Obama's potentially awkward Brazilian arrival Skip to main content

Obama's potentially awkward Brazilian arrival

President Obama arrives in Brazil on Saturday with his family for a meeting with President Dilma Vana Rousseff.
President Obama arrives in Brazil on Saturday with his family for a meeting with President Dilma Vana Rousseff.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Brazil abstained on voting on U.N. resolution authorizing force in Libya
  • Brazil says the resolution is too wide in scope
  • U.S. downplays the idea that Brazil's stance on Libya will cause tension
Brasilia, Brazil (CNN) -- Just hours after declaring at the White House that he has helped put together a "strong" coalition to launch military action against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi if necessary, President Obama arrived in a country that abstained from voting on the critical United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing force.
Obama landed in Brazil on Saturday for a bilateral meeting at the grand Planalto Palace with President Dilma Vana Rousseff, the first female leader of Brazil, which was one of just five nations that voted to abstain on Thursday night's vote before the U.N. Security Council.
A Brazilian official told CNN that Rousseff's government believes U.N. resolution 1973 is too wide in scope because besides opening the door to member nations imposing a potential no-fly zone over Libya, the resolution also allows those nations to take "any means necessary" against the Libyan government.
U.S. officials downplayed any notion that Brazil's position on Libya will cause friction at the start of Obama's five-day tour of Latin America, even though military action may commence over the weekend during the president's stops in Brasilia and Rio.
Obama will also be traveling to Chile and El Salvador, and the White House is hoping to keep the focus on efforts to create American jobs by boosting U.S. exports in this region instead of any tension over Libya.
"The U.S. enjoys a close and dynamic relationship with Brazil," said a senior Obama administration official. "We value Brazil's leadership in regional and multilateral institutions, including the U.N. Although we have not always agreed, we appreciate the strong working relationship we have and are fully confident that Brazil will uphold the Security Council's decisions as they've shown they have in other steps recently."
The other nations to abstain on the vote were China, Germany, India and Russia. The resolution passed anyway, by a 10-0 margin, thanks to the support of such key U.S. allies as France and the United Kingdom.
Brazil, a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, did vote in favor of the earlier U.N. Resolution 1970 that authorized tough sanctions against Libya to try to force Gadhafi to end attacks on civilians in his own country.
Obama said at the White House on Friday that the second resolution authorizing military action -- including the no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi from bombing civilians from the air -- is necessary to put further pressure on the dictator.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/19/obama.brazil.arrival/index.html
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...
1 comment
Read more

Ancient Rakhine City of Mrauk-U Proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Irrawaddy YANGON—Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture submitted the final draft of its nomination for Mrauk-U to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO on Monday, four months after the ministry submitted the first draft of its nomination in September 2019. If the application succeeds, Mrauk-U will be the third place in Myanmar to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the ancient cities of Bagan and Pyu. Mrauk-U is located in northern Rakhine State, around 60 km from the state capital of Sittwe. The ancient city was the seat of Arakanese kings from the 1400s until the late 1700s. At the height of their power, they controlled an area covering large parts of eastern Bengal, modern-day Rakhine State and the western part of central Myanmar. Much of the city’s remains are well-preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered between the lush hills of northern Rakhine. Mrauk-U Heritage Trust chairwoman Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy on Tue...
1 comment
Read more

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more