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 with Lula ultimately deciding to go ahead with it. Brazil's two 
 operating nuclear plants, Angra I and Angra II, have an installed 
 capacity of about 2,000 megawatts. Angra III would raise its capacity 
 to 3,300 megawatts, at an estimated cost of about US$3.6 billion 
 (euro2.6 billion). According to several costing engineers, they would 
 be surprised if the plant construction didn't come in at least 50 
 percent higher than the current estimated figure, with the same being 
 true of the projected costs for the submarine. 
  
 An October 2004 article in Science by Liz Palmer, entitled "Brazil's Nuclear 
 Puzzle" reported that in 2004 Brazil had plans for a uranium enrichment 
 plant, 
 which, it if configured to do so, could fuel several nuclear weapons 
 annually. 
 It went on to explai 
  
 While it is true that Brazil wants to build a nuclear submarine, not a 
 nuclear 
 weapon, the feeling remains about Brazil's potential to become a global 
 nuclear power incrementally, if it chose to do so at all. It certainly has 
 the 
 resources and the personn 
  
 And who is the amiable Jingoist stoking the line of "uber alles""well, no 
 other than Lula. Yet there is still another chapter to the Brazilian story, 
 and that consists of the corruption that infusesthe nation's public life, 
 the 
 inefficiency, the hypocrisy 
  
 Interestingly, on June 8 there was an article in the International Herald 
 Tribune about the Russian nuclear power company, Atomstroyexport (a former 
 branch of the Soviet atomic energy ministry) and how Russia is becoming an 
 important exporter of nuclear e 
  
 A Nuclear Brazil: Is this Wise? 
  
 Lula appears to be resorting to the traditional waving the "bloody flag 
 of nationalism" in order to increase his personal popularity and 
 confirm the support of the nation's powerful military establishment, 
 although all is not sound here, and his placating is probably doomed to 
 not be enough. This call to arms comes at a time when his 
 administration was sent reeling by almost daily corruption scandals in 
 his political party and his administration. In the latest round of 
 nationwide discontent, landless workers blocked an iron ore railway 
 (with ore being a key ingredient for the production of steel) owned by 
 Companhia Vale do Rio Doce SA. The company claims only 300 individuals 
 protested, while the Landless Workers Movement insists they were as 
 many as 2,600, according to the Associated Press. 
  
 Lula's critics insist that, instead of allocating hundreds of millions of 
 dollars to a nuclear submarine program, why not address the multiple social 
 problems pressing Brazil. These include environmental and anti-poverty 
 initiatives to constructively impa 
  
 Finally, it is still illogical that Brazil even thinks for a moment that it 
 must have its submarine. The sub-continent, in spite of the arms race it has 
 experience in recent years, has not had an inter-state war since the 
 Peruvian-Ecuadorian border confli 
  
 Military Politics 
  
 By deciding to build a nuclear submarine, Lula is reviving the old 
 dreams of the Brazilian military. At the same time, he has certainly 
 given reason to the Argentine navy to push for even a bigger defense 
 budget at a time when the country is still recuperating from the 2001 
 economic meltdown. Both the Brazilian and Argentine security forces 
 have dark pasts that have sullied their countries' good names. The 
 possession of a nuclear submarine would provide both militaries with an 
 increased status that would be prejudicial to their still not 
 completely stabilized democracies and would allow them to question 
 their subordination to the civilian government. 
  
 It is ironic that Lula has declared his intention to build a nuclear 
 submarine. While he was a union leader before becoming president, Lula had 
 protested against such nuclear aspirations, but it seems he has now had a 
 change of heart. Why has this occurre 
  
 Curiously, the aspiration to acquire a nuclear submarine comes at a time 
 when 
 the Brazilian military is going through a process of upgrading. During a 
 September trip to Spain, in spite of the obvious disenchantment with many of 
 his senior military colleag 
  
 Logically, Lula has the enthusiastic backing of the Brazilian military 
 establishment for his drive to upgrade the military. But this is not 
 necessarily the case.On October 13, there was an article in the Brazilian 
 daily Correio Braziliense, regarding Braz 
 Opponents of the nuclear submarine and the nuclear plant programs include 
 Lula's Environment Minister Marina Silva. The minister declared that "in the 
 last 15 years, no country has built nuclear power plants because of the 
 problems with the waste []] We h 
  
 Taking the Arms Race to the Next Level 
  
 Brazil's renewed coveting of a nuclear submarine comes at a time when 
 the sub-region is already moving towards an arms race. Among other 
 regional countries, Venezuela and Chile are engaged in major military 
 purchases. Most recently, Venezuela has ordered the purchase of five 
 Kilo-636 submarines from Russia. Peru has contracted a number of naval 
 purchases a couple of years ago during the Alejandro Toledo 
 administration, including the purchase of four Lupo-class frigates from 
 Italy. Last year, Bolivian president Evo Morales declared his plans to 
 build a number of military outposts, with Venezuela's help to parallel 
 Bolivia's borders, including one facing its border with Brazil. It is 
 unlikely that other countries, including Argentina, will not feel 
 compelled to follow suit at some point in the near future as a result 
 of pressure coming from its own armed forces 
  
 With Brazil's neighbors now interested on increasing their military 
 capability, Brasilia arms specialists claim that the country has adopted a 
 posture on its prospective acquisition of a nuclear submarine that, from a 
 strategic point of view, would give i 
  
 An additional issue regarding Brazil's nuclear submarine has to do with the 
 de 
 facto violation of the spirit, or even the letter of the Treaty of 
 Tlateololco. Signed in 1967 and entered into force in 1969, the Treaty was 
 drafted in Mexico City to make Lat 
  
 And Washington's Reaction is... 
  
 At a time when the drums of war are beating regarding Washington's 
 tough stand against Iran's nuclear ambitions, and while negotiations 
 continue with North Korea, how will Washington policy makers react to 
 Brazil possessing a nuclear-powered submarine? 
  
 In 1991, Presidents Fernando Collor of Brazil and Carlos Menem of Argentina 
 signed an accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 
 Vienna 
 that provided for IAEA inspection of their respective nuclear programs. At 
 the 
 time, the U.S. State D 
  
 Other institutions that have yet to declare themselves about Brazil's plans 
 include the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and 
 the 
 Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the 
 Caribbean (OPANAL), based in M 
  
 The Nuclear Nightmare 
  
 It could be persuasively argued that Brazil's proposed nuclear 
 submarine is an imprudent foreign policy move for Brazil to take. 
 Conventional weaponry, in addition to the country's geography, which 
 features broad land buffers, should serve, as they have in the past, as 
 a sufficient deterrent to dissuade other countries from attacking 
 Brazil under any conceivable scenario. Some unkind soul might even 
 accuse Lula of engaging in a good deal of hypocrisy for considering to 
 carry out the plans that basically echo the aspirations of the military 
  
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 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)