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.

sexta-feira, 9 de setembro de 2022

Os EUA não possuem teto de gastos para ajudar a Ucrânia, na sua defesa da guerra de agressão da Rússia - Olivier Knox (The Washington Post)

 

The Washington Post, September 9, 2022

 By Olivier Knox
with research by Caroline Anders

Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress dropped “United Colonies” in favor of “United States of America.”

 

The big idea

New U.S. aid, front-line testimonials, Russian defiance – and Congress

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to media before departure at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. The sign on the train reads "The Victory Train". (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to media before departure at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. The sign on the train reads "The Victory Train". (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

It’s been a big week for the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, and for The Washington Post’s coverage of Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine. Let’s look at some of the critical developments — and a big looming test for President Biden’s policy.

I teased it in the headline, so let’s get right to that test, which you may have missed because it was more of a bureaucratic development than a battlefield conundrum, a diplomatic breakthrough, or a viral social media post featuring the explosive demise of a Russian tank.

Ready? One week ago, Biden asked Congress for another $13.7 billion in new money for the Ukraine war — $7.2 billion to provide Kyiv more weapons and military gear, and replenish U.S. stockpiles of arms sent to Ukraine, $4.5 billion to help the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and $2 billion to mitigate energy supply disruptions.

  • This week, some lawmakers, including Democrats hemmed and hawed at the request and asked the administration for more informationbefore they would commit to supporting it, as Joe Gould and Bryant Harris documented for Defense News.

That included, they reported, Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “I’m not opposed to it; I just want to know what’s in it,” they quoted him as saying.

Others raising questions included Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Thom Tillis(R-N.C.) who both sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The panel’s top Republican, James M. Inhofe (Okla.) expressed reservations and pushed Biden to use his authority to send another $2.8 billion in arms to Ukraine before that authority lapses when the new fiscal year opens Oct. 1.

 
FUNDING FIGHT

The White House requested the money as part of a broader $47 billion emergency package that would also help combat covid, bolster monkeypox vaccine stocks and address disaster needs after floods in Kentucky, my colleague Tony Romm reported.

“The official request sets up a fierce fight on Capitol Hill, where warring Democrats and Republicans face a looming, end-of-September deadline by which they must fund the government — or risk a catastrophic shutdown weeks before the midterm elections,” Tony noted.

The test for the Biden administration comes in two parts: Can they resist calls for the Ukraine package to come in the form of a stand-alone bill? And can they overcome congressional skepticism — as well as growing outright oppositionfrom House Republicans?

Odds are some kind of Ukraine aid legislation will pass. But it’ll require some skillful congressional navigation with threatening government shutdown clouds on the horizon and closing fast.

A WAVERING ALLIANCE?

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is toiling to reassure Ukraine of long-lasting support from Washington and to hold together the coalition of allies and partners even as Russia cuts off energy supplies to Western Europe, sending prices soaring with winter approaching.

My colleagues John Hudson and Missy Ryan chronicled the latest on Thursday: Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kyiv and the administration promised another $675 million in U.S. military aid and $1 billion in military financing.

“We will support the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Blinken said in a statement.

John and Missy noted the visit “focused partly on a major new operation that Ukrainian leaders hope can dislodge Russian forces from occupied areas in the country’s east and south, and that U.S. officials believe would put Kyiv on a better footing for potential negotiations with Russia.”

 
  • “We know this is a pivotal moment, more than six months into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as your counteroffensive is now underway and proving effective,” they quoted Blinken as saying.

“While the Ukrainians have made some gains, they are taking heavy losses, and soldiers say that despite huge foreign support, they desperately need more weapons and ammunition to prevail over the better-equipped Russians,” they reported.

And here, I want to strongly recommend John’s searing, searching report from a day earlier, when he told the painful stories of wounded Ukrainian troops describing their ordeal fighting to retake the strategic southern city of Kherson from Russian forces.

Beyond the tragic human toll, they told John of:

  • Russian drones tracking Ukrainian forces from so high up in the sky that their targets never heard the unmanned vehicles’ buzz.
  • Russian tanks emerging from newly built cement shelters, firing on Ukrainian targets, then slipping back into cover, protected from mortars and rockets.
  • Russian counter-battery radars that let Moscow’s forces target Ukrainian artillery.
  • Russian hackers taking over Ukrainian drones.

John’s piece serves as something of a corrective to the social-media narrative of the war, in which videos show plucky Ukrainian forces getting the better of heavier but hapless Russians. It’s a reminder that the war looks far from over.

Ukraine Punches Back In Kharkiv, in a counter offensive - Andrew Tanner (Medium)

Medium, September 9, 2022 

Andrew Tanner

Ukraine Punches Back In Kharkiv

Outline of Ukraine’s push in Kharkiv so far. Blue marks estimated major Ukrainian formations, defense lines, and supply routes. Blue arrows show Ukraine’s apparent thrust towards Kupiansk. Reds show Russia’s attacks in Donetsk, and the area north of Siversk where fighting has been going on for some time in phases. Base image from Liveuamap. Light blue shows area Ukraine want to take to cut of Russian forces near Izium.
Move and Countermove in Ukraine. Blue solid arrows show recent offensives, hashes show the next logical target. Red is the same, except the red hashes show where Russia might seek to advance if it has a reserve capable of doing so. Base image from Liveuamap


quinta-feira, 8 de setembro de 2022

The puzzling impact of the Ukraine war on ordinary Russians - Adam Taylor (The Washington Post)

The Washington Post, September 8, 2022


Uma lição do México ao Brasil - Sergio Florêncio

Meu colega e amigo Sergio Florêncio foi embaixador do Brasil no México e até escreveu um livro sobre os mexicanos (Editora Contexto)

Uma lição do México ao Brasil

Sergio Florêncio 

Em 2010 o México passou um ano inteiro celebrando o Bicentenário de sua independência. No dia do aniversário o governo organizou atos cívicos em todas as capitais, com o propósito de resgatar seu passado,  de unir e integrar a nação , de  respeitar as comunidades indígenas e  de fortalecer a democracia.  

Hoje, em 2022, em flagrante  contraste com tudo isso, o Brasil sequestrou o Bicentenário e o usou para propaganda eleitoral. Uma festa patriótica virou mais um episódio   eleitoreiro . Nenhum presidente do Brasil no período da redemocratização transformou o 7 de setembro em palanque  eleitoral. Bolsonaro praticamente ignorou 200  anos de passado e o 7 de setembro do presente. Nenhuma palavra sobre como enfrentar os reais problemas do país  - desemprego , inflação,  fome de 33 milhoes de brasileiros , desempenho econômico . 

Em lugar de propostas para enfrentar os problemas do.presente e os desafios do futuro, o Presidente se concentrou em ofensas a adversário visto como inimigo, em manipulação politica da religiosidade do povo, em manifestações ridículas de machismo, em auto elogios vazios e em falsas  realizações .

 Conseguiu colocar multidões de seus fiéis seguidores nas ruas. Mas nao conseguiu comunicar qualquer mensagem que ajude a promover  crescimento econômico,   politicas sociais   sustentáveis e política externa que retire o país da condição de pária internacional. 

Nada construtivo foi mencionado.   Bolsonaro esqueceu o.passado de 200 anos, sequestrou a festa cívica do presente e omitiu o futuro. Diante de tantos absurdos, a sociedade deverá resgatar sua história e  afastar Bolsonaro para " o bem do povo e felicidade geral da nação".  A esperança vai vencer o ódio.


quarta-feira, 7 de setembro de 2022

O Brasil na conferência econômica de Londres de 1933 - Paulo Roberto de Almeida (Revista História Econômica e História de Empresas)

Paulo Roberto de Almeida:

O Brasil na conferência econômica de Londres de 1933: objetivos limitados, resultados pífios


  • Paulo Roberto AlmeidaMinistério das Relações Exteriores; Centro Universitário de Brasília (Uniceub)
História Econômica & História de Empresas, v. 24, n. 3, p. 593-624, 19 ago. 2021.
Resumo
Ensaio histórico, baseado em fontes primárias e literatura secundária, sobre a participação do Brasil na Conferência Econômica e Monetária Mundial, convocada pela Liga das Nações, e realizada em Londres, no verão de 1933. A conferência tinha poucas perspectivas de restabelecer o equilíbrio da economia mundial, seriamente abalado depois das crises de bolsa (1929) e financeira (1931) nos países avançados, uma vez que os principais atores, os Estados Unidos em primeiro lugar, revelaram pouca disposição em abandonar políticas nacionais para um acordo abrangente sobre comércio, finanças e câmbio, numa conjuntura em que todos eles havia abandonado a conversibilidade. O Brasil tinha objetivos limitados, vinculados ao comércio mundial de café e outras matérias primas, e ao financiamento de suas contas externas, sobretudo a dívida.
Relação de Originais n. 3956; Relação de Publicados n. 1432bis.

Brazil in the 1933 London economic conférence: limited objectives, negligible results