Ahmadinejad Tests Brazilian Diplomacy

Jonathan Wheatley
Financial Times
November 23, 2009

Brazil’s status as an emerging world power receives a serious diplomatic test on Monday when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president, hosts Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s leader, in the capital Brasília.

Critics said the visit would lend legitimacy to the Iranian government following its disputed re-election. It comes as Tehran faces intense international pressure led by the US over its nuclear ambitions and alleged support for terrorism, along with the Iranian leader’s trenchant denunciations of Israel...

...Eric Farnsworth, a former state department employee and vice-president of the Council of the Americas, a foreign policy think-tank, said: “Brazil’s growing influence on the global stage means that leaders with whom the president of Brazil chooses to meet gain greater credibility and, indeed, legitimacy.”

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said: “Brazil can’t have it both ways. It can’t be a world player and expect to receive Ahmadi-Nejad and have nobody notice. Everyone will notice and none of [the reactions] will be positive.”

To read the entire article, click here.

To speak with one of our experts on this topic, call 212-277-8384 or email communications@as-coa.org.

See more in:  Brazil, Democracy & Elections