Temas de relações internacionais, de política externa e de diplomacia brasileira, com ênfase em políticas econômicas, em viagens, livros e cultura em geral. Um quilombo de resistência intelectual em defesa da racionalidade, da inteligência e das liberdades democráticas.
O que é este blog?
Este blog trata basicamente de ideias, se possível inteligentes, para pessoas inteligentes. Ele também se ocupa de ideias aplicadas à política, em especial à política econômica. Ele constitui uma tentativa de manter um pensamento crítico e independente sobre livros, sobre questões culturais em geral, focando numa discussão bem informada sobre temas de relações internacionais e de política externa do Brasil. Para meus livros e ensaios ver o website: www.pralmeida.org. Para a maior parte de meus textos, ver minha página na plataforma Academia.edu, link: https://itamaraty.academia.edu/PauloRobertodeAlmeida.
terça-feira, 30 de julho de 2013
Barnes & Noble: se desaparecer, onde vou ler os meus livros?
Sera' que ele e'? Papa Francisco e' tolerante, sim...
The New York Times, 30/07/2013
— For generations, homosexuality has largely been a taboo topic for the Vatican, ignored altogether or treated as “an intrinsic moral evil,” in the words of the previous pope.
In that context, brief remarks by Pope Francis suggesting that he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation, made aboard the papal airplane on the way back from his first foreign trip, to Brazil, resonated through the church. Never veering from church doctrine opposing homosexuality, Francis did strike a more compassionate tone than that of his predecessors, some of whom had largely avoided even saying the more colloquial “gay.”
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told reporters, speaking in Italian but using the English word “gay.”
Francis’s words could not have been more different from those of Benedict XVI, who in 2005 wrote that homosexuality was “a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil,” and an “objective disorder.” The church document said men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” should not become priests.
Vatican experts were quick to point out that Francis was not suggesting that the priests or anyone else should act on their homosexual tendencies, which the church considers a sin. But the fact that he made such comments — and used the word “gay” — was nevertheless revolutionary, and likely to generate significant discussion in local dioceses, where bishops are divided over whether to accept priests who are gay but celibate.
“It’s not a great opening in terms of contents, but the fact that he talked about it that way is a great novelty,” said Paolo Rodari, a Vatican expert at the Italian daily La Repubblica. Francis would probably agree with Benedict’s writings on homosexuality, he added, “but it doesn’t interest him.”
“It interests him to say that the problem in the end isn’t if someone has this tendency, the important thing is to live in the light of God,” Mr. Rodari said. “Said by a pope, it’s enormous.”
Francis also told reporters that while Pope John Paul II had definitively closed the door to female priests, he sought a “theology of women” and a greater role for them in Catholic life, news reports said.
The pope’s comments on homosexuals and women in the church were yet another sign of the different directions from which Benedict and Francis approach doctrine. While Benedict, the shy theologian, focused more on ethics and advocated a purer church, even if it might end up being smaller, Francis was elected for his belief that the Catholic Church must engage in dialogue with the world — even with those it disagrees with — if it wants to stay vibrant and relevant.
“At a certain point, tone becomes substance if it’s seen as revitalizing the prospects of the church,” said John L. Allen, Jr., a Vatican expert at The National Catholic Reporter.
In Benedict’s more subdued 2007 visit to Brazil, where Evangelical churches are making rapid inroads in the Catholic majority, he delivered speeches to bishops about how to respond to postmodern society.
In contrast, Francis spoke on the beach, engaged with the masses and was greeted like a rock star by followers entranced by his approachable style and homespun folksy adages. (“You can always add more water to the beans,” he said at one point.)
More than a million people gathered for an open-air Mass on Copacabana Beach on Sunday. At one event, bishops danced on stage to upbeat music. The spectacle was clearly aimed at competing with Evangelical churches that have a more “pop” style.
“We can see the figure of Peter so near to us,” said Milena Rocha, 20, a Brazilian student who slept on the beach Saturday night along with thousands of others in a vigil before the pope’s final Mass on Sunday, comparing Francis to St. Peter.
She said that the vigil, in which many camped on the sands on pieces of cardboard, showed the energy that Francis was bringing to the church in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other country, an estimated 123 million.
Despite missteps by organizers, including one that compromised security, the visit unfolded peacefully, giving many people a chance to glimpse or even embrace Francis.
“This pope keeps renewing the church,” said Claudia Brandão, 30, a housewife who traveled from Angola with her 9-month-old daughter.
In 2007, “Benedict came and played the standard classical nocturne that he was famous for, and his devotees loved it. Francis came and played the guitar in his very accessible style and the crowds went wild,” said Mr. Allen, who traveled to Brazil for both trips.
Before he resigned in February, Benedict’s papacy had been marked by scandals — a sexual abuse scandal, aleaks scandal and trouble with the secretive Vatican Bank. Francis, with his style of radical simplicity and his direct manner, has shifted things. “He’s completely changed the narrative about the church,” Mr. Allen said. “In five months, now the dominant Catholic story is ‘Charismatic Pope Takes World by Storm.’ ”
During his papal trips, John Paul II loved to walk to the back of the plane and chat with reporters, while Benedict only responded to a handful of preselected questions. Francis, on the overnight flight back to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, spoke freely to reporters for 80 minutes about everything from the Vatican Bank troubles to his decision not to live in the Apostolic Palace but rather in a Vatican residence.
Francis did not dodge a single question, even thanking the person who prompted his comments on homosexuality, asking about Italian news reports of a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican, with clerics blackmailing one another with information about sexual missteps.
“So much is written about the gay lobby. I have yet to find on a Vatican identity card the word ‘gay,’ ” Francis said, chuckling. “They say there are some gay people here. I think that when we encounter a gay person, we must make the distinction between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of a lobby, because lobbies are not good.”
An article in the Italian weekly L’Espresso this month alleged that one of the advisers that Francis had appointed to look into the Vatican Bank, Msgr. Battista Ricca, had been accused of having gay trysts when he was a Vatican diplomat in Uruguay. The pope told reporters that nothing in the documentation he had seen substantiated the reports.
He added that such a lobby would be an issue, but that he did not have anything against gay people and that their sins should be forgiven like those of all Catholics. Francis said that homosexuals should be treated with dignity, and that no one should be subjected to blackmail or pressure because of sexual orientation.
“The problem isn’t having this orientation. The problem is making a lobby,” he said.
In recent years, both Benedict and Francis have tried to make changes at the Vatican Bank so that it meets international anti-money-laundering norms that are a condition for using the euro.
Asked about the bank, Francis said, “Some say that it’s better to have a bank, others that it would be better to have a fund, still others say to close it.”
Asked what was in the black briefcase that he was seen carrying onto the plane by himself en route to Brazil, Francis said he had a razor, a breviary and a book about St. Teresa. “It’s normal to carry a bag,” he said, according to news reports. “I’m a bit surprised that the image of the bag made its way around the world. Anyway, it wasn’t the suitcase with the codes for the nuclear bomb.”
Correction: July 29, 2013
Joaquim Barbosa: "O Itamaraty é uma das instituições maisdiscriminatórias do Brasil."
Itamaraty rebate Barbosa e cita programa de bolsas que beneficia afrodescendentes
- ‘Folha de S.Paulo’ e‘O Estado de S.Paulo’ também responderam ao ministro
Chipre: calote em metade do dinheiro sujo da kleptocracia russa
"La tasa es significativamente inferior a la previsión original de hace cuatro meses" ha señalado el viceportavoz del Ejecutivo de Nicosia, Víctor Papadópulos al dar a conocer la noticia. "Este es un desarrollo positivo para la economía del país y los depositantes afectados", ha apuntado.
En su decreto de marzo, el Banco Central había establecido, en una primera fase, una quita del 37,5% para los depósitos del Bank of Cyprus—la mayor entidad del país— que superaran la cantidad de 100.000 euros. Ese porcentaje ya ha sido transformado en acciones del banco.
Al mismo tiempo 22,5% de los depósitos no garantizados había sido bloqueado, a la espera de una valoración definitiva sobre cuál sería el monto final necesario para garantizar la solvencia. Esta medida provisional elevaba el riesgo de la quita, que se ha quedado en el 47,5%, hasta al 60%.
Con esta decisión, según Papadópulos, se da un paso importante para que el Bank of Cyprus pueda abandonar el estatus de reestructuración y para que la nueva directiva pueda empezar a funcionar con normalidad. Al abandonar el estatus de "reestructuración" se sientan las bases para una normalización paulatina del sistema bancario chipriota, sometido a estrictos controles del movimiento de capitales desde marzo pasado.
La decisión sobre la cuantía de la quita llega después de que la troika y las autoridades chipriotas analizaran el informe de la auditoría KPMG de Londres sobre los activos del banco. Los acreedores, que iniciaron el pasado día 17 su primera misión de evaluación del programa de ajuste chipriota, analizaron también las cuentas de Banco Popular (Laiki). Los activos de esta entidad quedaron divididos en un banco malo y otro bueno —este últimos integrados en el Bank of Cyprus— tras decidirse su liquidación en marzo.
Además de los depósitos garantizados —los inferiores a 100.000 euros—, los créditos y otros activos de buena calidad, el Banco de Chipre asumió la deuda los 9.000 millones de euros que Laiki tenía a través del mecanismo de Financiación de Emergencia.
La directora de la Comisión del Mercado de Valores de Chipre, Dimitra Kaloyiru, ha afirmado recientemente que espera que el Bank of Cyprus pueda volver a cotizar en Bolsa en octubre, tras quedar en suspenso su cotización en abril pasado, al estallar la crisis bancaria.
Maquiagem das contas publicas: ate na divida externa
FMI avalia pedido do Brasil para mudar cálculo da dívida
Na última quinta-feira, o ministro Guido Mantega encaminhou carta do Fundo solicitando mudança no cálculo da dívida bruta do país
Educacao nos EUA: as melhores universidades (estou no bom lugar)
Stanford é a melhor universidade americana em ranking da 'Forbes'. Confira top 10
Princeton fica em 3º; Harvard, em 8º. Foram avaliadas 650 instituições
Revista 'Forbes' aponta as graduações mais valiosas
As carreiras mais promissoras para os próximos dez anos
As dez carreiras com maior perda salarial no Brasil
As dez carreiras de nível superior com maior expansão de vagas no Brasil
As dez melhores universidades dos Estados Unidos
1º lugar - Universidade Stanford, Stanford, Califórnia
Educacao: o talao de Aquiles do Brasil (IDHM)
Estudo da Pnud
Mais de 60% das cidades têm baixo índice de desenvolvimento em educação
Apenas cinco cidades obtiveram notas "muito altas". Ciclo final é o maior gargalo
IDHM no Brasil avança 47,5% em 20 anos
Mais uma de sapatos e avioes: uma nota esquecida sobre a primeiraviagem ao Imperio
quinta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2011
MINISTROS BARRADOS NO BAILE
A frase da semana: Joelmir Beting sobre ser melhor virar cachorro (impostos no Brasil)
OMC: World Trade Report 2013: comercio sempre crucial para odesenvolvimento
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)
18 JULY 2013
FAST-CHANGING NATURE OF WORLD TRADE POSES NEW POLICY CHALLENGES, REPORT SAYS.
economic, political and social factors, including technological
innovation, shifts in production and consumption patterns, and
demographic change, according to the 2013 World Trade Report published
by the WTO on 18 July 2013. Director-General Pascal Lamy said: “One
element clearly stands out in the Report, and that is the importance
of trade for development”. “The transformation of trade has been
underway for some time,” said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. “It is
manifested most clearly in wider geographical participation in trade
and the rise of international supply chain production. One element
clearly stands out in the Report, and that is the importance of trade
for development. The forecasts and reflections contained in this
report do not foresee a reverse of globalization. But we should
remember that the gains it brings could be nullified or at least
mitigated if short-term pressures are allowed to override long-term
interests, and if its social consequences in terms of the unevenness
of its benefits are neglected. This is why renewed efforts are needed
to revive the vibrancy of the global trading system.” One of the most
significant drivers of change is technology. Not only have revolutions
in transport and communications transformed our world but new
developments, such as 3D printing, and the continuing spread of
information technology will continue to do so. Trade and foreign
direct investment, together with a greater geographical spread of
income growth and opportunity, will integrate a growing number of
countries into more extensive international exchange. Higher incomes
and larger populations will put new strains on both renewable and
non-renewable resources, generating even greater need for careful
resource management. More effort must also be devoted to addressing
environmental issues, the report says. Economic and political
institutions will continue to have a significant role to play in
shaping international co-operation, including in trade, as will the
interplay of cultural customs among countries. Non-tariff measures
will gain in prominence and regulatory convergence will likely
constitute the greatest challenge to the trading system of the future.
The future of trade will also be affected by the extent to which
politics and policies successfully address issues of growing social
concern, such as the availability of jobs and persistent income
inequality, as well as environmental concerns, say the authors of the
World Trade Report 2013.
TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
•Dramatic decreases in transport and communication costs have been the
driving forces behind today’s global trading system. Geopolitics has
also played a decisive role in advancing and reinforcing these
structural trends.
•In the last 30 years, trade in merchandise and commercial services
have increased by about 7 per cent per year on average, reaching a
peak of $18 trillion and $4 trillion respectively in 2011. When trade
is measured in value-added terms, services play a larger role.
•Between 1980 and 2011, developing economies raised their share in
world exports from 34 per cent to 47 per cent and their share in world
imports from 29 per cent to 42 per cent. Asia is playing an increasing
role in world trade.
•For a number of decades, world trade has grown on average nearly
twice as fast as world production. This reflects the increasing
prominence of international supply chains and hence the importance of
measuring trade in value-added terms.
•Simulations show that in a dynamic economic and open trade
environment, developing countries are likely to outpace developed
countries in terms of both export and GDP growth by a factor of two to
three in future decades. By contrast, their GDP would grow by less
than half this rate in a pessimistic economic and protectionist
scenario, and export growth would be lower than in developed
countries.
FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING INTERNATIONAL TRADE
•Demographic change affects trade through its impact on countries’
comparative advantage and on import demand. An ageing population,
migration, educational improvements and women’s participation in the
labour force will all play a role in years to come, as will the
continuing emergence of a global middle class.
•Investment in physical infrastructure can facilitate the integration
of new players into international supply chains. The accumulation of
capital and the build-up of knowledge and technology associated with
investment, particularly foreign direct investment, can also enable
countries to move up the value chain by altering their comparative
advantage.
•New players have emerged among the countries driving technological
progress. Countries representing 20 per cent of the world’s total
population accounted for about 70 per cent of research and development
(R&D) expenditure in 1999, but only about 40 per cent in 2010.
Technology spill-overs are largely regional and stronger among
countries connected by production networks. In addition to the
traditionally R&D intensive manufacturing sectors, knowledge-intensive
business services are emerging as key drivers of knowledge
accumulation.
•The shale gas revolution portends dramatic shifts in the future
pattern of energy production and trade as North America becomes energy
sufficient. Increasing water scarcity in the future in large swathes
of the developing world may mean that the long-term decline in the
share of food and agricultural products in international trade might
be arrested or even reversed.
•Ample opportunities exist for policy actions, at the national and
multilateral level, to reduce transportation costs and offset the
effect of higher fuel costs in the future – improving the quantity and
quality of transportation infrastructure, successfully concluding the
Doha Round negotiations on trade facilitation, introducing more
competition on transport routes, and supporting innovation.
•Improvements in institutional quality, notably in relation to
contract enforcement, can reduce the costs of trade. Institutions are
also a source of comparative advantage, and trade and institutions
strongly influence each other.
TRADE OPENNESS AND THE BROADER SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT
•Successful integration into global markets requires the constant need
for individuals and societies to cope with changes in the competitive
environment. These adjustments can put labour markets under strain and
can shape attitudes towards trade openness. Job losses in the
short-run can exert pressure on governments to use barriers to trade.
In the end, it is open economies with a well-trained workforce and a
business-friendly environment as well as an effective social
protection system that tend to be better placed to adjust
successfully.
•Societies’ transition to a sustainable development path requires
careful management of the multi-faceted relationship between trade and
the environment in order to maximize the environmental benefits that
open trade can bring. Competitiveness concerns may result in
governments incorporating trade-restrictive non-tariff measures into
environmental policies as a means of compensating affected firms and
sectors. Such green incentive packages may undermine their
environmental effectiveness and exacerbate their potentially adverse
trade effects.
•The expansion of trade needs to be supported by a stable financial
and monetary system – delivering a sufficient volume of trade finance
at an affordable cost, particularly for developing countries, and
macroeconomic policies that promote exchange rate stability.
PROSPECTS FOR MULTILATERAL TRADE CO-OPERATION
•Some of the main trends which will affect world trade in the coming
decades are the emergence of international value chains, the rise of
new forms of regionalism, the growth of trade in services, the greater
incidence of non-tariff measures, higher and more volatile commodity
prices, the rise of emerging economies, and evolving perceptions about
the link between trade, jobs and the environment.
•These trends will raise a number of challenges for the WTO. Trade
opening, especially in the context of non-tariff measures beyond WTO
disciplines, is taking place outside of the WTO. A greater focus on
regulatory convergence will therefore be required. Interdependence
between trade in goods and trade in services is increasing. Frictions
in natural resource markets expose some regulatory gaps. The emergence
of new players affects global trade governance in ways that need to be
better understood. Coherence between WTO rules and non-trade
regulations in other multilateral fora needs to be maintained.
•Addressing these challenges will involve reviewing and possibly
expanding the WTO agenda. Traditional market access issues will not
disappear but new issues, particularly with regard to non-tariff
measures, are emerging. Internal governance matters as well as the
role of the WTO in global governance may need to be addressed. An
important issue will be how to “multilateralize” the gains made in
preferential trade agreements and to secure regulatory convergence.
FULL DOCUMENT: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/world_trade_report13_e.pdf
segunda-feira, 29 de julho de 2013
França: ate para ficar bebado, so se pode fazer em Frances, nao em Ingles...
The French General Commission of Terminology and Neology made the announcement on Sunday, and France 24 translated their definition as a "massive consumption of alcohol, usually as part of a group, designed to cause intoxication in a minimum amount of time." The French newspaper Le Monde quantified this as having more than four to five drinks in less than two hours -- although the news outlet did not specify the type of alcohol or precise portion size. (The French are well-known for weeding out foreign words from their language, with the Commission recently swapping the word "hashtag" for "mot-dièse.")[[BREAK]]
But this isn't simply a lighthearted story of overzealous French-language police. The vocabulary change coincides with an increase in binge drinking in France. In March, the French Society for the Study of Alcohol reported that alcohol-related hospital admissions had risen 30 percent in three years. In May, Le Monde published a piece called "Génération 'biture express'" (biture express is another term for binge drinking), while Le Parisien expressed concern about "Un problème majeur chez les jeunes" -- "A major problem among the young." An aide to the mayor of Paris told Le Parisien that the City of Light had seen an increase -- from 15 percent to 25 percent -- in repeated drunkenness in those younger than 18 from 2005 to 2010.
It looks like the country of champagne, cognac, and robust reds has a new problem on its hands.