Bilateral Relations | The Prism Schism

Sorting out the tangled mess that the impact of the Snowden leak on U.S. Brazilian relations promises to produce.

Federal police will check  Brazilian telecoms for clandestine cooperation with the Prism program.

Attempts are already underway in the Congress to fast-track the “Civil Code of the Internet” bill as a result of the incident.

Relations between the Cardoso government and the U.S. administration will be disinterred and dissected, I suspect.

(Booz Allen, the employer of Snowden, was a close strategic adviser to the Cardoso government, as one internaut has correctly pointed out. And lest we forget, the Kroll affair suggests that operations, not just analysis, are on the menu of services provided by the global consultancies. )

The end of this alleged strategic cooperation coincided with the term ending in the elections of 2002 — naturally enough, with the advent of Lula —  and ABIN, the Brazilian CIA, has not been the same since, or so I read.

It would not be heart-attack surprising if someone from the Brazilian intelligence world came forward with more fuel for the fire. What would be surprising would be news that ABIN and CIA-NSA never, ever engage in joint operations or share information. Colombian kingpins do get caught and extradited, for example.

At any rate, some information along these lines should be expected from an upcoming congressional hearing on the scandal.

Source: G1

[Caption] Thomas Shannon, U.S. ambassador to Brazil: the Ambassador did not respond to questions about the veracity of information on the monitoring of data of Brazilians. Source: G1

Thomas Shannon said today (July 8) that published information about the monitoring of information about Brazilian citizens paint an “incorrect” picture of the U.S. intelligence program.  Shannon met this afternoon with communications minister Paulo Bernardo to discuss the matter, and said that the U.S. is “contesting the concerns of the Brazilian government.”

“We have an excellent degree of cooperation with Brazil in the areas of intelligence and law enforcement. Unfortunately, the articles published in O Globo paint a picture of our program that is incorrect, and so we are working with the Brazilians to respond to the questions raised [by the articles],” Shannon said.

Marinho Avenue | In the Zone

Bridge over troubled waters: Roberto Marinho Avenue, which serves as a backdrop to Globo news broadcasts

Nabil Bonduki of CartaCapital on one of São Paulo’s most controversial  Big Digs: a bridge and highway interchange on the Avenida Roberto Marinho — dedicated to the memory of the founder of Globo and apparently part of a long-term plan to shift the city’s business and financial center from the Paulista to Santo Amaro and Berrini Avenue.

The exaggerated cost of the project led to its inclusion in the CPI do Banestado in 2003, a parliamentary commission on money laundering. Results unknown.

Pressured by “the streets,” mayor Fernando Haddad last week decided, correctly, to suspend the construction of a 2.3 km tunnel linking Roberto Marinho Avenue and the Imigrantes highway.

After issuing the “order to initiate” the project, which was contracted for by the previous administration, the mayor delayed its execution — indefinitely, one hopes — demonstrating that his rhetorical support for public transportation, unlike that of other officials, is sincere.