With President Obama about to travel to Brazil [March 19], it looks as though Brazil’s new president may be keen to show a change in direction in regard to Iran and the United States. Days ago, off of the radar screen of most of the world, Brazil’s new government took the bold decision to dissociate itself from its past policy of looking the other way when Tehran commits human rights abuses by holding a lunch with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Iranian dissident Shirin Ebadi. This editorial from Brazil’s Estadao expresses relief that President Dilma Rousseff is planning to protect human rights in word and deed, and is dispensing with ‘parading its anti-Americanism around the world.’
