Although I do not condone violence in any form, if you read the accompanying story you will see what happens when the citizens of a country feel strongly about something, in this case their opposition to the £10 billion being spent in preparation for the World Cup next year in Brazil. Can you imagine how our politicians would respond to such widespread expressions of discontent?

And then there is this, by Carla Dauden:

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Tens of thousands will march in Sao Paulo later Monday as protests against rising bus fares, soaring poverty, and scant public services in Brazil reach fever pitch.

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I say it’s to do with the sun flares and the earthquakes … something is seeping out of the earth, getting mingled with the gas sent our way from the sun … and triggering some violent impulses in our brains.  No jokes … I am serious.

Sao Paulo erupts over hike in transit fares.   Are you watching and listening Toronto Transit Corporation?   There’s only so much people will take and no more.  Especially, in lefty countries like Brazil, people expect the socialists to make sure that the cost of basic things remain within their reach but when the lefty govt. is unable to keep their promises …. all hell breaks lose.

The protests and riots are spreading to other cities of Brazil and it’s all due to police brutality. Those bullies just wait for chances like these to hit out at defenseless citizens … and all in the name of the law.

Adam Taylor writing at BusinessInsider:
….São Paulo Raised The Cost Of A Bus Fare By 10 Cents And The City Erupted Into Protests.  São Paulo has seen a fourth night of protests after an increase in bus and subway fares, and the BBC reports that things are starting to get violent.


The price rise itself may seem relatively insignificant — an increase of 3 reals ($1.40) to 3.20 reals ($1.50) per journey — but the protests show a growing unease with inflation and crime within Brazil, and unrest has begun to spread to other cities, including Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre.


Videos from the scene show police battling with large crowds, and there have been reports of petrol bombs being thrown. More than 200 people have been detained, and police are reported to have used both rubber-coated bullets and tear gas…….

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to São Paulo. Local time is 3:26 AM and the temperature is 17C.

That was a very Brazilian way to greet us after we touched down at Guarulhos, something that even us Argentines would not do. Of course my response was “OK, and how about Velez Sarsfield?”Turned out my team had been eliminated as well…

It’s my -I don’t know- ninth or tenth trip to São Paulo, and this one has been very different than the rest so far. First of all, and due to some urgent problems, I ended working from the hotel every day since I got here, until I made the decision to come to the office today so at least I could see some familiar faces. It was a stressful situation and we needed to have this particular problem fixed by Saturday morning at the latest. It took a lot of time and effort, but I managed to get things going by 5 AM. Lucky me.

Another big difference with other trips is that I actually had half a day off on Sunday. Now that’s VERY rare. Whether I’m coming here or going somewhere else in the US, for example, Sundays are normally very busy days. If I’m doing an upgrade, then it’s crunch time because we need to get everything ready for Monday 7AM. If I’m not doing an upgrade, like when I come here, I’m still working my butt off doing other things. I never plan for a day off when I’m travelling for business. I should start one day.

Since I didn’t have to work until Sunday afternoon, I actually went out for a long walk, and then took the subway to the downtown area. I was looking for a coin shop I had been to a few years before, and since I have a very good memory, it wasn’t hard to find it. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

There was some sort of Numismatic Special Event going on at that place, with people from all around Brazil showing their collections, trading, auctioning some rare items, etc. Within five minutes, I was registered, given a credential, offered an annual membership for only $S 50 and was walking around looking for at least one guy who might have what I was looking for: old Argentine bank notes. Things that happen to me…

I did find a gentleman, who was -of course!- the owner of the store I had come to visit (and that was two stories above the place where I had ended). He showed me all the Argentine banknotes he had and I found one that I was still missing, for which I paid R$10 (about $5). I put it on an envelope, along with this gentleman’s business card, then put the envelope in the catalogue I had been given and promptly left.

An hour later, as I’m exiting the subway and getting ready to go back to the hotel, I discover I had somehow lost that envelope. Now I will have to go back… >:-(

Crappy picture, but it was cloudy and dark too – Foto medio trucha, pero bueno estaba nublado y oscuro
  

Créase o no, así fuimos saludados por el capitán una vez que aterrizamos en Guarulhos, algo que ni en Argentina pasaría. Por supuesto mi respuesta fue: “OK, y qué pasó con Velez Sarsfield?” Resultó que mi equipo también se había quedado afuera…

Este es mi –qué sé yo– noveno o décimo viaje a São Paulo, y ha sido muy diferente de los demás hasta ahora. Para empezar, y debido a algunos problemas urgentes, terminé trabajando desde mi hotel todos los días desde que llegué, hasta que tomé la decisión de venir a la oficina hoy para aunque sea ver algunas caras familiares. Fue una situación de mucho stress y necesitábamos este problema solucionado para el sábado a la mañana como muy tarde. Me llevó un montón de tiempo y esfuerzo, pero saqué todo andando a eso de las 5 AM. Mi suerte de siempre.

Otra diferencia grande con otros viajes es que tuve medio día libre el domingo. Eso sí que es MUY raro. Ya sea que vengo aquí o voy a algún lugar en los Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, los domingos son días bien ocupados. Si estoy haciendo un upgrade, estamos corriendo contra el reloj, tratando de dejar todo listo para las 7AM del lunes. Si no estoy haciendo un upgrade, como aquí, de todos modos estoy laburando a lo loco en otras cosas. Nunca he planeado tener un día libre cuando viajo por negocios. Tal vez debiera empezar a hacerlo.

Como no tenía que trabajar hasta el domingo por la tarde, me fui a dar una larga caminata y luego tomé el metro hacia el centro. Buscaba un negocio de venta de monedas en el que había estado hace unos años y como tengo muy buena memoria, no fue difícil encontrarlo. Pero no estaba preparado para lo que me pasó.

Había un Encuentro Especial de Numismática en ese lugar, con gente que había venido de todo Brasil a mostrar sus colecciones, intercambiar, rematar items ratos, etc. En cinco minutos, yo ya estaba registrado, con credencial, me habían ofrecido una membrecía anual por sólo U$S 50 y ya estaba caminando por ahí, buscando aunque sea uno que tuviera lo que yo buscaba: billetes viejos de Argentina. Esas cosas que me pasan a mí…

Encontré a un señor, que era –por supuesto!– el dueño del negocio al que había venido (y que estaba dos pisos más arriba del lugar en donde estaba). Me mostró todos los billetes argentinos que tenía consigo y encontré uno que me faltaba, por el que pagué R$10 (unos $5). Lo puse en un sobre junto con la tarjeta del señor, luego metí el sobre dentro del catálogo y me marché rapidito y sin hacer mucho barullo.

Una hora más tarde, mientras salgo del metro y me dispongo a caminar de nuevo hacia el hotel, descubro que de algún modo perdí el sobre. Ahora tengo que volver! >:-(

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to São Paulo. Local time is 3:26 AM and the temperature is 17C.

That was a very Brazilian way to greet us after we touched down at Guarulhos, something that even us Argentines would not do. Of course my response was “OK, and how about Velez Sarsfield?”Turned out my team had been eliminated as well…

It’s my -I don’t know- ninth or tenth trip to São Paulo, and this one has been very different than the rest so far. First of all, and due to some urgent problems, I ended working from the hotel every day since I got here, until I made the decision to come to the office today so at least I could see some familiar faces. It was a stressful situation and we needed to have this particular problem fixed by Saturday morning at the latest. It took a lot of time and effort, but I managed to get things going by 5 AM. Lucky me.

Another big difference with other trips is that I actually had half a day off on Sunday. Now that’s VERY rare. Whether I’m coming here or going somewhere else in the US, for example, Sundays are normally very busy days. If I’m doing an upgrade, then it’s crunch time because we need to get everything ready for Monday 7AM. If I’m not doing an upgrade, like when I come here, I’m still working my butt off doing other things. I never plan for a day off when I’m travelling for business. I should start one day.

Since I didn’t have to work until Sunday afternoon, I actually went out for a long walk, and then took the subway to the downtown area. I was looking for a coin shop I had been to a few years before, and since I have a very good memory, it wasn’t hard to find it. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

There was some sort of Numismatic Special Event going on at that place, with people from all around Brazil showing their collections, trading, auctioning some rare items, etc. Within five minutes, I was registered, given a credential, offered an annual membership for only $S 50 and was walking around looking for at least one guy who might have what I was looking for: old Argentine bank notes. Things that happen to me…

I did find a gentleman, who was -of course!- the owner of the store I had come to visit (and that was two stories above the place where I had ended). He showed me all the Argentine banknotes he had and I found one that I was still missing, for which I paid R$10 (about $5). I put it on an envelope, along with this gentleman’s business card, then put the envelope in the catalogue I had been given and promptly left.

An hour later, as I’m exiting the subway and getting ready to go back to the hotel, I discover I had somehow lost that envelope. Now I will have to go back… >:-(

Crappy picture, but it was cloudy and dark too – Foto medio trucha, pero bueno estaba nublado y oscuro
  

Créase o no, así fuimos saludados por el capitán una vez que aterrizamos en Guarulhos, algo que ni en Argentina pasaría. Por supuesto mi respuesta fue: “OK, y qué pasó con Velez Sarsfield?” Resultó que mi equipo también se había quedado afuera…

Este es mi –qué sé yo– noveno o décimo viaje a São Paulo, y ha sido muy diferente de los demás hasta ahora. Para empezar, y debido a algunos problemas urgentes, terminé trabajando desde mi hotel todos los días desde que llegué, hasta que tomé la decisión de venir a la oficina hoy para aunque sea ver algunas caras familiares. Fue una situación de mucho stress y necesitábamos este problema solucionado para el sábado a la mañana como muy tarde. Me llevó un montón de tiempo y esfuerzo, pero saqué todo andando a eso de las 5 AM. Mi suerte de siempre.

Otra diferencia grande con otros viajes es que tuve medio día libre el domingo. Eso sí que es MUY raro. Ya sea que vengo aquí o voy a algún lugar en los Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, los domingos son días bien ocupados. Si estoy haciendo un upgrade, estamos corriendo contra el reloj, tratando de dejar todo listo para las 7AM del lunes. Si no estoy haciendo un upgrade, como aquí, de todos modos estoy laburando a lo loco en otras cosas. Nunca he planeado tener un día libre cuando viajo por negocios. Tal vez debiera empezar a hacerlo.

Como no tenía que trabajar hasta el domingo por la tarde, me fui a dar una larga caminata y luego tomé el metro hacia el centro. Buscaba un negocio de venta de monedas en el que había estado hace unos años y como tengo muy buena memoria, no fue difícil encontrarlo. Pero no estaba preparado para lo que me pasó.

Había un Encuentro Especial de Numismática en ese lugar, con gente que había venido de todo Brasil a mostrar sus colecciones, intercambiar, rematar items ratos, etc. En cinco minutos, yo ya estaba registrado, con credencial, me habían ofrecido una membrecía anual por sólo U$S 50 y ya estaba caminando por ahí, buscando aunque sea uno que tuviera lo que yo buscaba: billetes viejos de Argentina. Esas cosas que me pasan a mí…

Encontré a un señor, que era –por supuesto!– el dueño del negocio al que había venido (y que estaba dos pisos más arriba del lugar en donde estaba). Me mostró todos los billetes argentinos que tenía consigo y encontré uno que me faltaba, por el que pagué R$10 (unos $5). Lo puse en un sobre junto con la tarjeta del señor, luego metí el sobre dentro del catálogo y me marché rapidito y sin hacer mucho barullo.

Una hora más tarde, mientras salgo del metro y me dispongo a caminar de nuevo hacia el hotel, descubro que de algún modo perdí el sobre. Ahora tengo que volver! >:-(

I’m back in São Paulo this week, and at this point I can say this has become my most visited destination since I started travelling for business (it’s either my 7th or 8th time here).

Like the last time I came, my flight was delayed on Saturday. It was a problem with the landing gear and they could not tell when we were going to be able to go. Not willing to spend another night at the airport, I got my flight rescheduled for Sunday instead, rented a car (the airline provided me with a discount) and drove back home. Being able to have lunch with my family on Easter Day was unexpected and enjoyable!

I landed in São Paulo at around 7:30 AM local time on Monday and two hours later, I was still on my way to the hotel while I was writing this. You got to love traffic here! It took a good half an hour before I made it to my destination. Then I checked in, took a shower, got changed and off to work I went.

I love this country, and I love working with my colleagues here, they’re very good and they always make me feel welcomed! There’s a lot of work for me to do in this region, and a lot of opportunities. Getting to do what I do for a living but serving this region more often would be my dream job right now. Time will tell…

Best coffee in the world. No doubts – El mejor café del mundo. Sin dudas
 

Como la última vez que vine, mi vuelo del sábado dse demoró. Tenían un problema con el tren de aterrizaje y no podían confirmar a qué hora íbamos a poder salir. No tenía muchas ganas de dormir en el aeropuerto otra vez, así que pedí que me movieran al vuelo del domingo; renté un auto (me dieron descuento) y manejé de vuelta para casa. Poder estar en casa para pasar el almuerzo de Pascuas con mi familia fue tan inesperado como disfrutado!

Aterricé en São Paulo a eso de las 7:30 AM local el lunes, y dos horas después, todavía estaba en camino al hotel mientras escribía esto. Hay que acostumbrarse al tráfico de aquí! Me llevó unos cuarenta minutos más llegar a mi destino. Luego hice el check in, me duché, me cambié y salí a trabajar.

Me encanta este país, y me gusta mucho trabajar con mis colegas de aquí, son muy buena gente y me hacen sentir siempre bienvenido! Hay mucho, muchísimo trabajo que yo podría hacer en esta región, y un sinnúmero de oportunidades. Poder hacer lo que hago para ganarme el pan, pero dando servicio a este continente sería mi trabajo soñado en este momento. El tiempo dirá si se me puede hacer…

The BRICS summits to all  intent and  purpose come across as meetings of grownups in an otherwise juvenile and insane world.  With two commie countries  as the two most prominent members of the 5-nation gang, we are inclined to discard this group in our traditional “hate communists” spit out.  Then on second thoughts many of us are looking at what the other side has to offer and going “hmmmmmmmm”.   I,  for one,  am liking the stance the BRICS are purposing to take.  It’s high time the USA and the Rothchilds and their manipulation and plotting to keep the US Dollar as the only trading currency, if you want oil for your nation’s engine, is given a rude awakening.   They have brought it on themselves by signing all those agreements with Saudi Arabia and OPEC.  IMO, the BRICS’s  ultimate goal is to have a petro currency of their own.  That’s what is scaring the US$ lovers more than anything else the BRICS might purpose.

Although the media in the West is undermining the BRICS and their efforts,  we can’t get away from the fact that  there will be  increasingly important roles these members will be playing in the financial future of our planet and by extension to the downgrading of the American dollar.  The US $ is gonna fall folks.  Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, maybe not for the next few years, but the fall is inevitable.  I hope our Canadian dollar can withstand that storm.
The first vid below is from the BRICS #4 summit in India.

From DW
“It’s done,” declared South African finance minister,   Pravin Gordhan, even before the official opening of the summit on Tuesday. Later, Gordhan and his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, India and China scaled back their plans. The final communiqué mentions the bank, but details such as capitalization, scope of the bank’s activities, how projects would be distributed and where the bank would be based are left unresolved. So the club of five has once again missed an opportunity to dispatch a clear signal to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Before the summit, Oliver Stuenkel, professor of international relations in Sao Paulo, had described the successful founding of the new bank as a “litmus test” for the BRICS states.
South Africa had applied to be the seat of the new bank, which would have $50 billion (39 billion euros) in starting capital and would make funds available for infrastructure projects within BRICS countries. There will be a fresh attempt to get the bank off the ground at the 2014 BRICS summit in Brazil…………


From The Economist:
…..In contrast, the tentative step taken towards   pooling the BRICS foreign-currency reserves came with a figure. A safety net with an initial size of $100 billion would be “feasible and desirable”, said the communiqué—as long as there were the right “legal frameworks and appropriate safeguards.” At least four of the five BRICS countries have ample currency reserves; the issue was whether and how to lend them to other, cash-strapped emerging economies. The frameworks and safeguards to make this work might not be all that feasible or desirable. On this evidence the IMF is likely to remain the world’s lender-of-last-resort for a while.
There will be an interim BRICS meeting when the G20 group of rich and soon-to-be-rich countries gathers in Russia in September. The next full BRICS summit will be held in Brazil in 2014, the year in which the country hosts the FIFA World Cup, the granddaddy of all football tournaments. Perhaps Rio or Sao Paulo will see the full graduation of the BRICS as a global force. The Durban summit did not quite make that mark…





From Reuters:
At a summit in South Africa on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin likened the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to Africa’s “Big Five” game beasts of trophy hunting lore – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.


The Russian president’s comparison captures the dilemma of these muscular emerging global powers, which together present a formidable potential economic and political counterweight to the developed West, but individually could hardly be more different.


The question is whether the BRICS five can run as a herd or hunt as a pack on the global stage, transforming their diverse but collective strength into real institutions and coordinating structures to project their voice in the world.


At a two-day summit in Durban, South Africa, the leaders of countries that make up more than 40 percent of the world’s population and a fifth of global GDP seemed to have little concrete to show from their mostly closed-door deliberations……

It’s from last year but still resonates with power.

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