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QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary. I'm the director of the Latin American initiative here at Brookings. Speaking about responsibility, global issues like Iran, have your thoughts and reflections on Brazil changed during your tenure as Secretary of State? I have the impression, at the beginning of the Administration, Brazil was seen as part of the solution to deal with divisions in Latin America to global issues, like trade and climate change. But now it's more part of the problem. What are your thoughts about the role that Brazil can play?

MODERATOR: Particularly, in the context of the last two weeks, I would think. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I see Brazil as part of the solution. I see Brazil has having extraordinary resources and capacity to be put up against problems in our hemisphere and increasingly beyond. That doesn't mean we're always going to agree with the Brazilian Government policy. But Brazil - I mean, we want a relationship with Brazil that stands the test of time no matter who our president is or no matter what the political constellation in Brazil is. And I feel very strongly that on so many important matters, Brazil is a very responsible and effective partner. We could not have stabilized the situation post-earthquake in Haiti without Brazil. I mean, Brazil was there already leading MINUSTAH, the UN peacekeeping force. They lost people, both on the civilian and military side, but they immediately regrouped and came forward and are one of the lead nations in the rebuilding of Haiti. Brazil played a role in the small group that the President and I crashed into in Copenhagen in coming up with an accord out of the Copenhagen conference and signed on to its own commitments on climate change. We have a really robust investment and business relationship with Brazil. So there's a very, very long list of areas of common interest and of partnership that we will work on and expand.

But I don't know that we agree with any nation on every issue. And certainly we have very serious disagreements with Brazil's diplomacy vis-à-vis Iran. And we have told President Lula, I've told my counterpart the foreign minister, that we think buying time for Iran, enabling Iran to avoid international unity with respect to their nuclear program makes the world more dangerous, not less. They have a different perspective on what they see they're doing.

So we just kind of go at it. It goes back to Martin's point: what's the responsible position to take. I mean, if President Lula or Foreign Minister Amorim were sitting here, they'd say, we believe strongly that what we're doing will avoid conflict; it will avoid serious consequences inside Iran; sanctions are not a good tool. I mean, they have a theory of the case. They're not just acting out of impulse. We disagree with it, so we go at it. We say, well, we don't agree with that and we think the Iranians are using you and we think it's time to go to the Security Council and that it's only after the Security Council acts that the Iranians will engage effectively on their nuclear program.

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