Riding the wave of Brazil's emergence as an economic power, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hasn't wasted many chances to increase his country's profile on the international stage.Lula is front and center today, hosting a state visit by controversial Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Iranian president's visit has raised some eyebrows in the US, with several experts claiming that Brazil's engagement with Iran will undermine the West's efforts to convince Iran to scrap its nuclear armament programs. Protesters also took to the streets in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to denounce the Iranian leader's controversial position on Israel, the Holocaust.
Delving even deeper into Mideast affairs, Lula expressed his hope to become more involved in the Israel-Palestine crisis and is promoting his goal of seeing a joint Israeli-Palestine soccer team take the field against Brazil's all-stars.
After many years of fruitless US-led efforts to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide, it seems unlikely that a soccer game will do the trick. But under Lula's leadership, Brazil will likely continue to become an increasingly major player on the world stage.
Image Source: NY Times
Online Sources: NY Times, AFP, Guardian, Bloomberg, Reuters
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