Brazil Army Worries Foreign Powers May Eye Amazon ("global public goods")

[Robbien]

<snip>

The perceived threat that lurks at the back of many Brazilians' minds is that outsiders covet the Amazon, a fear fanned whenever a foreign politician talks about the forest and its waters as an international resource.

Indeed, former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, now a candidate to head the World Trade Organisation, in February proposed the Amazon should designated "global public goods" and be administered by the international community -- a proposal that drew a sharp rebuke from Brazilian government.

. . .

"The internationalisation of the Amazon is one of the worries that takes us to this strategy of defence in relation to signs from big countries, not just the United States but also Europe," Gen. Figueiredo said. "We must be prepared. After all, the Brazilian Amazon is Brazilian." In 2003, top government aide Jose Dirceu said: "If the United States occupies Colombia, it will occupy the Amazon."

A spokesman for the US Southern Command, which covers Latin America, said Brazil had every right to plan to defend territory but the United States posed no threat.

. . .

The United States has urged Latin American armies to get more involved in the war against drugs. But the question of how far soldiers should take on police work in a continent where memories of military rule are still fresh is a delicate one. Likewise, Washington wants them to play a greater role in its war on terrorism. But at an Americas-wide meeting in Manaus last November, Brazil's Defence Minister Jose Alencar told Rumsfeld that fighting poverty was a greater priority.

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30313/story.htm

[Selteri]

1. Eh, I'm sure they're on our watchlist for terrorists when they stop

trading their wood and cows with us for clearcutting their forests.

[Mr.Green93]

2. Brazil had better fear

ADM.

[yorkiemommie1]

3. already have their eyes on it

as detailed in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins