September 22nd, 2011 by John Feehery
It has been a long time since the girl from Ipanema captured the imaginations of the American people. But Brazil these days is more than just a bunch of pretty women and nice beaches. In fact, for American workers (especially those in the aerospace industry and helicopter manufacturing) Brazil has been a jobs life-line.
Among the top ten American trading partners, Brazil stands as the only country that the United States has had a trade surplus with for the last two years. Of the top ten products that have been sent to Latin American countries from the States, three of them have been component parts for either aircraft or helicopters.
To say that Brazil is on a roll would be an understatement. “Rio”, a new animated movie put out by Fox Pictures, is not only a hit; it also puts the iconic Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in a flattering light. Rio beat my hometown of Chicago for the right to host the Olympics in 2016, a coup for all of South America, and Brazil will also play host to the World Cup in 2014. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Boeing, Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Economy, Embraer, European Debt Crisis, Forbes Magazine, Honeywell, Ipanema, Politics, President Obama, QGA Public Affairs, Rio de Janeiro, Tim Geithner, U.S. Air Force, United Nations, United States, World Cup
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, Politics, Theory, national security, spending | No Comments »
July 7th, 2010 by John Feehery
The nature of national identity came to my mind as I watched the World Cup yesterday.
South Africa is hosting the soccer tournament, the first time an African nation has been given that honor. Much was made about the quixotic efforts of Ghana (which beat the United States) to be the first African nation to win the tourney.
Not as much has been made about the fact that the Dutch, who were the first settlers in what is now South Africa, have gone so far in winning the tournament.
When the Dutch first came to South Africa, they had the run of the place. But eventually they had to adjust to reality. They later became the Boers, and they fought several wars against British colonial rule to maintain their freedom. They gave in to the Brits, and eventually, they dismantled apartheid, the systematic discrimination of black Africans which was constructed to keep the black majority out of power. Whites now make up about 10 percent of the population in South Africa, while black Africans make up about 80 percent. Read more...
Tags: AIDS, Boers, Dutch, Mugabeism, South Africa, war, World Cup, Zimbabwe
Posted in Foreign Relations, Politics, Theory, war | No Comments »
June 11th, 2010 by John Feehery
World Cup Fans / Photo credit: Audrey & Patrick Scales
It is an overdone cliché to thank the good Lord for Friday, but this has been a particularly long week, so stringing a coherent column together might be beyond my capability today. But that won’t stop me from some Friday musings. Read more...
- Talk about Chutzpah. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seriously considering ditching the outside ethics panel that she trumpeted as one of the most important achievements of her tenure. She did it because she wanted to convince the voters that Democrats were the most ethical people in the whole, entire world. It didn’t work. Most voters still think the Democrats are incurably corrupt. According to news reports, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are leading the charge to neuter the Office of Congressional Ethics, because that office has the temerity to look at what the members of the CBC are actually doing and ignoring what they are saying.
Tags: Blackhawks, California, Congressional Black Caucus, Ireland, Nancy Pelosi, Office of Congressional Ethics, Proposition 14, South Africa, Stanley Cup, World Cup
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory, sports | 1 Comment »
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