Rousseff: It’s Brazil’s time to join the big boy club
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, has a few gripes. The big, rich, powerful countries that have dominated the world since World War II have messed up the world economy. They have recklessly used military force to solve their problems. If that isn’t enough, they have refused to let Brazil play its rightful role as an equal ...
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, has a few gripes.
The big, rich, powerful countries that have dominated the world since World War II have messed up the world economy. They have recklessly used military force to solve their problems. If that isn’t enough, they have refused to let Brazil play its rightful role as an equal power in the U.N. Security Council.
“Brazil is ready to shoulder its responsibilities as a permanent member of the council,” Rousseff said in the opening address to the U.N. General Assembly this morning. “The world needs a Security Council that reflects contemporary realities; a council that brings in new permanent and non-permanent members, especially developing countries.”
Better get used to more of this kind of talk. Rousseff is the Brazilian voice of a group of increasingly assertive leaders that represent a set of emerging powers demanding a greater say in the way the world is run. She has been joining forces with her counterparts in India, Turkey, South Africa, in a bid to alter the way the U.N. does business.
In recent months, Brazil has resisted the Western-led military operation that overthrew Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi, and has sharply criticized Western efforts to rein in Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
While Brazil rply criticized Western efforts to rein in Syrian leader ning forces with her counterpard, she said today, “we remain convinced that for the international community, the use of force must always be a last resort. The quest for peace and security in the world cannot be limited to interventions.”
Rousseff made it clear she has no illusions about the harsh practices of dictatorial governments, recalling that “As a woman tortured in prison, I know how important the values of democracy, justice, human rights and liberty are.” But she argued that the “world suffers today from the painful consequences of interventions that aggravated existing conflicts.”
Colum Lynch was a staff writer at Foreign Policy between 2010 and 2022. Twitter: @columlynch
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