Brazil builds its own fiber optic network to avoid the NSA

This past week Brazil announced that it will be building a 3,500-mile fiber-optic cable to Portugal in order to avoid the grip of the NSA.

What’s more, they announced that not a penny of the $185 million expected to be spent on the project will go to American firms, simply because they don’t want to take any chances that the US government will tap the system.

It’s incredible how far now individuals, corporations, and even governments are willing to go to protect themselves from the government of the Land of the Free.

The German government, especially upset by the discovery of US spying within its borders, has come up with a range of unique methods to block out prying ears.

They have even gone so far as to play classical music loudly over official meetings so as to obfuscate the conversation for any outside listeners.

They’ve also seriously contemplated the idea of returning back to typewriters to eliminate the possibilities of computer surveillance.

More practically, the government of Brazil has banned the use of Microsoft technologies in all government offices, something that was also done in China earlier this year.

Complete story at - Brazil builds its own fiber optic network to avoid the NSA

Russian news: Brazil Disses the US, Reelects pro-BRICS Rousseff - Russia Insider

The successful reelection of Dilma Rousseff to the presidency of Brazil on Sunday, October 26th, will undoubtedly give a boost not only to Russian-Brazil relations but also to the BRICS Development Bank and to the emergence of multipolar world more generally. Whereas the US media has for the most part tacitly supported the center-right candidate Alécio Neves while warning that a Rousseff reelection will strongly harm international investments in Brazil, Brazilians have decided to vote for who they believed would best serve their best interest and granted Dilma Rousseff 51.6% of the vote.

While Neves was supportive of stronger ties with the US and did not voice support for the new BRICS Development Bank that stands as an alternative, however modest, to the International Monetary Fund, Rousseff has shown that she is not fearful of expressing Brazil’s independent voice in the international arena. Following the tapping of her private conversations by the United States National Security Agency, Rousseff canceled her trip to the United States in September 2013. Trade with the US on defense and energy had also declined. In her speeches in the United Nations in 2013 and 2014, Rousseff warned against US hubris and its meddling in other countries affairs.

It may be interesting to note that Rousseff was not fearful of taking a strong position after Brazil’s trust in the US was violated, arguing that such behavior should not be carried out by partners, much as Russia did not hesitate to take strong actions following the US support for fascist groups who carried out the coup in Kiev.

While some Western pundits were hoping that following the annexation of the Crimea, Russia would become isolated and forced to surrender to US dictates, not only did cooperation among BRICS nations increase (leading to the formation of the BRICS Development Bank), but President Putin is now viewed in the developing world as a courageous leader who has the stamina to stand up to Western bullying despite the immense economic leverage the US carries.

Complete story at - Russian news: Brazil Disses the US, Reelects pro-BRICS Rousseff - Russia Insider

Divide and Conquer in Latin America: Sabotaging BRICS in 'our backyard' -- Puppet Masters -- Sott.net

Since the beginning of the Western-engineered crisis in Ukraine, the world has been bombarded with propaganda about how Evil Russia is. Yet, despite what we're all being asked to believe, there was no "Russian invasion", MH17 was not shot down by Russia, and Ukraine has de facto split in two. While these manipulated events on Russia's borders grab the headlines, let's take a look at what is going on behind the scenes in "America's backyard", as John Kerry shamelessly described Latin America in April this year.

The century-long pretense upheld by American leaders that their country is a Republic is betrayed by Kerry's imperious language, and he obviously needs diplomacy (not to mention geography) lessons. Besides, he was clearly referring to Latin America, even though, technically, the US is also part of the "Western Hemisphere".

Anyway, you've also probably heard about President Putin's visit to Latin America and the BRICS's Summit in Brazil. The existential danger that BRICS presents for the Western 'elite' is obvious; the alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa represents a serious political and economic alternative to the current US system of global hegemony. And it's growing, with countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Iran, Mongolia, Malaysia and others interested in joining. Currently, BRICS represents almost half of the world population and close to a third of the global GDP.

This is what Vladimir Putin had to say during an interview regarding BRICS before the Summit:

The modern world is indeed multipolar, complex, and dynamic - this is objective reality. Any attempts to create a model of international relations where all decisions are made within a single 'pole' are ineffective, malfunction regularly, and are ultimately set to fail.

Those are the reasons why the interaction format proposed by Russia for such influential states such as the BRICS members has proved to be needed. Our joint efforts have contributed to enhancing predictability and sustainability in international relations.

I believe it is time to raise the BRICS' role to a new level and to make our association an unalienable part of the global management system for sustainable development.

Complete story at - Divide and Conquer in Latin America: Sabotaging BRICS in 'our backyard' -- Puppet Masters -- Sott.net

Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle

For decades social critics have bemoaned the influence of sports and entertainment spectacles in ‘distracting’ workers from struggling for their class interests. According to these analysts, ‘class consciousness’ was replaced by ‘mass’ consciousness. They argued that atomized individuals, manipulated by the mass media, were converted into passive consumers who identified with millionaire sports heroes, soap opera protagonists and film celebrities.

The culmination of this ‘mystification’ – mass distraction –were the ‘world championships’ watched by billions around the world and sponsored and financed by billionaire corporations: the World Series (baseball), the World Cup (soccer/futbol), and the Super Bowl (American football).

Today, Brazil is the living refutation of this line of cultural-political analysis. Brazilians have been described as ‘football crazy’. Its teams have won the most number of World Cups. Its players are coveted by the owners of the most important teams in Europe. Its fans are said to “live and die with football” . . . Or so we are told.

Yet it is in Brazil where the biggest protests in the history of the World Cup have taken place. As early as a year before the Games, scheduled for June 2014, there have been mass demonstrations of up to a million Brazilians. In just the last few weeks, strikes by teachers, police, construction workers and municipal employees have proliferated. The myth of the mass media spectacles mesmerizing the masses has been refuted - at least in present-day Brazil.

To understand why the mass spectacle has been a propaganda bust it is essential to understand the political and economic context in which it was launched, as well as the costs and benefits and the tactical planning of popular movements.

The Political and Economic Context: The World Cup and the Olympics

In 2002, the Brazilian Workers Party candidate Lula DaSilva won the presidential elections. His two terms in office (2003 – 2010) were characterized by a warm embrace of free market capitalism together with populist poverty programs. Aided by large scale in-flows of speculative capital, attracted by high interest rates, and high commodity prices for its agro-mineral exports, Lula launched a massive poverty program providing about $60 a month to 40 million poor Brazilians, who formed part of Lula’s mass electoral base. The Workers Party reduced unemployment, increased wages and supported low-interest consumer loans, stimulating a ‘consumer boom’ that drove the economy forward.

To Lula and his advisers, Brazil was becoming a global power, attracting world-class investors and incorporating the poor into the domestic market.

Complete story at - Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle