Word: foreigner
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...year the Brazilian real was a currency on fire, appreciating 35% on interest rates that started 2009 at an unsustainable 13.75%. It was a situation that threatened to suffocate the economy, forcing the government to intervene in currency markets, cut interest rates nearly 40% and impose new taxes on foreign investment. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...year-old arms ban. Spain, which holds the E.U.'s rotating presidency until July 1, has called for a review of the embargo as a way of improving relations with Beijing. "We are all aware of the new role which China is assuming in the world," said Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. This is great news for China, especially given its fury over the recent decision by the U.S. to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. (See a brief history of U.S. Presidents in China...
...harsh tone from Beijing stings even more since the E.U. had hoped its new Lisbon Treaty - intended to create a more streamlined institution with a strong President and Foreign Minister speaking on its behalf - would ensure the bloc would have a bigger presence on the global stage. But China has historically sought to exploit the E.U.'s internal divisions to fuel its economic growth, not deal with the bloc as a whole. All of the E.U.'s biggest members have cozied up to Beijing at one point or another in the hopes of guaranteeing lucrative trade deals. (See pictures...
François Godement, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations and president of the Asia Centre at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, says the Spanish bid to review the embargo is especially ill-conceived since there has been no mention of trying to squeeze concessions from China first. "There seems to be some expectation of future Chinese goodwill of an unspecified nature," he says. "But China has steadfastly refused to give anything in exchange." Godement says Europeans have long deluded themselves that China will accept them as equal partners when, in fact, Beijing...
...opposition accuses of orchestrating the post-election crackdown. But the Iranian government has in the past effectively used American and Western pressure to delegitimize internal dissent, and it is doing so again. Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, who in the past has accused demonstrators of being agents of foreign intelligence services, said on Monday that the celebration for the anniversary of the revolution would be a "punch in the mouth" to the arrogance of foreign powers. Hopefully, the dispute between Iran and American will be limited to verbal fisticuffs...