Here he reflects on the love-hate relationship his country has with the US.

Brazilians' feelings towards the United States have turned bitter, to say the least.

There has always been a stream of anti-Americanism running through Brazil's intelligentsia.

A double-sided sort of mistrust was fed through populist politics by the nationalist dictatorships which ruled most of Latin America through the 1980s.

But together with political malaise, an unabashed admiration of the American way of life also ran deep in people's minds.

Movies, jeans, music, comics and heroes formed a solid cultural block which eventually became a model for art and business.

The critical view of the US, shared by other nations, tends to confound the American Government and the American people, who in the end carry the blame for the Bush administration's foreign policy simplifications.

American empire?

The "You are either with us or against us" syndrome has made things worse.

In other words, the war against Iraq deepened the perception of the United States as an empire which simply dictates its overwhelming economic and strategic interests, defying any diplomatic considerations, even if it meant running over the UN, as it did.

Few journalists and commentators stressed the international importance of getting rid of a ruthless dictator such as Saddam Hussein.

The existence of many cumbersome dictatorships on the United States' side, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to name a few, has made the argument pointless.

To say nothing of the fact that the reason for the war - weapons of mass destruction illegally possessed by Saddam Hussein's regime - is now little more than a cynical excuse.

Still, the cult of American values such as freedom and cultural glamour persist.

One wonders if consumer goods and Gwyneth Paltrow's charm at the Oscar extravaganza can by themselves turn the page on a damaged record.