Word: corruption
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Corrupt politicians are as much a part of Brazilian life as exquisitely skilled soccer stars, carnival queens and scantily clad beach babes. One post-war politician in Sao Paulo state won three terms as mayor and governor with the dubious endorsement that "he steals, but he gets things done." Former president Fernando Collor de Mello was impeached in 1992 over a corruption scandal, and in 2001 it was revealed that fraudsters had bled an astonishing $2 billion from two government agencies established to help the country's poor...
...fantasy "a kind of ultralight meal - stuzzicchini. It's the classic Tuscany book: give people what they want to hear." Then there's the opposite fantasy, equally skewed: "The pasta scotta: pasta swimming in garlic sauce. It's Italy as hell. Heavy stuff. You go to Sicily and how corrupt! Half of that is true." In his book, Severgnini cooks up a compromise dish: "Let's just say that Italy is an offbeat purgatory, full of proud, tormented souls, each of whom is convinced he or she has a hotline to the boss...
...plus. On foreign policy, I give him an incomplete. If it doesn't improve, it's going to be failure. I don't believe interventionism is the way to deal with rising Islamic revolution. We're seen in the Middle East as an imperial power propping up corrupt regimes and giving Israel the wherewithal to do what they did to Lebanon. The President is widely reviled...
...large degree by leftovers from the corrupt political class that once had a lock on power, they tried and failed to wrest power from Chavez with a coup d'etat in 2002 and a nationwide oil strike that paralyzed the country later that year. They only seemed to deepen their hole when they lost a 2004 referendum to oust Chavez and then boycotted parliamentary elections last year - a blunder that allowed Chavez allies to take 100% control of Venezuela's National Assembly and strengthened his seeming omnipotence. Since then, divisive infighting has been the opposition's norm...
...disguised nationalism but a series of deceptions practiced on a credulous public." Most sporting events have indeed gained an ill reputation for doping, bribery, hot tempers and even violence. The Olympics, football, cycling, tennis and horse racing have lost the glamour of sportsmanship and become a big business, corrupt to the hilt. All the same, they absorb the curiosity and interest of millions of people worldwide, if not for the competition itself, then for the nationalist politics. The way things are going, I wonder what sport will be like 50 years from now. Henry Assen Brussels