Episode 178

They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil but they’ve also got an awful lot of political and economic turmoil. Six months into his presidency, Michel Temer is overseeing the country’s worst recession; people are taking to the streets and the anti-corruption investigation “Operation Carwash” could see Temer himself impeached just like his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. Will the country wake up and smell the coffee and can it re-capture the optimism of just a few years ago? Joining Sputnik this week to help us find out is political analyst Victor Fraga.

And from South America to South Africa, and another BRICS country facing political and economic turmoil as thousands have been marching against President Jacob Zuma. The opposition have accused him of corruption while members of his own party say he is allowing South Africa to be run by wealthy whites and big business CEOs. To find out just what is going on there we invited George Shire, an expert on the region, aboard Sputnik to tell us what he thinks.

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