William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

I am pleased to be an American. Yet I enjoy living in Brazil. Now, I know I’ve given ammunition to those who believe that writing “Hey, he lives in Brazil” constitutes a strong debating technique, but I am who I am. And I am an American living in Brazil and liking it.

I live in a mid-sized agricultural town with a strong middle class. My wife is very cheered to see new stores pop up and new opportunities for her fellow Brazilians open. For a much-maligned nation, I live in a city of hope.

But, Stephen Colbert has got the ball rolling. My peaceful, happy existence in Brazil will likely be coming to a terrible end.

Yes, Tuesday on the Colbert Report, Colbert used the Miss Universe contest to deftly spin into a discussion of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and oil. Colbert then spoke about South American issues with Julia E. Sweig, the Head of the Latin American Division of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sweig talked away the threat of Chavez, and when asked which country had the most power in South America, she immediately spoke of Brazil. And she talked about the oil. You see, already self-dependent on oil, the Brazilian national oil company PetroBras recently made a big discovery of oil. Off shore. Around a billion barrels or more.

“Brazil is about to join OPEC. Brazil has become a major global economic player,” said Sweig

“So do I have to worry about Brazil now?” Colbert asked. “Because it seems every time a nation gets oil they start to hate us.”

Sweig said Brazil wants to be friends with the U.S., but isn’t intimidated by the U.s Government. Sweig and Colbert then discussed various ways of capitulating to Brazil.

Why aren’t Republicans squawking about the off-shore oil find in Brazil? Well, the fact that the oil industry here is government owned likely has something to do with that. The easy sound bite could quickly become something bigger. Not that it stops them from lying about China drilling off the coast of Cuba, of course, but I suspect it’s a matter of time.

Brazil’s President Lula is quasi-socialist. Basically, he’s a socialist who loves power. So he’s fairly haphazard and prone to brushing eversoclose to scandal. And he occasionally goes to Venezuela and gives Hugo Chavez or Castro a hug.

But take it from an American living here: Brazil is a peaceful nation with peaceful aspirations. Brazilians are an independent and freedom-loving people that despise war.

Just remember that in the next six months or so as you start hearing about how Brazil has a socialist regime that is funding and training al-Qaeda regiments, is a nuclear powerhouse, and an existential threat to America.

–WKW

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 7:52 am and is filed under Politics, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.