader Economics Forum:

Central Banks and the US dollar
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...enumber=67

Hits: 49,282


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October 2, 2009

SouthAmerica: I was finishing heading my copy of “The Economist” magazine dated September 26, 2009 when I came across an article about the US dollar.

The article is on page 86 “The dollar comes under increasing pressure.”

Quoting from the article: “…It is hard to think of a parallel in history. A country heavily in debt to foreigners, with a government deficit it is making little attempt to control, is creating vast amounts of additional currency. Yet it is allowed to get away with very low interest rates. Eventually such an arrangement must surely break down and a new currency system will come into being, just as Bretton Woods emerged in the 1940’s.”

I am aware of all that, but what really called my attention to this article is that in the middle of the article they have a picture of a hand of someone implying the person is on a bathroom sitting on a toilet and that hand is trying to reach for the toilet paper holder and the toilet roll is made up of US dollar bills.

I mentioned many times on this forum that China in the future (or even right now) could use it's skyrocketing pile of US dollar foreign exchange reserves as wall paper, and then I started using Warren Buffet’s catchy word “Confetti” to refer to the US dollar.

But it seems to me “The Economist” magazine thinks that a better use for the US dollar is to use it as toilet paper to wipe your behind.

I guess, following “The Economist” magazine trend of thought the Chinese government have been creating all these years a supply of toilet paper in China large enough to take care of the bathroom needs of the 1.3 billion population of China for the rest of this century – the only thing that it will be different is that the picture of the toilet paper roll that “The Economist” used on its article was a US$ 1.00 bill, and in China they probably will be able to use the toilet rolls of US$ 100.00 bill.

I see so many articles about people saying that China and Japan are stuck with their stockpile of trillions of US dollars and here “The Economist” magazine come up with a very good suggestion to China and Japan on how to use their trillions of US dollars.

Thanks to “The Economist “ magazine suggestion we have good news for China and Japan – and now China and Japan has 3 alternatives on how to use it’s trillions of US dollars: 1) Wall paper, 2) Confetti, and 3) Toilet paper.

Thanks to "The Economist" magazine for another insightful article about what is under the foundations and supporting the current international monetary system.


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Asp you also would enjoy reading the other thread that somebody else posted on the Elite Trader Economic Forum as follows:

Ron Paul Warns of Violence from Pending US Dollar Crisis
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...did=177984

These are examples of reality checks regarding the United States

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SouthAmerica: I was finishing reading my copy of “The Economist” magazine dated September 26, 2009 when I came across an article about the US dollar.

and take in the atmosphere.....

brazuca, you have to do better than that to address what i was saying...your judgement was pretty harsh and deserved to be rebucked

well, ricardo, you know im a big fan of your standup routine ...i really do "get you" now....

all i can say is this,the things you have said about what is going to happen to the united states and the dollar, very well may happen.but you dont know that for sure...you are speculating...if certain things happened, there could be entirly differant results. ron paul is speculating "if this happens, this and this will happen..." with lots of fantacy scenarios.

he sais the dollar will fall if isreal bombs iran...and there will be a civil war in the usa....sure it could be posible , but,it is only a speculation with a lot of ifs....

china may very well be the big power in the future...but, after noting their 60 year celibration of comunism, you cant help but remember the unbeleivible things that happened under their comunist rule , like 20 million people dying in their back to the campo marxist aproach...like the red book maoists going after professors and anyone who seemed counter to their marxist ideals....sure they could become the big, power, but, they have a lot of baggage to deal with if they do get to that position....they can just order everyone to obey the state now, but, with prosperity, the people are going to start wanting better peices of the capatalist pie game they are playing so well....and then you are going to start seeing differant dynamics enter into their comunist structure that they will surly have to face...they may be the big power in the future....i just dont totaly trust them...

but all i can really tell you,ricardo,is,well, lets just see what happens

Asp: richard you made some good points about the feeling you have that the usa and brazil have so much in common (as well as the petty anti americanism ricardo doesnt address with any validity)


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Ricardo: Asp, I understand why you and most Americans are in denial the British still think to this day that they still are a major world power. It is very hard to let go of the past.

You might think that many of the facts that I highlighted on my article is not valid, but reality back up the facts on my article and as another real example in the beginning of 2009 China has become the most important trading partner of Brazil.

I know you guys need a excuse for your decline in influence and prestige in South America including in Brazil and accusing Brazilians and South Americans of being anti-American the old rhetoric it is just part of your excuse. It makes you feel better about your decline and failure in that part of the world.

That is the same feeling that Russia must have today about the satellite countries that were under the circle of influence of the old Soviet Union and today many of these countries got their independence back and are masters of their own future.

Try to read the following article that you have a better understanding of the dynamics that are at work. But after reading this article if you want to continue in denial – that is fine also since most Americans are in denial about their declining influence around the world.


Brazzil magazine – June 2, 2005
“While China Rises the US Falls in Brazil and Latin America”
http://www.brazzil.com/2005-mainmenu-79/152-june-2005/9296.html

Here is a quote from that article:

“To further illustrate the United States loss of clout and influence in South America, we just have to look at the results of the latest election of the head of the OAS.

One of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's goals in her trip to Brazil in late April 2005 was to convince President Lula to change his mind and have Brazil vote for the US candidate that would head the Organization of American States (OAS) for the next 5 years.

One week later, the candidate that Brazil was supporting all along, in opposition to the United States, Mr. Insulza from Chile was the winner. It was the first time in the organizations 60-year history that the candidate supported by Washington did not win.

This particular election sends a clear signal to the world of how fast the United States is losing its influence in South America. At the same time that the US is losing its influence, China is quickly replacing the United States influence in the Area.”


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Richard D: I'm not quite as critical to Wall Street as you are. I blame the US politicians. The housing bubble, the US deficit and debt, and more have been created by politicians. It's their job to craft policies that keep these things from happening. When businessmen look to funky financial deals, moving their money and manufacturing off shore, etc., it's because of the climate created in the US by lawmakers.


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Ricardo: The average American is powerless today, and the American politicians in the United States work strictly for the business lobbies – they are the ones with the deep pockets that control their puppets in the US Congress.

Today there is a handful of politicians in the US Congress that are worth the food that they eat – the rest are a bunch of bums.


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Richard D: The only part I don't like is that I feel that too many of them have a strange identity crisis, a defining themselves by opposition or antipathy towards the US. It's an annoying compensatory quality that goes too far. An unspoken, "You're a gringo so I know you think you're superior, but let me tell you something, you guys aren't as great as you might think, and you know, you lost vietnam, and you know, Santos Dumont was in the air before the wright brothers, and you know, our nuclear technology..."


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Ricardo: That is just pop culture recording what is happening today in Brazil and in this case they are recording what it is obvious to everybody else around the world the fast decline of the United States, and that is no different than what is going on right here in the United States. They show very often on the news the lyrics of many rap music because some people think the American rappers use inappropriate language to describe what is happening to American society.

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Richard D: It's this weird sort of unprovoked and usually unstated but unmistakable confrontrationalism of strange hostility for what they are afraid you're thinking. Nothing makes you look down on someone quite as much as a pre-emptive, "you have no reason to look down on me!" attitude.


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Ricardo: The country that is declining in economic and in prestige feels that that country is constant under attack, and everything gives them a sense of hostility because people are not responding to them the way they used to.

When the authority and power that your country used to have is disintegrating and the other countries don’t respond and give you anymore the respect that they used to have towards you – I understand why you are translating all that into feelings of anti- Americanism and so on…

In time you will get over your feelings of frustration and hopeliness, and hopefully you will be able to adapt to the reality of the new world order of the new century.


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Richard D: Closer US/Brazil relations would be so good for both countries. Sadly, for reasons I find completely irrational, many Brazilians are afraid of this.


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Ricardo: It is possible that Brazilians are a lot smarter than you give credit for.

Just as a concrete example from recent history comes to mind: Brazilians look at the close relationship that Argentina had with the United States during the 1990’s. Argentina became the poster child of a country following Washington’s suggestions and wishes about everything.

What was the result of that close relationship?

Argentina ended broke, bankrupt, discredited in international markets, devastated in every sense, and their economy in chaos.

In a nutshell: It was a complete catastrophe for Argentina and the Argentinean people.

After Argentina’s economic collapse the United States abandoned and distanced itself as fast as they could from “Argentina” their supposed former friend.

That reminds me once again of what Charles de Gaulle said: that countries have only self-interest and not friends.


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Asp: im not saying this to you since i dont know what you know or dont, but, every american would do themselves a favor by really studying what american polocies went down in south america during the 60's and 70's, and, study what happened before that to also understand the total picture that gets lost by the implied anti americanism...


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Ricardo: Now we are getting somewhere.

It is a combination of many things including the fast economic decline of an imperialistic country such as the United States.


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Asp: many americans come off provincial and misinformed when traveling to south america. they have no sensitivity or understanding of why lots of south americans might be anti american or why they might have gotten brain washed to be anti american...


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Ricardo: This is the defensive language used by a declining former superpower.

I guess a lot of countries from around the world also have been brain washed as you said regarding the United States – including France and so on….


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Joao da Silva: BUT....BUT....BUT.... our country is in the capable hands of these so called "leftists" and we are a force to reckon with. Our first conquest was Haiti, the second would be Honduras, then comes China followed by India. I am sure Sarko being our staunch ally, will help us out in our aspirations.


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Ricardo: I don’t want Brazil to conquer any other country. I just want Brazil to concentrate on its own economic and social development.

Maybe we should get back only Uruguay since that country used to belong to Brazil.

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my man, r amoral, setting up the punch lines like the pro he is....

i have no problem looking at american decline and accepting it...but, you portray it as its going to be a gigantic colapse...i even say maybe it could be...but i also say i dont really know and i am willing to wait to find out what is really going to happen before i sound the death knoll...

anti americanism ? look, my son went to school here in brazil and brought home the most ridiculas anti american stories told to him by his professors, that many were actualy proven to be untrue , stated blatently so in the jornal do brasil, yet , various professors still kept hitting the tecla about it over and over ...

there were local politions running on anti american propoganda just to get elected to local positions...

hey wait, arnt you the guy that said there wasnt any comunist influence in brazil....blahahahhahahah god i just saw last night on the tv political national propaganda moment...BLAM...the hammer and cycle ...of .... you guessed it....the COMUNIST PARTY.... all red and with the most ridiculas soviet union work song in the back ground...and guess what...the narrator sounded like a combination of you and loyld cata, the same points blah blah blu blu.....you old comedian hoss you....you are hilarious... i get you now... you put out the most ridiculas stuff for big laughs, because your statement about red marxist comunism having nothing to do with brazil now are blatently and hilariously false and funny, you old clown you...always good for a barril of laughs...hahahahahahahah man the comunist music was the worst peice of s**t ever...followed on the news reports about the celibration 60 years of comunism in china....yeah, lets all celibrate...your future .....

I have been gone for a while due some training exercises with the Brazilians but I wanted to respond very much to your question whether I have been faced with anti-American sentiment. Truthfully, I can say that among my Brazilian counterparts, all has been very good. In fact there is sincere respect from my fellow officers and most seem very appreciative with what I have shared with them. There are of course a few young captain's who like to display a little bravado and have been critical with U.S. foreign policy. But at the end of the day we are all soldiers and we share a common ideal and there is a great deal of comradeship among all (including the officers from other countries conducting training in Brazil). I count among my friends many officers from Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Where I live there tends to be a little more antagonism. Ironically, I here a lot crap from the richer, well-to-do's in the Zona Sul. The poor don't even seem to know what is going on and among the young soldiers that live in Deodoro, there has not been any change in there lifestyle to reflect Brazil's growing prosperity. There seems a great deal of pessimism that there will be much change at all for the poor, or at least that's what I percieve. Ironically though, I feel more welcome among the poorer communities.

So, to answer your question, very little anti-Americanism except those who follow what's fashionable for the times. Lot of commercials on tv from the Communist and Socialist parties who love to bash the U.S. to further their own agendas but little else. Truthfully though, I think it is time for me to return with to the line, along with my former soldiers and contribute more to the war in Afghanistan.

Brazil is great place but I cannot rejoice over all the great things here while many young soldiers continue to die. Unlike Ricardo, who eats, sleeps, and undoubtedly educated his children, reaping all the benefits of a country like the U.S., I feel I must at least attempt to make right that which is wrong.

Funny, I traveled to Florida twice to vote for Gore and Kerry and argued against involvement in Iraq openly as an officer and still I find myself attacked by conservatives and liberals alike. I suspect that Ricardo is one of those individuals, as are the great many, who will criticize the U.S. and rejoice when a soldier dies but lives the life of a hypocrite by neither contributing to a better society (or a better Brazil) and getting fat off the system he is so critical of. I have more respect for the peasant insurgent who takes action and gives his life for a cause, no matter how distorted it may be. At least, though he has taken action.

I have shared your blogs with many of the officers at EsAO. All of them have stated the same thing, your a foolish and angry little man. One of the officers even stated that he was glad that you live in the U.S. and added that ignorance like yours is what causes some much alienation of immigrants in the U.S.

Thanks Hans, for addressing your comments to me, though the question about Anti-Americanism you might be experiencing in Rio was asked by our distinguished fellow blogger ASP. Though he is an American, he has a Brasilian family, loves Brasil and still at times he seems to detect this sentiment among the Brasilians. I was also curious to know your answer, since many of my non-Brasilian friends have complained about it, during the past decade.I was surprised, because the Brasilians are traditionally known for their hospitality and tolerance. ASP probably wanted to know the opinion of your Military colleagues in EsAO and so did I.Here are my comments to some of your statements:

Truthfully, I can say that among my Brazilian counterparts, all has been very good. In fact there is sincere respect from my fellow officers and most seem very appreciative with what I have shared with them. There are of course a few young captain's who like to display a little bravado and have been critical with U.S. foreign policy.

I am glad to hear that you get sincere respect from your peers, regardless of your nationality. As for the young Captains´s bravado and critical of the U.S. foreign policy, they are exercising their rights and probably they are critical of the Brasilian government´s foreign policy too!!! As you may have discovered by now, our officers are not dumb.

So, to answer your question, very little anti-Americanism except those who follow what's fashionable for the times. Lot of commercials on tv from the Communist and Socialist parties who love to bash the U.S. to further their own agendas but little else.

We have a big problem with respect to these "pseudo-commies". They all ran away to Algeria, France, North Korea, etc; in the 60´s and early 70´s. The well to do pseudo leftists claim that they all went to study or teach in Sorbonne. When our late ex-President Figueiredo opened up the country to welcome these jerks, they all came rushing back to assume and abuse power. Probably, one of your students will tell you stories about them.

Truthfully though, I think it is time for me to return with to the line, along with my former soldiers and contribute more to the war in Afghanistan.

Your objective is laudable, but...but...., what are you going to contribute to the war in Afghanistan? Probably to the benefit of the Royal Saudi Family and their minion OBL. Not to forget your beloved ex-President GWB & Co. So you better think twice before venturing into the inhospitable Tora Bora mountains in "Hot Pursuit" of OBL.

Funny, I traveled to Florida twice to vote for Gore and Kerry and argued against involvement in Iraq openly as an officer and still I find myself attacked by conservatives and liberals alike.

It always happens to people like us who are logical, questioning, problem solving and want good for the society that raised us. We get attacked by these conservatives, liberals and commies alike.

I have more respect for the peasant insurgent who takes action and gives his life for a cause, no matter how distorted it may be.

This is something a friend of mine (USAF) who did two tours in Vietnam told me. The peasant in Vietnam didn't know (nor wanted to know) whether the guys destroying his paddy field were communists, Americans, French, etc; He wanted to ward them off from destroying his harvest, by any means. As our friend Forrest Allen Brown keeps on saying, the wars are waged by men "who are too afraid not to fight". Forrest also went to Vietnam, in case you didn't know.

Take care and have a great week end.

americans are all greedy pigs, who should just stick to their own countries affairs, and the world could finally be at peace.. USA economy is also now f**ked, so move over usa, China and asia are now TOP priority in world business.Noone gives af**k about usa ------no more...hahaha

As a Brazilian citizen, I´m ashamed of the pointless anti-americanism, mostly based on biased disinformation and utter ignorance... After spending hours listenting to the pointless views of my sister, I was very discouranged, but AT LEAST she does not live in the United States, and is NOT therefore a HYPOCRITE filled with ingratitude, hence not attacking a country that benefits her like some other notorious anti-americans... At least I could find the voice of reason in some fellow members of the Brazilian elite... Those who truly KNOW what is REALLY at stake, and understand the UNDERLYING THREAT to civilized societies in the entire West, of which the USA has been the utmost protector for the past seven decades...
AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, I´m exceedingly PROUD of brave men such as Hans, whose valor and courage, is not only aware of his duties and obligations, but is also willing to join his fellow VALIANT soldiers, who daily give up their lives in defense of LIBERTY FOR ALL OF US in the WESTERN WORLD...
HANS, PLEASE ACCEPT MY SINCERE BEST WISHES FOR YOUR FUTURE CAMPAIGNS, MY APOLOGIES FOR THE ABSOLUTE IGNORANCE OF SOME FELLOW BRAZILIANS, ALONG WITH MY TOTAL GRATITUDE AND IMMENSE RESPECT (not only as a proud American Citizen, but also as member of the Western World) FOR YOUR COURAGE, HONOR AND VALOR

In my penultimate day in South America (during one of my last visits to this site prior to my flight back to New York city (on Sunday night), I must unfortunately disagree with my esteemed friend JOAO

Your objective is laudable, but...but...., what are you going to contribute to the war in Afghanistan? Probably to the benefit of the Royal Saudi Family and their minion OBL. Not to forget your beloved ex-President GWB & Co. So you better think twice before venturing into the inhospitable Tora Bora mountains in "Hot Pursuit" of OBL.

As much as I may concur with the sad fact that the current sacrifices made by valiant American soldiers benefit the appauling Saudi Royal family, one cannot POSSIBLY forget two crucial points;
1. As objectionable as that currupt Saudi family may be, they will
remain as a bastion of stability in the region, and relatively
reliable ally of the Western World in that HORRIFIC region of our
planet, along with the SOLE authority preventing that crucial area
from turning OUTRIGHT anti-Western and full supporter of horrid
fundamentalist terrorist (in spite of the undoubteful support they
may obtain from some ´closet´ members of the group.
2. Despite any benefit provided to local tyrants, this venture is the
CURRENT ULTIMATE battle zone of the CIVILIZED Western world versus
the MONSTROUS ANIMALS who hate ALL OF US. Too bad the USA & all
European Allies INSIST upon applying various conventions of civil
combat agains implacable foes WHO laughingly ignore these very
principles against the Allied forces... As mentioned many times,
I will REPEAT once again, the most POLICALLY incorrect of all my
views: THE ONLY GOOD ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST, IS A DEAD ISLAMIC
FUNDAMENTALIST! (Following the necessary COERCIVE PROCEDURES, of
course - in order to obatain crucial information prior to their
execution. Which is PRECISELY what I would have done WITHOUT a
HINT or brif moment of hesitation, IF I WERE TO HAVE MY WAY.

In my penultimate day in South America (during one of my last visits to this site prior to my flight back to New York city (on Sunday night), I must unfortunately disagree with my esteemed friend JOAO

No problem. You don't have to agree with me all the time ! But read what Hans Pinto has written:

Funny, I traveled to Florida twice to vote for Gore and Kerry and argued against involvement in Iraq openly as an officer and still I find myself attacked by conservatives and liberals alike.

Why was he as an active officer in the U.S. army argued against involvement in Iraq openly? He had his reasons that he is yet to state. I have my own reasons for talking about the "Afghan Campaign". It is easy to write off Lloyd Cata, but not so easy to write me off.

btw, 99% of the Brasilians does not know where Afghanistan is or who these "Talibans" are.Probably they will come to know if Rede Globo makes a documentary putting the fear of "Taliban" taking over RJ,SP and RG,unless we send our officers in EsAO to Tora Bora mountains to get OBL and Mullah Omar dead or alive. No, thanks. A vast majority of our citizens do not want to get involved in this fight (or to protect Zelaya nor support Col.Chavez´s buffoonery).

You have a good time with your family and friends before you catch the flight tomorrow evening. A safe and pleasant flight. Hopefully when you get back to NYC,you will come out with another article.

Cheers

the talaban are scum , look what they do , with sucide and detonated bombs , to their own muslim people in pakistan. my hat is off to the brave men and women puting their life and well being on the line to stand up to these religous fanatacs who are trying to take the world hostage...

my respects and good luck , hans pinto

yeah , augustus, next time you can come down in our cold weather and have cafe with me and joao.....or a steak and steamed spinich with a glass of wine with me at sobre das ondas..

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Asp: i have no problem looking at american decline and accepting it...but, you portray it as its going to be a gigantic colapse...i even say maybe it could be...but i also say i dont really know and i am willing to wait to find out what is really going to happen before i sound the death knoll...


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Ricardo: It is part of American arrogance to think that they know more than they actually do.

I remember a decade ago some American economist saying that the American system got so precise that they had dominated the business cycles. Basically he was saying that Americans were able to eliminate deep recessions, and great depressions from its economic cycle.

I thought that the man was an idiot, but a lot of people bought his garbage.

I have been writing about for a few years about how we are entering a new great depression and the evidence is all around us. But there are a lot of people who still does not believe it. I gave all the reasons in more than one article and you can bet we are sinking into that economic depression that I have been predicting.

Even though we have had the largest global government interventions in world history in the last 2 years to the tune of trillions of US dollars.

But the Titanic is sinking here in the USA faster than most people realizes.

This past Friday the US government released the latest employment figures, and it was the main subject to be discussed in detail in most TV business shows. One economist on Bloomberg TV said that since December 2007 the US economy had lost over 7 million jobs. He also said that hours worked had gone down to 33 hour per week, and the US government had just realized that there were another 800,000 that were lost in the US economy that they had not previously accounted for.

The official decline of jobs for the month of September were 263,000 jobs that brought the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, but the government report said that another 550,000 people were added to the discourage workers number. (The category called discourage worker is where the US government hide a big chunk of the unemployed people, otherwise the official unemployment figure for the US economy it would be around 19 percent.)

The official unemployment rate will reach 10 percent by December 2009, and it will continue to go up in 2010. There is a massive amount of homes that are in the process of foreclosure right now, and with millions of Americans to be added to that list in 2010 resulting in a declining property values around the United States.

The bad news keeps feeding on itself and continues spinning out of control. Most of the foreclosed property can’t be refinanced even at a zero rate of interest because most of these properties their mortgages are under water.


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Asp: hey wait, arnt you the guy that said there wasnt any comunist influence in brazil....blahahahhahahah god i just saw last night on the tv political national propaganda moment...BLAM...the hammer and cycle ...of .... you guessed it....the COMUNIST PARTY.... all red and with the most ridiculas soviet union work song in the back ground...and guess what...the narrator sounded like a combination of you and loyld cata, the same points blah blah blu blu


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Ricardo: I don’t remember ever saying that.

But what I have said many times is that for all practical purposes communism has died many years ago with the Soviet Union.

But there are some fools that still around such as Fidel Castro, the fellow from North Korea, and some other immaterial left over of a time long gone.

By the way, last Wednesday CNN news had a feature about 3 rd party political parties here in the United States and how they are gaining ground. They showed this fellow that is running as a communist party candidate, and he made the news because looks like that he is going to win his race in November 2009 – and he is being supported by unions and also by ordinary middle-class people.

Talking about commemorating the 60 years of the communist revolution in China – that commemoration also took place in New York City and last Thursday the “Empire State Building” used a show of colors at the top of that building (the lights on this case were of the colors of the Chinese flag)

Lou Dobbs on CNN went crazy on his TV show because the “Empire State Building” was commemorating the Chinese communist revolution.

I guess this is the price that you have to pay when that communist country is the source of money that keeps your economy afloat and from having a massive economic and financial meltdown.

In a way the “Empire State Building” commemoration represents: that is a form of Americans to show respect and bowing before the new master.

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Hans Pinto: But at the end of the day we are all soldiers and we share a common ideal and there is a great deal of comradeship among all (including the officers from other countries conducting training in Brazil). I count among my friends many officers from Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.


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Ricardo: What all that training is about? - On techniques on how to torture people?


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Hans Pinto: So, to answer your question, very little anti-Americanism except those who follow what's fashionable for the times.


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Ricardo: Like the victims of torture and rendition.


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Hans pinto: I have more respect for the peasant insurgent who takes action and gives his life for a cause, no matter how distorted it may be. At least, though he has taken action.


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Ricardo: You think that way because you are in the killing business – torture and killing.

You have been trained to follow orders and not to do much thinking on your own.

I don’t know what kind of training are you doing in Brazil?

It is possible that you are part of the marketing department of the US armament industry – the killing industry.

You must love the Farc, and other revolutionaries in South America – they keep you in business and an important portion of what still is left of the US economy.

Now that Brazil bought a lot of armament from France, I hope you are fluent in French to be able to read the manuals and help in the training of the new Brazilian army.

In the age of the internet and of knowledge the well-educated people can fight back the system like never before with the power of the pen.

I don’t whine about things - I have the power of the pen – And I fight back by exposing all the weak points of our system – I know where all the cracks are on our “economic dam” – and the wall is full of cracks – believe me.

I don’t know if you ever heard this saying since that would not be part of your training:

“The power of the pen is mightier than the sword.”

You are fighting with your sword a futile battle to keep the world of yesterday alive.

With my pen I am fighting a more realistic battle to develop the foundations for the world of tomorrow.

And I am not a slave as you are to the ideologies of a world long gone – the world of yesterday.


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Hans Pinto: I have shared your blogs with many of the officers at EsAO. All of them have stated the same thing, your a foolish and angry little man. One of the officers even stated that he was glad that you live in the U.S. and added that ignorance like yours is what causes some much alienation of immigrants in the U.S.


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Ricardo: I am not surprised of that outcome, since you presented the information that you wanted and gave your own spin.

But I can guarantee that if I was present and if I had the opportunity to show all of my articles and explain my point of view they would side with me and not with you – because I am a leader. I do the original thinking and come up with new strategies and options.

On the other hand you have been trained to think in a certain way, and just follow orders. You are just a follower and an order taker.


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Joao da Silva: It always happens to people like us who are logical, questioning, problem solving and want good for the society that raised us. We get attacked by these conservatives, liberals and commies alike.


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Ricardo: I am also attacked all the time by all these groups, since I don’t belong to any of them – I am an independent thinker trying to come up with solutions for the world of tomorrow.

And I don’t expect or want anyone to agree with me more than 60 percent of the time about anything.

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Hans Pinto:...except those who follow what's fashionable for the times.


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Ricardo: I hope you realized that torture, water-boarding, and rentidion are not fashionable anymore - and president Barack Obama made illegal for you guys in the field to use these techniques of the trade.

I hope you are aware of these important changes in American policies.

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Augustus: … After spending hours listening to the pointless views of my sister, I was very discouraged,…


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Ricardo: I wonder what the Pompous ass told his sister during his stay on her house, he probably drove her crazy about how she should be afraid of Chavez and company…

Augustus said: “AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, I´m exceedingly PROUD…”

I can just imagine what his sister was thinking: “ As a Brazilian, I am glad my brother returned to his country.”

Besides being a pompous ass he is also a puxa-saco.


.

Torture has never been legal among American soldiers and those who may have done it did so as rogue elements within the military and because their absentee leadership failed them as well as the American people. If you are so concerned about the conditions of prisoners perhaps you should join an NGO that supervises conditions in around combat zones. Of course this would require you to leave the comfort of your home as opposed to spreading misinformation and ignorance, which, by the way, you do exceedingly well.

Thank you very much for your remarks. I will definitely share them with those men currently in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, many of them my former soldiers of the proud 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division(Mechanized). Again, THANK YOU.

FACTR:

The 4th fleet was stood back up in order to get more US resources applied to the southern hemisphere. The US has been focused on the Middle East for the last decade, and the previous US Southcom commander, Admiral Stavridis (4-star), understood there would be an increased focus on the southern hemisphere, once Iraq and Afghanistan were in the resolution phases.

By changing the name of US Navy Southern Command to "fourth fleet" he increased the minimum rank of the man in charge from a 1-star to a 2-star. Everyone knows, in a competing economy for resourced, a 2 star can get more than a 1-star. Thus the previous US Southern Command 4-star increased his weight in the southern cone for resources, simply by changing the name of the navy command assigned to him.

The 4th fleet does not have any assets assigned to it. It does not have any ships or marines or anything. It is an administrative construct. When ships enter the southern hemisphere, they become under the guide of 4th fleet. So 4th fleet only owns the ships that are here during exercises or safe passage.

It is undoubtedly regrettable, not to mention embarrassing, for witnessing the existence of individuals who have long resided in a foreign country who are incapable of exhibiting even the lowest level of respect towards his/her hosts… To mention ingratitude, disrespect and completely indecorous attitude is a significant understatement, given the incessant bouts of endless venom… NADA MENOS QUE CUSPIR NO PRATO ONDE SE COME.

Consequently some of us, sharing the same national origin and country of residence, feel compelled not only to explain fellow Americans that such unfortunate character FLAW and dubious integrity are not a representative of most Brazilians in the United States, but rather confined to some privileged persons, even if decedents of Historical dynasties, those unfortunate few who lack the necessary honor to comprehend acceptable rules of conduct, expected of a gracious guest…

Ricardo: You think that way because you are in the killing business – torture and killing.

You have been trained to follow orders and not to do much thinking on your own.

I don’t know what kind of training are you doing in Brazil?

These comments show that an ignoramus with a pen can be as potentially dangerous as an ignoramus with a nuclear weapon. By spreading biased conjecture with no real substance you spread ignorance and nothing more. My training in the Army excels anything I received as a civilian. I have learned about responsibility and leadership not only to my soldiers but to the well being of the world in general. Your education clearly shows that the American education system has some real flaws

In Iraq I dealt with several self absorbed and hypocritical insurgents who practiced misinformation much like yourself. They would publish information of how American troops would kill Iraqi civilians when it was in fact the actions that lead to their death. I would see newspapers and news footage on Al Jazeera claiming that 9/11 was an American and Jewish conspiracy and that no Muslims were involved. I have seen this crap first hand but I never thought I would see it back here.

Ricardo, in summary, your self-aggrandizing crap is just that, crap. I hope you are better at managing the Piggly Wiggly, or whatever you do, than you are in reporting any facts.

I have read your articles and quite frankly, outside of being full of none truths, they are poorly written.

Mr. Pinto has cleverly expressed my views in the clearest possible fashion, as follows:

These comments show that an ignoramus with a pen can be as potentially dangerous as an ignoramus with a nuclear weapon. By spreading biased conjecture with no real substance you spread ignorance and nothing more.

Finally, I take the liberty to thank you, as a Brazilian citizen, for efforts spent providing whichever type of training you may have provided to Brazilian men in uniform.

the short punch lines get the belly laughs, better leave the andy kaufman type humor out of the act...

you know , the "im a leader, not a follower" bit....it throws people off for a second but 10 minutes later, BAM...its funniar than hell...you know what i mean? yeah, im a leader too, blaaaaahhhhhh...im a genius...i told people that the dollar going down 7 years ago was a sign of decline...im a f**king genius....

i dont know about your pen either...its great for writing comedy material, but, really, hans pinto's pen has been making tons more sence

and , ricardo, im your freind, i have to tell you, you cant say the usa is bowing down to its master china when you have been the biggest ball licker of china ive seen...looks bad , bro, just trying to help you out...just a tip from your old buddy here...

I am in direct contact with other members who post their opinions, or just read Brazzil magazine on a regular basis, and some of them asked me what was my opinion about some of the members who participate on the discussions on a regular basis. In particular they made reference to 2 members of this forum – Augustus and Joao da Silva.

It thought it was interesting the conclusion of these various members, since they came up with the same conclusion:

1) Augustus – they thought he is a pompous ass. And that is not a term that I use, these guys came up with that evaluation. And now it is obvious that he is also an ass kisser.

2) Joao da Silva – this group thinks that he is a diplomat. And I agree with that evaluation.

Some day when I have the chance to visit Brazil I would love the chance to meet Joao da Silva in person and have a glass of wine.

Even though Augustus lives here in the area that I live in the US, I don’t think I would go out of my way to meet an a*****e.

I don’t think Augustus is much of a Brazilian anymore in any sense, and I noticed that on the discussions on Brazzil magazine very often he defends the American side.

Regarding Brazil Augustus is a Judas.


*****


Augustus: those unfortunate few who lack the necessary honor to comprehend acceptable rules of conduct


*****


Ricardo: Like being a puxa-saco and an ass kisser – on top of being a pompous ass.

.

I will definitely share them with those men currently in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, many of them my former soldiers of the proud 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division(Mechanized).

Hermano, you stay where you are. However, you are authorized to bring your "former" soldiers to Leblon, where their services might be needed more urgently, than in Kandahar!!!!!!

As for Ricardo calling Augustus, a "Pompous Ass", it is not true. Lord Augustus likes to write in "Queen´s" English" and unfortunately he is misread and mistaken!!!!! Also this can be attributed to the tradional rivalry between the "Cariocas" and "Paulistanos". I would rather exercise my "neutrality" and I suggest you do too.

As for your comments addressed to Ricardo:

I have read your articles and quite frankly, outside of being full of none truths, they are poorly written.

Not really. Ricardo has written an article as how to develop Brasil economically, with the Chinese money. I agreed with his plan, but protested against bringing the Chinese into picture. He is good in strategy, but he has to better his tactics. He has also good points about our not interfering in the "domestic affairs" of Haiti,Honduras, Afghanistan, etc;

Both Augustus and Ricardo are great writers and thinkers and it is a pity they live in the U.S. and not in Brasil where they could contribute more to their country of birth. But...But.....

As for the comment on your "Afghan Campaign", I still think that your "rear end" is blocked. Even your Gen. McChrystal is in agreement with me on this issue.

This is my last entry in this thread and good luck to ya all.

For those who don't quite yet appreciate the depths of the financial crisis, a good long article explaining it and the best options to counter it, with reference to Iceland's predicament:

http://actindependent.org/ICELAND.pdf

Hans Pinto: By spreading biased conjecture with no real substance you spread ignorance and nothing more.


*****


Ricardo: You are right you are not in the killing business. Tell that Fairy Tale to the people in Vietnam, in Somalia, in Panama, in Grenada, in Serbia, in Iraq (2 wars), in Colombia, in Chile, and in Afghanistan. And the indirect killings done by the Israeli army using American weapons.

The United States is in a constant state of war always bombing someone around the world.

How many million people have been killed in all these conflicts?

How many thousands of innocent people who got killed on all these conflicts were considered just collateral damage.

You are so out of touch that you think that I am an ignoramus with a pen – and the rest of the world are just a bunch of fools.

Maybe you are not aware of but television channels such as CNN and the BBC have daily reports showing the mess in Iraq, Afghanistan and so forth.


*****


Hans Pinto: In Iraq I dealt with several self absorbed and hypocritical insurgents who practiced misinformation much like yourself.


*****


Ricardo: self absorbed and hypocritical insurgents on your opinion of someone who is occupying someone else’s country to try to pillage their natural resources – in this case oil.

I understand how the insurgent feels, because if any other country would attack the area where I live here in the US, I would fight against the invaders until they got thrown out or until I am dead.

On the other hand, I am not going to support the US on their silly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - Wars that are being fought on behalf of the large US oil companies.


*****


Hans Pinto: Ricardo, in summary, your self-aggrandizing crap is just that, crap. I hope you are better at managing the Piggly Wiggly, or whatever you do, than you are in reporting any facts.


*****


Ricardo: Here is some more crap for you.

Here we are 8 years later after 9/11 and the person responsible for that destructive act in US soil has not been caught.

That destructive act killed thousands of people right here in our area – on my mother’s church alone they lost 24 members of that church who worked in the World Trade Towers. I know a half dozen people who lost loved ones on 9/11 and I can see the impact that still happening to their families as a direct result of 9/11.

I am not going to kiss your ass like Augustus. I am going to tell you the truth – since 9/11 you guys have been doing an incompetent job in Afghanistan and to this day you have not caught Osama Bin Ladden.

And that it is not a conspiracy, misinformation or crap as you put it.

It is pure INCOMPETENCE.

I want you to prove me wrong.

Show to the world that you guys are competent and capable to catch Osama Bin Ladden.

Until then stop telling me how good you guys are. How efficient you are. And how you are winning all these battles.

You are not winning and you are a big fool if you think that you are winning – and the facts speak for themselves.

And the ironic thing is that the whole world knows where Osama Bin Ladden is staying.

He is in Pakistan.


*****


Hans Pinto: I have read your articles and quite frankly, outside of being full of none truths, they are poorly written.


*****


Ricardo: Your statement is laughable to me since I have received a lot of compliments about my articles from editors of various magazines and newspapers. And many of these people I respect their opinion because they are very smart people and they know what they are talking about.

English is a second language for me, and my writing skills on your language – English – probably is among the top 10 percent of the American population – that means that 90 percent of Americans (their native language) can’t write in English better than I can.

I doubt that you have the same writing skills level in Portuguese that I have on your language (in English) – and until you reach that level this is a subject that you should avoid talking about.

.

.
Ricardo: Quoting from The New York Times article: “One man who has suggested that more American troops are not the answer is Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who was a K.G.B. agent in Kabul during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Last October Mr. Kabulov told my colleague John Burns that the U.S. had “already repeated all of our mistakes,” and moved on to “making mistakes of their own, ones for which we do not own the copyright.”


Note: In case you don’t know: John Burns is a well-known reporter of The New York Times.

Since Hans Pinto is not aware of what is going on in the war of the US against the Afghanistan – here is a reality check for you.

In summary: These people kicked the ass of the last 2 major superpowers: First, the British - then the Soviets – and now they are going to….

And history repeats itself once again.


*****


Part 1 of 2


How Many Troops to Secure Afghanistan?
By Robert Mackey
The New York Times
September 21, 2009

Now that word has leaked out that Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American military commander in Afghanistan, has concluded that he will need more than 68,000 American troops to defeat the Taliban, the natural question is: how many foreign troops does it take to secure Afghanistan?

The fast answer is that no one really knows, since, as even late-night comics have noticed recently, armies have been failing to do it for centuries.

On Saturday the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar, weighed in with an op-ed of sorts posted on a Taliban Web site — helpfully made available in English, as well as Pashto, Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, Finnish, German, Spanish, Russian, French, Somali and Malay/Indonesian — noting that history has not been kind to foreign forces seeking to control Afghanistan, “from the time of the aggression of Alexander.”

Mullah Omar invoked a somewhat more recent example as well, pointing out that the Afghans “fought against the British invaders for eighty years from 1839 to 1919 and ultimately got independence by defeating Britain.”

While the world has obviously changed a good bit since Alexander arrived in Afghanistan with an army reinforced by elephants, or the British seized temporary control of the country in 1878 with 33,500 troops, it has only been 20 years since the Soviet military tried and failed to fend off an insurgency by Islamic militants against an Afghan government they had supported.

In February 1989, when the Soviets finally withdrew from the country a report in The Times by Bill Keller noted:

Today’s final departure is the end of a steady process of withdrawal since last spring, when Moscow says, there were 100,300 Soviet troops in Afghanistan. At the height of the Soviet commitment, according to Western intelligence estimates, there were 115,000 troops deployed.

On Monday, my colleagues Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker reported that the largest troop increase currently under consideration would bring the total number of American troops there to 113,000 — almost exactly the same size as the Soviet force:

Pentagon and military officials involved in Afghanistan policy say General McChrystal is expected to propose a range of options for additional troops beyond the 68,000 American forces already approved, from 10,000 more troops to as many as 45,000.

As The Lede noted in March, when Mullah Omar issued a call for help from Pakistani militants, there are an estimated 15,000 Taliban fighters on each side of the exceedingly porous border. On the day the Soviets departed in 1989, the BBC reported that “Kabul is surrounded by a mujahedeen force of around 30,000.”

It seems reasonable to ask if a force roughly the same size as the Soviet one, aided by about 30,000 NATO troops, is big enough to defeat this Afghan insurgency. The Americans do have some advantages the Soviets lacked. In this struggle, Pakistan’s military and intelligence services are, to some extent, helping to undermine the insurgents, who are not being armed by a rival superpower. Despite signs of rising discontent with the current Afghan government, the Taliban may also have less popular support than the mujahedeen enjoyed in the 1980s. Although it is hard to conduct accurate surveys in Afghanistan, in one opinion poll carried out earlier this year for British and American broadcasters, just 4 per cent of Afghans surveyed said that they would like to see the Taliban return to power.

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Part 2 of 2


On the other hand, Afghanistan’s population is estimated to have doubled since 1979, so this foreign force now has to find away to police and provide basic security to about twice as many people as the Soviet one.

Instead of looking just at failed occupations of Afghanistan, it might be worth looking at what how many troops were deployed during the successful occupation of postwar Germany in the 1940s. According to a Rand corporation study called “America’s Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq,” the U.S. peacekeeping force in the one-quarter of postwar Germany it controlled in 1945 (an area that then had a population of about 17 million people and no active insurgency) included more than 290,000 soldiers and “a constabulary or police-type occupation force” of 38,000.

Looking closer to home, consider that there are nearly 38,000 police officers in New York City, patrolling an area of just 300 square miles, with a population of 8.3 million. Given that, it is no wonder that Gen. McChrystal thinks it might be tough to provide security to 30 million Afghans and police 250,000 square miles of mostly mountainous terrain with even 100,000 troops.

Then again, it is also possible that too large a force, rather than subduing Afghanistan, could serve to provoke the Afghan people.

One man who has suggested that more American troops are not the answer is Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who was a K.G.B. agent in Kabul during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Last October Mr. Kabulov told my colleague John Burns that the U.S. had “already repeated all of our mistakes,” and moved on to “making mistakes of their own, ones for which we do not own the copyright.” One of the biggest mistakes the Soviets made, Mr. Kabulov said, was letting the force grow too large. “The more foreign troops you have roaming the country,” he said, “the more the irritative allergy toward them is going to be provoked.”

.

And once again history repeats itself.

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"How many million people have been killed in all these conflicts?"

less than the amount the soviet union eliminatied under their communist regime...

less than the amount of people starved to death in chinas "volta na campo..."

less than the amount of jewish people exterminated in world war 2....

less tham the amount of people killed in conflicts in sub sahara africa in the last decades....

less than the amoung of people killed in islamic fundimentalist conflicts....have you seen the statistics?

maybe equal to the amount of homicides in brazil in the last 20 years...have you seen the statistic? devastating

i dont know, ricardo, you are making the mistke a lot of south american thinkers have been making in the last 50 years...you are forgetting the dirt from the other sides...like the cold war in south america...you forget that these dirty little wars had 2 sides in their perspective little countries, usualy sides shaped up by years of conflict that some go back to colonial times....and that both these conflicting sides willingly invited the support of the soviet union by way of castro and the united states....

seems to me that there are 4 sides that have to take responsibility...

that is why your pen seems limp next to hans pinto...how are you going to have a mightiar pen if it is limp like that with your weak charactorisations of history ...great comedy , though

Part 1 of 2


You said: “that is why your pen seems limp next to hans pinto...”

When I was a young man I did not run and hide, and I was available to go to Vietnam for an entire year, and I did fulfill my obligation.

Augustus and yourself seem to think that Hans Pinto is your hero.

He is a member of the US armed forces – his country is fighting 2 wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and from I have been watching on the news according to the general in charge of the Afghanistan war – the US is losing that war.

I am really impressed with Hans Pinto. He is an American soldier and his country right now could use all the help that they could muster to fight in Iraq and in Afghanistan – and instead of being on the front lines and put his bet where his mouth is – Mr. Pinto is in Rio de Janeiro, one of the nicest place on earth with the most beautiful women, and one of the best places where people go to have a good time.

Maybe that is what I have should done – go to Rio de Janeiro and have a good time instead of waiting around to be drafted to go to Vietnam. And I was not even a soldier back then and I was just a civilian waiting to fulfill my duty to the United States.

Over the weekend in just one attack against the US troops in Afghanistan 8 American soldiers died and another 25 were seriously wounded. It is safe to stay in Brazil, anywhere in Brazil, than be in Afghanistan getting your ass kicked.

Asp there is one fact that you guys don’t get it.

On the first year of the draft the US army (and I was qualified A-1 that means that I was available to go to Vietnam) called a lot people to fight in Vietnam and by the end of December they almost reached my number – if December had another week then my number would have been called. On January 1st, they started calling the new set of draft numbers of the kids who had just turned 18 years old.

I started going to college only after I found out that I did not have to go to Vietnam – after my draft eligibility had expired. Many of my friends ended up in Vietnam.

Vietnam was a war were most young men had to go, and only a small group of very privileged kids with family connections such as George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney were able to find a way to stay home instead of fighting for his country.

Vietnam was a stupid war (no different than the current Iraq war) in Vietnam the story was that they had to stop communism. In Iraq the US is fighting a war to secure a new source of oil.

Besides losing 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam during that war, since the surviving soldiers returned home in 1974, another 150,000 Vietnam Vets committed suicide, and today it is estimated that 50 percent of the homeless people in the United States are supposed to be Vietnam Vets.

The impact of the Vietnam War was devastating to the United States in many ways and to this day we still seeing the negative results of that war.

After sending hundreds of thousands of young people to fight that war – it was a disgrace the way the US government treated the Vietnam vets all these years after they returned home.

I have been against the current Iraq war long before George W. Bush started that war in March 2003, and I wrote many articles on that subject.

I have been consistent on my anti-war campaign since 2001. Here is an article that I wrote in the middle of March 2003:

“The Art of Deception” – Brazzil magazine – April 1, 2003
http://www.brazzil.com/compone.../3528.html

Quoting from that article:

What are the lessons we are learning from the Iraq war?

The world is watching the war in Iraq almost in real time, and they are learning major lessons from this experience such as—there is "no" world military superpower left. The idea that the United States being the only military superpower appears to be more a myth and an illusion. The war in Iraq, it has made it suspect, the claim that the United States is the only superpower left in the world. The war in Iraq, remind us of the trouble that the Soviets had in Afghanistan in the late 1980's.

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Part 2 of 2


Why?

Let's check the facts. In the last 12 years, Iraq became a very poor nation, with its gross national product averaging 1/10 of its old economy. Can you imagine what would happen in the US, if its economy went from $10 trillion dollars to $1 trillion dollars per year? The result would be an economic catastrophe in every sense.

That was the economic conditions that Iraq had to operate as a country in the last 12 years.

Currently, the defense budget of the US government is about $400 billion dollars.

The current Iraq government defense budget is $ 1billion dollars. The combined US defense budget for the last three years was approximately $1 trillion dollars, compared with the Iraq's government defense budget of approximately $ 5billion dollars.

In the current war in Iraq, the US has an astonishing superiority in about any area of comparison—the US has an army with about three times more soldiers than the Iraqi's army. But that isn't enough to beat the Iraqis. The US is sending another 200,000 men to the war to be able to handle the Iraqi army. That will give an advantage to the US of 5 to 1—in the number of fighting soldiers.

The US has a state-of-art arsenal, including a large number of the biggest bombs ever made by mankind, complete control and a massive air power capability, and the latest technology in their fleet of tanks.

They also have the most modern and sophisticated communications systems such as satellites and all sorts of computer and software systems—this also gives them a major advantage in the war.

Another fact that is remarkable, is that the US and the British were able to get all kind of spying information from Iraq in the last 4 months before this war began.

The United Nations inspectors were allowed to go to any location in Iraq and report their findings back to the UN—including the United States. I am sure that the US and the British have made maximum use of that opportunity to gather intelligence about all kind of locations in Iraq during that time. It is absolutely remarkable that Iraq is able to put up such a fight against its foreign aggressors when their aggressors have all kinds of advantage over them including their military arsenal, technology, and intelligence capabilities.

In the Iraqi side, they are fighting with an arsenal vintage World War II. Most of the riffles and military arsenal is obsolete, and many over 50 years old.

Before the war started, the superiority of the US was so great that the US government gave the impression that this war would be wrapped up in less than a week. The United States was trying to win the war, before they fired the first shot, with hype and misinformation.

…From what I am watching on the American television channels, I don't understand the American logic. It is OK to drop from the air the largest bombs ever made by mankind (excluding the atomic bomb). The television news claims that the US has dropped so far, as of March 31, 2003, over 18 thousand missiles all over Iraq, and they have killed a massive amount of soldiers and a large amount of civilians (excuse me—and collateral damage). According to the US media, it is not acceptable for the Iraqis to use any means that they have, to try to survive this unprovoked attack.

I have been against this war, since George W. Bush started talking about this issue.

…In the end, the US will win the military war over Iraq, since they have an astronomic advantage over them. In my opinion, it is mind boggling to me, the negative implications of this American victory to the civilized world.

…If the Iraqis are giving such a hard time to the US armed forces, I hate to see what kind of damage, the North Koreans can inflict in the US forces—since the North Koreans are better armed and have an army of 1.5 million people and 4.5 million reserves.

As soon as the Iraq war is over, the US will have to deal with North Korea. There is no other choice. Now, the US has to disarm North Korea as well, and there is no room for diplomacy at this time. If the US doesn't follow up with a war against the North Koreans, the perception that the US will give to the world: is that they pick only on weak countries which can't defend themselves such as: Grenada, Panama, Serbia, Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and so on.

The final conclusion that every country around the world can arrive after witnessing the Iraq fiasco, is the following: if your country has a supply of atomic weapons and biological and chemical weapons, then your country is in the major league. If your country does not have these weapons, then your country is in the third division.

…The United States depends on foreign money, to keep itself afloat. In other words, the rest of the world has the power to pull the plug in the US economy, at any time in the future.

.

in these two posts, you make a lot of sence, i might not agree with the whole description of the iraq war, but, i agree with a lot you have said.

the part i dont exactly agree is portraying it as the usa against iraq. its the sunni side who is resisting and the extreme shiites hooked up with iran.but , i agree with your basic ascesment and it was one of the most poorly planned military operations ever.

vietnam? i had almost the exact same experiance you had. it was a bad policy, no question. vietnam and iraq are definitly stand out examples of bad american policies . but korrea is an example of how american willingness to get involved has allowed south korrea to become a magor economic power where the people in north korrea are suffering greatly.

the thing i feel, ricardo, is that, after facing world war 2 and the unveleivable ominous reality of what hitler and imperialist japan could mean, the usa understood the reality that you have to be engaged in the world...

for sure, being engaged in the world has brought on some major errors based on very poor leadership and greedy ambitous power mongers that wanted to fatten their pockets.im the first to tell you that the usa isnt perfect. i dont have any of those fairy tale notions about the usa, but, i am a person who beleives very strongly in the lessons of world war 2 and want my country to be engaged but to get their policy s**t together. the major errors are enexcusable.

hans pinto has already served, in combat, if he chooses to go back that is his desician, but,he has already given...

but, i respect your 2 posts here, too bad you cant be down in rio enjoying the beautiful girls instead of being around those vultures from joisey and the sharks you work with that you admited were some really low value individuals

it is run by politicans not the people whom have lived there lives in the art of war .

a branch of the military has never said they would back a certin person for president

Greed has the power in the political arm to stop the war or force it into more war .

in nam where i was it was LBJ and Brown&Root

in bush it was chaney and halaburtin

the ponsce couma tadaus only works one way military canot interfier in local law unless the gonerment say so .

but every day politicans vote not to buy bullet proof vest ,arm our troops , pay for better health care fo the very ones that have protected them so they can have there soft and safe jobs to grant illeagles to live on there blod becaus the la razz wanto the politicans to vote the rights for them to have the same rights as a born US citisen does .

welcom to the world of politics for profit

The continuous venomous bouts of ridiculous anti-American disinformation (which has recently littered this blog in excessive fashion), while correctly seen as naive for uneducated individuals residing in Brazil, must however be classified appropriately when originating from the upper echelon of Brazilian society, and passionately preached by highly educated individuals: it is not only tiresome and idiotic, but reflects either one’s inability to extrapolate beyond the main headlines and/or the fashionable left-wing propaganda OR one’s calculated positioning to attain political goals in Brazil in the near future (which naturally would require a certain compliance with the unofficial ideology of certain “parties”).

While there is absolutely no question that…:
-…the United States is currently undergoing the unavoidable process of “decline” (economic, political and military) and will sooner or later lose its super-power status;
-…several American administrations (republican & democratic) committed several military & economic blunders;
-…Washington has and deliberately implemented imperialistic policies/positions which directly or indirectly culminated in the oppression of millions of nationals of the targeted region along with the deterioration some (or even most) of their security and economic conditions.

If one were to compare the overall U.S. Performance in the global arena vis-à-vis most other previous Global & Regional powers it will become clear to any unbiased western citizen that the USA represents, by far the most benign, the least selfish, and the least oppressive of any previous predominant global polity. Indeed, with the possible exception of Great Britain (in some specific aspects, and given the time period of its global predominance), NO FORMER SUPER POWER…
-… took into account many interests and views within its area of influence, without exerting extreme oppression, outright theft, and/or slavery;
-… advocated liberty and equal opportunity for everyone outside its dominant class, and certainly not outside its national borders;
-…engaged in systematic pursuit of forced emigrations of groups from one region to another; and
MOST IMPORTANTLY
No earlier predominant nation TOLERATED (actually encouraged) deliberate opposition to its views, actions, and policies within the regions under its influence (let alone within its own borders)

Worse yet, in my modest opinion, there is no worse human flaw than HYPOCRESY. As such, I will never be able to TOLERATE incessant criticism – duly permitted by the gift of Freedom of Speech, fully enjoyed by the citizens all civilized western societies – against any of the main Liberal, western democracies, while openly supporting INTOLERANT, TOTALITARIAN nations ruled by one-party (and/or religious) states, where ANY SUCH CRITICISM, if expressed against themselves (e.g. China, Cuba, Venezuela, Belarus, North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Syria – to name the most prominent) would be harshly DEALT WITH. Consequently, it is impossible NOT to classify any such anti-American/anti-western critics into one of the following groups:
-gullible, naïve dreamers
-hypocrite opportunists
-communist/anarchist agents
-intolerant religious fundamentalists; or
-outright IDIOTS

Regarding various comments about the American (contained, insufficient, and tolerant) presence in Afghanistan, I will endeavor to summarize my views as objectively as feasible:
-I would like to be in a position to extrapolate the reaction of any Brazilian (anti-American) critic, if we lived in a parallel universe where Brazilians were targeted worldwide and had the BANESPA building (Sao Paulo), the PETROBRAS building (Rio), demolished along with a severe damage at the Palacio da Alvorada (Brasilia) if such attacks had been conducted by Islamic fundamentalist animals trained in Afghanistan
-I also oppose the American conduct in Afghanistan, because it was INSUFFICIENT in strength and conduct, while RESTRICTED by the few significant flaws of Western Democracies: the rule of law, and human rights.
-I OBJECT any official compliance with international conventions regarding welfare conduct and treatment of NON-SOLDIERS which in any case should NEVER be considered APPLICABLE to regions which are not fully observant of the very same rules;
-I OBJECT granting Human Rights to creatures who automatically forfeited their very humanity when enrolling
-I OBJECT to the moderate methods of “coercive interrogation” which some in this forum actually call “torture” – this is the main advantage of totalitarian nations, which are not LIMITED by their own naïve internal rules and do not consider themselves compelled to observe their very principles everywhere – even when combating animals
-In short, if I had my way, Afghanistan would by now a rather “PEACEFUL” country, with vast open UNINHABITED regions…

FINALLY, as for some comments recently posted against me, I have only TWO observations:
-Let “them” say whatever they wish about me – they are certainly free to do so… As long as they keep on talking ABOUT ME (LOL)
-Paraphrasing the illustrious former British sovereign, her Majesty Queen Victoria (1819-1901) – “The important thing is not what they think of me, BUT WHAT I THINK OF THEM"

You have made your case on this forum and I understand that you are 100 percent United States citizen and no longer a Brazilian citizen for all practical purposes.

I am here on this forum to defend Brazil the best way I can and you are here to defend the United States.

At least we know were we stand on the discussions on this forum.

Besides being a pompous ass you are a dinosaur on your mindset and way of thinking and I don't have time to waste with your kind.

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Regarding the new movie that just came out a few days ago.

Capitalism: a love story - By Michael Moore


Yesterday I went to see Michael Moore’s latest documentary: Capitalism a Love Story.

The movie theater was packed and when the movie ended the audience exploded with a very enthusiastic applause.

I would recommend that every American and people from around the world should see this to understand the destruction that has been underway of the economic system of the United States.

I would recommend that every American and people from around the world for that matter should see this movie to start understanding the reasons behind the destruction that has been underway of the economic system of the United States.

I apologize for not responding earlier. The fact is that I had responded but my browser unexpectedly quit and I did not have the patience to start over. However, I have to admit, I miss your frivolous commentaries and actually enjoy disliking you and therefore I will respond to some of your comments now.

Referencing the Russians analysis of the mission in Afghanistan: undoubtedly, many Russians would like to see the same fate for US forces in Afghanistan, however, to compare there actions and their failures to the US would be misleading. First, the casualties in both Iraq and Afghanistan are a fraction of what the Russians faced in Afghanistan alone. Secondly, as Augustus has mentioned, US forces follow the rule of law and have clear rules of engagement, which we adhered to (something the old Soviet regime and current Russian government have never done). When the Russians were nearly defeated in Chechnya they bombed the country and all its inhabitants into the Dark Age and still they have not pacified the country. This seems to be acceptable behavior for many other countries but I think that even America’s worst leadership has shown restraint when combating its enemy. Clearly, the US has the ability to bomb to utter obliteration any enemy but we chose not to in order to preserve our own humanity. History will judge our actions.

Of the 8 years in Afghanistan only the first and last year has the US leadership seriously committed its efforts there. The Bush administration loss the initiative early in the Afghan campaign by shifting focus and resources to Iraq, allowing the Taliban to consolidate and reorganize in Pakistan, a complete blunder. Nevertheless, Ricardo’s paraphrase of the US generals stating that we are losing is incorrect. What both Secretary Gates and General McChrystal have said is that the Taliban have gained the initiative and if NATO does not rethink their approach, they might very well lose the war. Moreover, if Ricardo thinks that this week’s events are proof of a devastating loss, I will share some facts. In an ironic and painful coincidence, those very men that were attacked were my former soldiers during my Company Command in Iraq, they are B Troop, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4ID. As devastating as the news was of the 8 KIA and up to 20 WIA I was proud to hear that US forces had stopped the attack and had killed well over 100 insurgents. Undoubtedly, the Taliban will spin this into a victory but as a soldier, my professional assessment is that the only victory lay in shifting mass public opinion. This is where the war will be won or lost.

Having commanded many of these same men in combat, I cannot say that certain losses are acceptable, but in the bigger picture, we cannot allow fear to control our foreign policy or military actions. We have proven to the Taliban that we can reach out and touch them even in Pakistan where land based troops are forbidden to enter. Our intelligence capabilities are unmatched and we have eliminated Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership one by one, with surgical strikes minimizing collateral damage. There response is to target non-military facilities that support and feed the Afghan people. God Damned savages.

Lastly, perhaps the key to success is to educate the masses of Iraq and Afghanistan. During my two tours, I witnessed so much institutionalized ignorance and bigotry that I realized that this is the real enemy. Our success lies in educating the children and showing them a world beyond that of hate and intolerance. Two examples that come to mind are Germany and Japan. Two of the most advance cultures with economies to match, and why is this Ricardo, because the American people invested in their reconstruction. Imperialist my ass.

One last thing… Ricardo, you are right about one thing. I should be in Afghanistan as opposed to Rio with all those beautiful girls. I did 6 months in Afghanistan in 2005 and 15 months as a Troop Commander in Iraq 2006-2008, during the surge, and I still I wish I could return and do my job and make a difference... Unlike you

http://www.facebook.com/pinto.hans?_fb_noscript=1

Follow the above link at look at the men that fight for your freedom and the security of your family.

Hans Pinto: “many Russians would like to see the same fate for US forces in Afghanistan,…”


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Ricardo: I would not like to see the same fate for US forces. I would like to see these young men come back home and go on with their lives.

Yesterday morning I was watching CNN News then they went live to some military airport in Maryland and they did show the coffins that had just arrived from Afghanistan with the bodies of 4 American soldiers. They took one coffin at the time and transferred it to a special army vehicle to transport these coffins to another location.

When I was watching that sad event I was thinking only 3 days ago these were young healthy kids, and now they were all dead, and I don’t know if any of these young men had a wife and young children, and now they lost their lives and their future at a such young age.

Basically they got sacrificed for nothing, because right now the politicians are debating in Washington to figure out what is the purpose of the war in Afghanistan.


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Hans Pinto: Nevertheless, Ricardo’s paraphrase of the US generals stating that we are losing is incorrect.


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Ricardo: Only 2 days ago CNN had a special with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Defense Secretary Gates – both of them were on a stage with a CNN reporter in front of live audience to answer questions about US foreign policy and what was going on regarding the Afghanistan war.

Secretary Gates was very clear with his answers and he implied that the Taliban is having the upper hand right now, and the US effort was not doing well.


*****


Hans Pinto: US forces had stopped the attack and had killed well over 100 insurgents.


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Ricardo: The report that I saw on the BBC News said the US soldiers had been attacked by 50 Taliban insurgents.

There is a big discrepancy here, since 50 Taliban attacked the US soldiers and you are saying that 100 Taliban died.

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The discrepancy is all yours. Check your facts again because you are wrong and the debate is not why we are in Afghanistan, the debate is over how to fight the war. I am sure that the people that you know who lost someone on 9/11 would disagree with your assessment. I concur with the president when he said that to leave the fight now would only empower other extremist groups to continue their campaign of terror against the world. I'll be damned if I bow my head.

Ricardo, I am in perfect agreement with you regarding the vast number of s**t bags that have gotten rich while dragging the nation down to this low point. However, it is up to the real Americans to tighten the strap and sacrifice for the greater good, something most Americans have not not done.

The war against Afghanistan has been a mess right from the starting point.

What is unbelievable to me is that the US government learned nothing from the Soviet Union experience in that area of the world.

Instead of going in with massive force and getting the job done, they outsourced the fighting to other people with catastrophic results, and here we are 8 years later, and they still are trying to figure out their Afghanistan policy. It seems to me that we have a bunch of idiots making decisions in Washington.

You can give credit and put this entire mess on the lap of the Bush administration, they did not finish the job when they had the opportunity to do so, and as a result of their complete incompetence today the Obama administration is on a catch-22.

On one hand, as Obama said: “to leave the fight now would only empower other extremist groups”, and on the other hand Obama is aware that he is losing support of the American people regarding the Afghanistan war and most Americans want the US Army to wrap up that war and come home.

The national economic situation here in the United States is deteriorating day by day all around us with a massive number of unemployed people, and the numbers will continue to grow during 2010. With so much trouble at home the last thing on the mind of most Americans it is this war in Afghanistan.

This catch-22 situation will place the fate of the US Army in Afghanistan in a similar path of the fate of the Soviet Army only two decades ago.

In my opinion, they are going to decide to keep the war going as long as they can, and on the path of a slow death and nothing else.

I feel sorry for the young American soldiers that have been placed on this losing proposition, and many of them will return to the United States in body bags 4 or 10 at the time.

After about 7 years the US government was forced to wrap up the Vietnam War, and bring its troops home – we had large demonstration all across the United States, because we had the draft and middle-class kids were being killed in that war by the thousands.

We are in the 8th year of this war in Afghanistan with no end in sight, and basically we have very little demonstrations against the current wars – because most of the kids that are being killed right now went to the army because they are very poor, and they did not have many options for their future in the collapsing job market of the United States mainly if you don’t have a good education.

The family of most of these soldiers that are fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan will just keep their quiet despair to themselves since they don’t have the resources to fight back, and they will watch their loved ones return home one after another in body bags.

We all know that right now the Afghanistan is an open ended war with no end in sight, but at the same time the Taliban and Al Qaeda are aware that eventually the US Army will need to leave Afghanistan since they don’t have much support at home for that war.

And that prospect makes things even worse for the US forces in Afghanistan, since they are not going to get much support from the local people, because they know that after the US Army leaves Afghanistan their families would be in trouble, and chances are they would be exterminated by whoever becomes the new group to take over in Afghanistan.

There is no way to win when you are on a catch-22.

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The war against Afghanistan has been a mess right from the starting point.

I disagree, at the onset the Taliban were quickly stripped of power and pushed out of Afghnaistan into Pakistan. Big mistake was the cease fire that allowed much, if not all, of the leadership to run and hide in Pakistan.

Instead of going in with massive force and getting the job done, they outsourced the fighting to other people with catastrophic results,

What was the catastrophic result? The Northern Alliance took control of its own country with minimal foreign intervention. Had we not shifted to Iraq I beleive Afghanistan would be much improved today. The Northern Alliance had been fighting the Taliban long before we showed up. But I will agree that we failed to secure the territory after the fall of the Taliban and that it is what is haunting us today.

The national economic situation here in the United States is deteriorating day by day all around us with a massive number of unemployed people, and the numbers will continue to grow during 2010. With so much trouble at home the last thing on the mind of most Americans it is this war in Afghanistan.

You are absolutely right on this one. Many Americans are concerned with their own personal wealth, or lack there of, than the war in Afghanistan. Sad truth is that much of the financial crisis was caused because of individual greed and outright irresponsibility by a multitude of Americans. Most Americnas voted for Bush and made him out to be a hero, now however, he is the worst thing ever. This crisis has shown America that we all share a civic and moral responsibility in contributing to a better world. For those who were infuenced by selfish arrogance and biased emotion, it is time to pay the piper.

I believe this crisis was a necessary evil, needed to wake up America from its commotose state of irresponsibility. The war in Afghanstan is a just cause that will show our moral resolve and the strength of our convictions or the decline of western civilizaton and the beginning of a new Dark Age. The choice is not with America alone, it is with all civilized societies, will we accept savagery and ignorance as the dominant force in our lives or will we use our strength to protect the weak and defend the defenseless. I have made my choice.

Part 1 of 2


Ricardo: This piece was ready for posting when Brazzil magazine website went down early this morning.

This article has been published on today’s edition of “The Washington Post” and the article said: “…Other officers faulted the Obama and Bush administrations for failing to define the mission in Afghanistan, leaving a series of commanders to do so on their own.”

Regarding the Afghanistan War the good news for the US Army is: when you don’t know where you are going any path it will take you there.


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“Army Officers Criticize Rebuke of Gen. McChrystal”
By Ann Scott Tyson - Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Army officers gathered at a convention in Washington this week said senior White House officials should not have rebuked Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for saying publicly that a scaled-back war effort would not succeed.

The hallways at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center buzzed with sympathy for McChrystal, who has said the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan risks failure without a rapid infusion of additional forces. Obama and his advisers are now debating strategy in Afghanistan, with some officials arguing against additional deployments.

"It was definitely a hand slap," one Army officer said of the statement last weekend by national security adviser James L. Jones, a retired Marine general, that military officials should pass advice to President Obama through their chain of command. The Army officer, like others attending the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the politically sensitive issue.

A number of senior Army officers compared McChrystal to Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff who warned before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that it would take several hundred thousand troops to secure the country -- advice that was dismissed as "wildly off the mark" by then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz.

"You know what happened to Shinseki," said one Army general, referring to what many officers believe was the Bush administration's punitive treatment of the general, now Obama's secretary of veteran affairs. Shinseki's assessment was vindicated when President George W. Bush increased U.S. troop levels in Iraq.

"We take the kids to war and ask them to take a bullet. So you won't stop Stan from saying what he thinks is best for the mission and the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," said the general, who is an acquaintance of McChrystal's.

Other officers faulted the Obama and Bush administrations for failing to define the mission in Afghanistan, leaving a series of commanders to do so on their own. "McChrystal was sent to fix Afghanistan -- is that to get rid of the Taliban or al-Qaeda?" said a one-star Army general. "Without the mission being defined well, you've left it to them to decide what to do."

Several officers said such tensions arose because the military is serving a civilian leadership. "You kind of get used to it after years of service," the Army general said. "We tend to live with it."

Some officers observed that political leaders must commit the resources needed to fulfill their goals. If not, they said, the goals must change. "Gen. McChrystal has given an assessment of what the military strategy should be to achieve the political objective," said an Army officer who served in Afghanistan under McChrystal and his predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan, who was abruptly relieved in May by the Pentagon leadership.

"It comes down to: How much am I willing to commit, and if I can't contribute what the commander needs, do I have to change my objective? It happens time and time again with senior military commanders and civilian leaders."

.

Part 2 of 2


Policy in Afghanistan

For years, U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have said they need thousands of additional troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and to train the Afghan army and police forces. As the violence began to increase in the country in 2006 and 2007, the Bush administration made it clear to commanders that no significant troop increase in Afghanistan was possible given the priority placed on quelling the violence in Iraq, according to officers familiar with decisions at that time. McKiernan made a very public appeal for tens of thousands of additional forces, and that led to initial troop increases first under Bush and then Obama.

When McChrystal was selected by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to replace McKiernan, the belief in military circles was that he would be given the resources to conduct a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan -- finally providing what officers had long believed was necessary to try to stem increasing violence.

The Pentagon has also pressed NATO and other international allies to supply more forces, but Army officers at the convention voiced concern that signs of division within the Obama administration over Afghanistan strategy could sap the commitment of governments struggling to maintain public support for a sustained campaign.

Several officers simply shrugged off the civilian admonishments to the military -- most recently issued by Gates, who on Monday pointedly told hundreds of Army personnel attending an opening ceremony of the convention that military advice should be candid but private.

"The public admonishments -- fine. If you made general, you've been chewed out a few times," said one senior Army general.

Officers said there was no question that McChrystal and other commanders would carry out whatever decisions Obama makes. "We will tell you what we think, but we are also soldiers, so if the president gives an order, we will execute it," the senior officer said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...04056.html

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yep, I agree with article

Hans Pinto: What was the catastrophic result?


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Ricardo: Let the Al Qaeda guys escape when the United States outsourced the fighting to The Northern Alliance.

It was a major mistake to outsource the fighting to any group in an area of the world where Osama Bin Ladden is considered a “Legend.”


*****


Hans Pinto: But I will agree that we failed to secure the territory after the fall of the Taliban and that it is what is haunting us today.


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Ricardo: I don’t care about the territory or the Taliban.

The target has been always Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Ladden.


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Hans Pinto: The choice is not with America alone, it is with all civilized societies, will we accept savagery and ignorance as the dominant force in our lives or will we use our strength to protect the weak and defend the defenseless. I have made my choice.


*****


Ricardo: In my opinion, it is not my business, the United States, and Brazil for that matter to try to change the way the people in Afghanistan want to live their lives. They have the right to follow their culture and their customs, and I am not going to try to impose on these people our western customs and values.

If you think that way then why the United States Army is not doing something about the genocide in the Sudan, and the civil wars in the Congo, and Somalia?

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yes, and was it not they, Al Qaeda with the support of the Taliban, that tried to impose their will on us by crashing 3 passenger planes, one into the World Trade center and one into the Pentagon? That is the reason why we are there now. I couldn't give a s**t what they do as long as does not comprise my freedom and safety or that of my loved ones and my country.

4 passenger planes, two into the world trade center

In my opinion, it is not my business, the United States, and Brazil for that matter to try to change the way the people in Afghanistan want to live their lives. They have the right to follow their culture and their customs, and I am not going to try to impose on these people our western customs and values.

100% in agreement.(though I had promised not to comment in this thread again!)

4 passenger planes, two into the world trade center

Was any of the pilots an Afghan? Or for that matter, an Iraqi? Just check the nationalities of these pilots.

What was the nationality of the "Shoe Bomber" who was responsible for forcing all the Americans (forget the non-Americans) to remove their shoes while passing through the Airport Security?

lets not loose focus on the reality...

the talaban imposed the primitive stone age sharia law on afghanistan after a brutal civil war that left a million dead...and dont blame the united states, read rushdies "the talaban" and understand the history of afghanistan has been a very bloody one, much more than just the soviet union and the british...

bin laden, under the umbrella of the talaban, was able to train and plot out things like 9/11. it was the right thing to fight al queada and the talaban...

look what is going down in pakistan. the talaban are showing their true colors as fundimentalist pigs who will wantonly destroy their own muslim people. the will absolultly slaughter them. this is an indication what a ruthless scum they are.

afghanistan depends on the afghan people. if they want to hide the taliban and let them mingle and look at them as the good guy, then they deserve sharia law to enter their lives....and they will let the talaban prevail. but if they see the truth to the horror of going back into the stone age, then the talaban will be defeated...

The warmongers in the United States have another major obstacle that has been placed on their way – President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

I hope the United States will re-evaluate its policies related to:

1) Escalating the Afghanistan War.

2) Iraq War

3) Strategies towards Iran.

4) Get ride of the 7 new U.S. military bases in Colombia.

5) Strategy towards Israel.

And many more foreign policies that need to be changed.

This event is a game changer.

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hope in one hand and get money out of lula in the other see whitc fill up faster

you use the term war monger like you have lost something like it offends you to be living in such a country that has wars .

more people are killed in the streets in rio on a day to day life that killed in the war .

why dount you bitch about you home country , O that is right some brazilian will sue you for talking down about brazil or burning its flag ,

must be tuff living around all the meat eaters in the uS while you are a vegitarian.

brazil need to change its internal laws and its external ones also to become a real world player

you pussy

Forrest Allen Brown: ...you pussy


*****

I know you are a tough guy who goes around the world probably killing people.

How many people have you killed so far on your adventures?

Did you ever looked in the eyes of any of these people that you killed?

What your friends call you? “Rambo”?

Because of my writings I received a direct death threat about 3 years ago, and almost exactly a year ago I received another threatening message regarding the members of my family – on both occasions people were trying to intimidate me because the stuff that I write on a regular basis.

I did not get intimidated on these two occasions, but it pissed me off, and I continued writing on wherever subject that was making people mad.

You can read my response to the latest threat that I received 1 year ago at the end of the 5th posting on this web page. And also the following post that I posted later that evening.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...genumber=2


September 29, 2008

By the way, whoever send me today a threatening message regarding the members of my family I just have one thing to say to you;…

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Forrest Allen Brown: you use the term war monger like you have lost something like it offends you to be living in such a country that has wars.


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Ricardo: It is offensive to me the lack of common sense that has been driving Washington policies for many years. You can have a better understanding of what I am talking about after you read the following threads:

1) U.S. Economy – Budget Deficits – GDP and Defense Spending
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...did=163665


***


2) What is a better US Gov investment for Future - Military Spending or Infrastructure
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/...adid=54027

08-18-05 …SouthAmerica: Long before 9/11 I have been advocating on my writings that the United States should spend less money in military spending and the money should go instead into building and up-dating the infrastructure of the American economy.

…PLEASE stop wasting money on wars that the US can’t win, and instead invest the money wisely in a way that will help many American generations in the future.

REMINDER: As Americans are wasting a ton of money to try to project the illusion of military power around the world – the other major economies around the world are not wasting time and money instead they are investing its resources more wisely to help develop and support their economies of the future.

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ricardo, we may disagree on some things but its really horrible taht some creeps think they can threaten you over at elite trader...f**k them

hans pinto, your insights were very good to read here, wish you and your comrads in battle the best and you all have my respects for putting your life on the line for the people of the united states

hans pinto, your insights were very good to read here, wish you and your comrads in battle the best and you all have my respects for putting your life on the line for the people of the united states

Dude, you really want Hans and his comrades to turn into "Martyrs", don't you? You forget or failed to read what our President said:"In the history of our country there are no heroes, but only martyrs". Our President is a wise man and great philosopher. BUT...BUT....., if you insist in making Hans a martyr in Afghanistan, I aint protesting! It is his decision. I hope that his valor and that of his comrades in defending Khyber & Bolan passes from the marauding Talibans will be remembered for hundreds of years to come. There may be several books written about the oncoming battles, portraying Hans as a hero who was relentlessly pursuing OBL, but..but.. eventually gave up and became a martyr.