2 ms·

I'm curious why you'd call Brasil a country of middling importance. What countries in the Western Hemisphere other than US and Canada have larger economies, mil

I'm curious why you'd call Brasil a country of middling importance. What countries in the Western Hemisphere other than US and Canada have larger economies, military and local impact? Having the Amazon rainforest within its borders alone probably makes it an extremely significant nation internationally.

teractiveodular 2y ago
The really important countries are known as superpowers for a reason, and "BRICS" pretentions aside, Brazil is not in that club, it can't project power outside its immediate neighborhood and doesn't really even try. Economically, it's in the same league as Mexico.
- fignews 2y ago
  Mexico is the #1 trading partner with the US (even beating China) can Brazil really be compared?
  - matheusmoreira 2y ago
    No, it cannot. India and Mexico are where the factories will likely migrate to in the post-Chinese manufacturing world. Brazil probably wasn't even considered. It's kind of funny how Brazil always ends up named as part of the "BRIC" group. India put a spacecraft on the moon. Russia is, well, Russia. China is unquestionably a world power. Brazil is... The world's soy and cattle farm.
bpodgursky 2y ago
Brazil is fairly large in nominal terms but projects essentially no presence internationally, either diplomatically, economically, culturally, or militarily. It barely can even project influence within South America, despite being half the continent. I'm not trying to diss the country, not every country could or should aspire to hegemony... but Brazil could sink into the Atlantic and I'd read about it in the NYTimes two weeks later.
- guax 2y ago
  And this folks, is why us Brazilians look up to the US so much. The respect, understanding and affection we receive is unparalleled.
mr_toad 2y ago
After the US and China every country is middling, economically speaking. There’s a huge gap between China and the next largest country (Germany).

teractiveodular 2y ago

The really important countries are known as superpowers for a reason, and "BRICS" pretentions aside, Brazil is not in that club, it can't project power outside its immediate neighborhood and doesn't really even try. Economically, it's in the same league as Mexico.

fignews 2y ago
Mexico is the #1 trading partner with the US (even beating China) can Brazil really be compared?
- matheusmoreira 2y ago
  No, it cannot. India and Mexico are where the factories will likely migrate to in the post-Chinese manufacturing world. Brazil probably wasn't even considered. It's kind of funny how Brazil always ends up named as part of the "BRIC" group. India put a spacecraft on the moon. Russia is, well, Russia. China is unquestionably a world power. Brazil is... The world's soy and cattle farm.

bpodgursky 2y ago

Brazil is fairly large in nominal terms but projects essentially no presence internationally, either diplomatically, economically, culturally, or militarily. It barely can even project influence within South America, despite being half the continent. I'm not trying to diss the country, not every country could or should aspire to hegemony... but Brazil could sink into the Atlantic and I'd read about it in the NYTimes two weeks later.

guax 2y ago
And this folks, is why us Brazilians look up to the US so much. The respect, understanding and affection we receive is unparalleled.

mr_toad 2y ago

After the US and China every country is middling, economically speaking. There’s a huge gap between China and the next largest country (Germany).