[Lula] faces major domestic challenges: a grim economic outlook following Brazil’s lost decade, a congress dominated by conservatives and agribusiness interests, and polarization that threatens the country’s very social fabric.
Outbreaks of communicable diseases in the developing world are bad enough from a health perspective. But they also have serious implications for social justice, because they exacerbate longstanding human-rights crises, including by undermining already-weak public-services provision and deepening existing inequalities.
In the possible absence of leadership—political, economic and moral—from the north, will South American nations go their own ways? And will some take the risky strategy of tightening relations with China?
