Crypto News: Unfiltered rhetoric

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva started his third presidential term telling the international community that "Brazil was back" on the global stage.

But the leftist leader's latest international forays have upset many allies and left most wondering what exactly he's trying to accomplish.

The latest example came during Lula's emphatic defense of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro on the eve of a summit of South American leaders that Brazil organized to assert its regional clout. Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, the Brazilian president said, have been falsely described as anti-democratic and authoritarian by enemies seeking to destroy them.

Key Reading:
Lula's Support of Maduro Clouds Summit of South American Leaders
Lula Lashes Out and Sends Warning to Central Bankers Everywhere
Maduro Visits Brazil in a Blow to US Strategy of Isolation
Lula Declines Invite to Russia After Failing to Meet Zelenskiy
Brazil's Amazon Region to Host UN Climate Summit in 2025

For Lula, it's about time to change a "fake narrative" that has only served to justify the imposition of numerous economic sanctions hurting not only Venezuela but also its South American trading partners.

Yet his remarks drew public rebukes left and right.

Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay said the region's leaders could not "bury their heads in the sand" and ignore Maduro's abuses of democracy and human rights.

Even Chile's Gabriel Boric, a leftist president who has called on the US to lift economic sanctions against Caracas, said Venezuela's human rights situation isn't merely a narrative, but a "serious reality."

The ensuing debate shifted the summit's focus to human rights and pushed the economic integration Lula wanted to prioritize into the background. Worse, it undermined his ability to lead a region where several leftist leaders have risen to power in the past few years.

To be sure, Lula has always sought to forge his own path in global geopolitics, for instance playing both sides in the US-China competition while trying to represent developing nations that were left behind.

But his unfiltered rhetoric has done little to improve his image as an impartial mediator in crucial world affairs, including environmental issues and Russia's war on Ukraine. —Walter Brandimarte

Maduro and Lula at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia on Monday. Photographer: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images

Listen to our Twitter Space discussion today at 8am ET (1pm London) on what is in store for Turkey, its regional role and ties with the US after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan extended his 20-year rule.

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The debt-limit deal struck by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is heading to a vote today in the House of Representatives after clearing a crucial procedural hurdle. Congress is racing to pass the measure before June 5, the date when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US risks default.

McCarthy dismissed threats from Republican hard-liners to oust him over the agreement.
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China's economic recovery weakened in May as manufacturing activity continued to slump, with the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index falling to its lowest since December, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. That has prompted calls for more stimulus measures, such as interest rate cuts, as investors turn increasingly bearish about the growth outlook.

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Maia Sandu. Photographer: Ioana Moldovan/Bloomberg

The Biden administration is divided over how aggressively new artificial intelligence tools should be regulated, leaving it without a coherent response during this week's US-EU Trade and Technology Council gathering in Sweden. Some officials support EU proposals to subject AI products such as ChatGPT and Dall-E to strong regulation, while others fear that will hurt US competitiveness, sources say.

With over 75,000 charging points, electric vehicle owners in urban areas of Hainan, an island in southern China the size of Belgium, are usually no more than a mile or two from somewhere to power up their cars. The network is part of a plan to end sales of fossil fuel cars by 2030 and have EVs and hybrids account for 45% of vehicles in Hainan, the only place in China to set such a goal.

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The US urged Serbia and Kosovo to immediately de-escalate tensions in northern Kosovo after clashes injured dozens of peacekeepers and protesters, intensifying the international call for calm.
NATO foreign ministers begin a two-day meeting in Oslo today, where they'll discuss Ukraine's bid to join the military alliance as well as how to boost defense spending.

And finally ... Long known as a soggy nation due to its plentiful rainfall, the UK risks becoming a cautionary tale of how a developed country can squander its most important resource. A fifth of its water supply is lost through leaks, and climate change is shifting once-benign weather patterns toward extremes of heavy rain and drought. By 2050, the UK's Environment Agency expects the gap between available water and what's needed by homes and businesses to reach enough to fill 1,600 Olympic-size swimming pools a day in England.