I’ve recently written a few articles for The Rio Times, a newspaper in Brazil printed in the English language. I will continue to write for the newspaper from time to time as I can fit it into my busy life schedule. Here are links to these articles along with their abstracts: Developments in Brazil Energy...
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Tags: Angra 3, boom and bust in Brazil, Brazil, Brazil energy sector, Brazilian nuclear power, China-Tibet conflict, Elektro, fora Bush, Iberdrola, imobilário en Brasil, imóveis no Brasil, journalism, PAC, PAC2, Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, property bubble in Brazil, protest in Sao Paulo, real estate bubble in Brazil, riot in Sao Paulo in 2008
Posted in Countries, Economics, Politics | No Comments »
Foreign Policy magazine’s last edition of 2010 laid out the “Top 100 Thinkers of 2010.” This is a good year for Brazil. Not only has the country’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, made the list, he scored 6th place – just after influential figures like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama. According...
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Tags: Brazil in the UN Security Council, Brazil in WWII, Brazil's foreign policy, Brazil's Ministry of External Relations, BRIC, Celso Amorim, Celso Amorim falando espanhol, Celso Amorim falando francês, Celso Amorim falando inglês, Celso Amorim hablando español, Celso Amorim hablando francés, Celso Amorim hablando inglés, Celso Amorim speaking English, Celso Amorim speaking French, Celso Amorim speaking Spanish, Doha Round, entrevista com Celso Amorim em espanhol, entrevista com Celso Amorim em francês, entrevista com Celso Amorim em inglês, entrevista com Celso Amorim em português, Foreign Policy, Itamaraty, los 100 pensadores del año, los principales pensadores del mundo, Ministério das Relações Exteriores, Ministry of Foreign Relations, negociação, o brasil na segunda guerra mundial, o papel do brasil, os 100 pensadores do ano, política externa do brasil, Premiação do Ministro Celso Amorim, Rodada Doha, top 100 global thinkers
Posted in Countries, Languages, Politics | No Comments »
International Trade & Business: BrazilTradeNet – Brazil’s Trade and Investment Promotion Department – an arm of Itamaraty ApexBrasil (Agência Brasileira de Promoção de Exportadores e Investimentos) – Brazil’s Trade and Investment Promotion Agency SECEX (Secretaria da Receita Federal do Brasil) – Brazil’s federal government agency responsible for administration of taxes and customs control ComprasNet...
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Tags: ApexBrasil, BBC Mercosur profile, bilateral agreements, Brazil's history, Brazil's Ministry of External Relations, Brazilian trade, Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Brazilianists, business in Brazil, Canal Mercosul, Celso Amorim, ComprasNet, customs control, degree in Brazilian studies, Dilma Rousseff, dispute settlements, doing business in Brazil, Eletrobras, G20, head of state in Brazil, história brasileira, Index of Economic Freedom Brazil, Instituto Rio Branco, Integrated Database of Trade Disputes for Latin America and the Caribbean, international relations in Brazil, international trade in Brazil, investment, Itamaraty, Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, Lula, Mercado Comum do Sul, Mercosul, Mercosur, Ministério das Relações Exteriores, Página Brasileira do Mercosul, Petrobras, PhD in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies & Theory, Portuguese language certification, Portuguese proficiency test, procurement portal, recursos para os brasilianistas, resources for Brazilians, Rio Branco Institute, SECEX, Secretaria da Receita Federal do Brasil, Southern Common Market, taxes, trade, UNASUL, UNASUR, União de Nações Sul-Americanas, USCS commercial guide for brazil, World Bank, World Trade Organization, WTO
Posted in Countries, Economics, Misc. Topics, Politics, Uncategorized | No Comments »
If you study Portuguese or Spanish and international relations (or related fields) this list could be of great use – especially if you are studying abroad and the host language is not your own. My methodology consisted of taking the glossary of terms from a slightly older version of this textbook and translating the terms one-by-one from...
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Tags: economic terms, international relations terms, international relations terms in Portuguese, international relations terms in Spanish, political science terms, political science terms in Portuguese, political science terms in Spanish, Portuguese vocabulary, Spanish vocabulary, subject-specific vocabulary, términos de ciencia política, términos de economía, términos de relaciones internacionales, termos das relações internacionais, termos de ciência política, termos de economia
Posted in Economics, Languages, Misc. Topics, Politics | 2 Comments »
While role playing with international politics I often ask myself what a head of state’s next political move will be. As with any competitive game, it is imperative to know your opponent. I’ve recently come across a few official websites (and even blogs) of heads of state for various countries. These websites contain everything...
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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Angela Merkel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Barack Obama, Brazil, China, Dilma Rousseff, Dmitry Medvedev, Felipe Calderón, France, Germany, Gordon Brown, heads of state, Hugo Chavez, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Khomenei, Kim Jong-Il, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Lula, Manmohan Singh, Mexico, Netanyahu, Nicolas Sarkozy, North Korea, Panama, political biographies, political psychology, PRC, psychology, Ricardo Martinelli, Rousseff's campaign promises, Russia, supreme leader of Iran, UK, US, Venezuela, Vladimir Putin, Wen Jiabao, Yukio Hatoyama
Posted in Countries, Misc. Topics, Politics | 2 Comments »
For those who enjoy using Lonely Planet travel guides from time to time when traveling internationally, you may enjoy this like I did. When I’m abroad and realize that bus routes, for example, have changed from the last print of the book I always email Lonely Planet the updates. Lonely Planet nicely mentions names of...
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Tags: Emile Phaneuf, Japan, Lonely Planet, South America, thank you, travel guides
Posted in Countries, Humor, Misc. Topics | No Comments »
When we typically think of numbers and counting, we think in terms of cardinal numerals (one, two, three, etc). Ordinal numerals, however, are numbers used to express a level of degree or quality (first, second third). After searching the internet for some time time for one good list of ordinal numberals in English, Portuguese...
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Tags: como contar em português, como contar en español, counting in English, counting in Porguese, counting in Spanish, English, English Portuguese Spanish number translation, how to count in Portuguese, how to count in Spanish, numerais ordinais, numerales ordinales, ordinal numbers, Portuguese, Spanish
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These collections of videos explain game theory – a game in which you can strategize your best move for a desired outcome. This two or more person game also evaluates your opponent’s move and how you can map both players’ corresponding outcomes mathematically. Once you have a firm understanding of how this works you...
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Tags: A Beautiful Mind, British institutions, decision making, Friedrich von Hayek, game theory, human behavior, John Forbes Nash, Michael Anuzis, Nash equilibrium, prisoner's dilemma, R D Laing, Russel Crowe, Yale YouTube, YaleCourses
Posted in Economics, Misc. Topics, Politics | No Comments »
Much of the West argue the best way to deter Iran from gaining the capability of building a nuclear weapon. The fact that Iran’s President, Mahmūd Ahmadinejâd, denies the Holocaust ever happened and wants Israel taken off the map only complicates the matter. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claims the country may already...
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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Fareed Zakaria, GPS, IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, international relations, Iran, Middle East, Norman Podhoretz, nuclear weapon, sanctions, war with Iran
Posted in Countries, Politics, War | 2 Comments »
In September, ’09 Republican Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina received widespread media criticism for outbursting, “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech to Congress. The speech was in defense of the controversial health care plan, and the outburst came about when Obama denied “he had… proposed providing coverage to illegal immigrants” (Newsweek). Shortly thereafter, Wilson...
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Posted in Countries, Humor, Politics | 1 Comment »
What conditions make war more likely? War, in the past few centuries, has been conducted primarily by nation-states. To understand nation-states and their actions, one must understand the fundamental elements which influence actions. State actors reflect individual actors; whether these individuals be a prime minister, secretary of state, king, or chairman of a central...
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Tags: Al-Qaeda, borders, Export Control Act, geopolitics, human nature, Iraq war, peace, Pearl Harbor, Rwanda, state actors, strategies of war, Suez War, The Next 100 Years, United Nations, War
Posted in Economics, History, Politics, War | No Comments »
The world has come a long way since the trench warfare of World War I and the Sergeant York’s who were able to determine the outcome of a battlefield by courage and weapon proficiency alone. Technology has changed the battlefield time and time again in the past 100 or so years. But what is...
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Tags: Apache Longbow, BigDog, Boston Dynamics, Electro Optical Sensor, Fire Scout IV UAV, Future Force Warrior, future weapons systems, Intelligent Munitions System, NLOS-C, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Unmanned Ground Vehicle
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When I studied at a Brazilian university in São Paulo back in 2007, I many times found myself having to lookup very subject-specific vocabulary over the Internet. Many times I had an English word that I wanted to express in Portuguese. Other times I learned a new Portuguese word at school that I wanted...
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Tags: foreign language dictionary, international relations, political science, Portuguese, study abroad, terms and definitions, translating specific vocabulary, translation tools, using Wikipedia to translate, Wikipedia, Wikipedia as a translation tool
Posted in Languages, Misc. Topics | 1 Comment »
The May/June 2009 print-edition of Foreign Policy magazine contained a piece called The Land of No Smiles. The piece was a collection of photos taken by Tomas Van Houtryve who went to North Korea posing as a business man trying to open a chocolate factory. An online edition of the article was also published...
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Tags: Inside North Korea, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-Il, nuclear weapons, Pyongyang, the land of no smiles, tomas van houtryve
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It’s about time I post something funny again. This video about outsourcing had me rolling.
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Tags: cheap labor, India, office humor, offshoring, outsourcing, Pakistan, sweat shops, the onion
Posted in Economics, Humor | No Comments »
