The U.S. State Department has chosen the worst time to tell us such a foolish thing that China is no longer a human rights offender. PostGlobal asks us whether the State Department is right to say that. Obviously it is not. Look at what is happening right now in Tibet. The violence with which Chinese authorities are repressing the Tibetan movement for freedom and autonomy is completely unacceptable. If someone thinks it is a normal reaction against a separatist movement, look at what is happening in China itself. The Chinese have no freedom to express any disagreement against the communist regime, neither in the press nor in the blogosphere.

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The Current Discussion:The global economy is quaking. Are we heading toward a global recession? Who's to blame?

During the American inflationary surge in the late 1970s, the Fed raised interest rates to sky-high levels. Latin America was its first victim. Her external debt snowballed and the region entered into a deep recession. The 1980s are known as the “lost decade” in our economic history.

Things are different now. The largest countries in South America are accelerating their growth rate while the U.S. is falling into a recession. Argentina and Venezuela are struggling with an old Latin American enemy: high inflation. In Brazil, however, the inflation rate is right on the Central Bank’s target, the external indicators are better than ever, and we are on the eve of being rated as an investment-grade country. For the first time in decades, our private and public external debt is lower than our international reserves, which means Brazil has a negative external debt. Consumption is growing, fueled by rising incomes and the first expansion of credit in our recent history. Truck sales have increased by 40% last year; auto sales, by 36%; growth of durable goods sales has averaged 20%. Brazilians drink more Coke than the Chinese; the country is the third market for Coca-Cola, only behind the U.S. and Mexico.

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