The world's longest Zoom call is underway at the United Nations General Assembly today. As is customary, Brazil was the first country to deliver a speech. And as expected, President Jair Bolsonaro came out swinging, targeting enemies real and imagined.
Although he careened wildly from topic to topic, a few themes stood out. It was a speech, as the saying goes, "for the English to see". It was also a full-throttled attack against the media and anyone who deigns to disagree with him. Bolsonaro's intervention was red meat for his most ardent supporters, many who are suspicious of global institutions such as the United Nations and love to see their dear leader give globalists a good thrashing.
Bolsonaro started on familiar ground, reminding his fellow leaders that despite all the negative publicity, Brazil is "open for business". He claimed that the country registered unprecedented inflows of foreign investment under his administration when in fact the reverse is the case. He also lauded the country's powerful agro-industrial sector, a key supporter of the president, which he says is feeding over a sixth of the global population. At times Bolsonaro strayed out of his comfort zone, including on issues related to the digital economy, artificial intelligence and data protection.
