Politics

Recent Journalism

January 4, 2011
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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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Posted in Countries, Economics, Politics | No Comments »

Celso Amorim: Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Relations named “top 100 global thinker”

December 18, 2010
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Picture has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike. Original source: originally posted to Flickr as World Economic Forum http://www.flickr.com/photos/15237218@N00/2297276514/

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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Posted in Countries, Languages, Politics | No Comments »

Resources for Brazilianists

December 15, 2010
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Resources for Brazilianists

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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Posted in Countries, Economics, Misc. Topics, Politics, Uncategorized | No Comments »

International Relations vocabulary in Portuguese and Spanish

November 10, 2010
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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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Posted in Economics, Languages, Misc. Topics, Politics | 2 Comments »

Official websites for heads of state

November 1, 2010
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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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Posted in Countries, Misc. Topics, Politics | 2 Comments »

Game theory, prisoners’ dilemma, and Nash equilibrium

December 22, 2009
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Prisoners' dilemma

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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Posted in Economics, Misc. Topics, Politics | No Comments »

How to deal with a nuclear Iran: Military action vs. deterrence

October 9, 2009
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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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Posted in Countries, Politics, War | 2 Comments »

US Congress vs the UK House of Commons

September 11, 2009
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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 »

A memo on war and peace

September 11, 2009
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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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Posted in Economics, History, Politics, War | No Comments »

Obama’s victory speech: What happened 221 years ago?

September 10, 2009
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No matter one’s preferred political affiliation, few would deny Barack Obama’s keen ability to deliver a quality speech and capture an audience. He gave his victory ‘Yes We Can’ speech in Chicago after news broke that he had won the presidential election. In presentation style and word choice, many similarities can be found to...
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Posted in Countries, History, Politics | 3 Comments »