INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Media Reaction: Fx-2 Jet Fighter Bid

Published: Thu 7 Jan 2010 06:41 PM
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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: FX-2 JET FIGHTER BID
Op-ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (1-7) by Eliane Catanhede notes:
".....a U.S. or French representative - I'm not disclosing who -
used a provocation similar to one used by French Minister Herve
Morin against the [Swedish] Gripen NG: 'Does Brazil prefer a
Mercedes or a Beetle?' The answer seems obvious but is not. A
rich and 'bellicose' country that invades Pakistan and Afghanistan
with no timidity certainly [in an allusion to the U.S.] prefers the
Mercedes. But in Brazil, good-natured and with a tight budget, it
is an expensive and nonsensical luxury. Maybe it would be more
adequate, as the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) is saying, to have a
Beetle: a smaller plane, lighter, for half the price, with lower
maintenance costs and an ability to perform well in a possible
attack....the plane would also provide technology more directly,
with ramifications for private companies and good opportunities for
business .....the price factor is not an irrelevant one. The Lula
Administration ends in one year but the debt will remain......for
30 years.....And who is going to pay? FAB, which concluded the
last generation Beetle is good enough for a country like Brazil."
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