Brazil fluffing its lines?

by | May 14, 2014


The World Cup in Brazil is less than a month away and the bad publicity is mounting with the news that the coach of the national team is being charged with tax evasion in Portugal.

When the country won the right to hold the World Cup back in 2007, it was intended as a coming out party for the country which was riding a wave of economic growth and optimism as a new player on the global stage under its charismatic President, Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva.

But as the delays to World Cup linked projects become more apparent and some are even abandoned, there have also been accusations that Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, has blown his legacy and is retreating from his global ambitions. So what’s going on? Here’s a piece I’ve done for Yale Global

Author

  • Alistair Burnett

    Alistair Burnett is Director of News for Sightsavers, the NGO that works around the world to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality for people with visual impairments and other disabilities. Before that he spent 26 years with BBC News where he was the Editor of 'The World Tonight' on Radio 4 for ten years and before that Editor of 'Newshour' on BBC World Service. Alistair has a particular interest in international relations and the shifting power relations in the world challenging the traditional US and European dominance of global affairs.

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