whip up xenophobia. This antagonism is directed more towards the distant Americans and, to a lesser extent, Europeans.The end of mass immigration almost a century ago has left Brazil and Latin America more isolated culturally from Europe. Economically, the rise of the Pacific Rim countries and the break-up of the Soviet Union have pushed Latin America even further aside.Compare the pace of development of places like Japan and South Korea over the last 40 years with the decline of Brazil and Argentina. These trends have helped marginalize Brazil and South America and the region has struggled to cope with globalization. English Not Spoken HereThis indifference to foreign affairs is seen in domestic politics. Few politicians have any interest in foreign affairs or speak another language, even Spanish. Lula has frequently sneered at his polyglot predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, probably the most cosmopolitan of Brazilian politicians.Lula showed his own ignorance earlier this year when he told a meeting in New York that Brazil shared a border with every Latin American country except Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia, overlooking the fact that Brazil has a 3,000 kilometer border with Bolivia.This inward-looking approach does not prevent politicians going on foreign trips usually described as "fact-finding" missions. Sao Paulo state governor and potential presidential candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, recently visited the Middle East and India.Former president Jose Sarney is a Francophile and is constantly in France although how these visits help his constituents in Amapa is a mystery. Events like the opening of the United Nations General Assembly always draw a Congressional contingent, which can spend an enjoyable few days in Manhattan visiting Central Park and catching the latest Broadway musical at the taxpayers' expense.The result of this popular and political lack of interest is that foreign policy is left in the hands of the officials at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia. The FOREIGN MINISTER in this government, Celso Amorim, is a career diplomat rather than a politician. His predecessor in the Cardoso government, Celso Lafer, was also not a politician.This is part of a tradition going back a century. The Baron of Rio Branco, who helped shape Brazil's modern frontiers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, said on assuming the post of Foreign Minister: "I have not come here to serve a political party but to serve our Brazil which we all want to see united, integrated, strong and respected."In an article which appeared in the November issue of the magazine "Nossa Historia", Professor Francisco Doratioto of the Catholic University of Brasilia, said of Rio Branco's statement: "It established, therefore, the principle that the Itamaraty represents the interests of the Brazilian nation and not those of the government..."This directive resulted in Brazilian foreign policy being more consistent and coherent in the following decades than that of neighboring countries where diplomatic activity varied as governments changed, making it difficult for them to defend their national interests." This is how the current head of the Itamaraty, Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes Neto, summed up Brazil's foreign policy when he assumed office in 2003: "Political and economic cooperation with Europe,