Power Sheet – March 11, 2016

-A Brazilian state prosecutor charged former president Lula with money laundering and identity fraud. The corruption scandal in Brazil just keeps growing, and this is by far the biggest name so far charged with a crime. By Brazilian standards, the charge is piddling—that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as no one calls him, secretly owned a luxury beachfront condo; he denies it. But prosecutors often build big cases from small beginnings, and this charge could conceivably lead into the much larger investigation of corruption at the state oil company, Petrobras, or to Lula’s political protégé, President Dilma Rousseff. Corruption is so rampant in Brazil, including in the judiciary, that we must be cautious in concluding anything. But a mushrooming investigation combined with a shrinking economy and an angry populace suggest that bigger changes are ahead.

–Aung San Suu Kyi’s party nominated a close adviser to be Burma’s president, a critical move in a delicate process of taking control of the government. Her National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last year, but she can’t be president, barred by a constitutional provision that the previous government created to keep her out. She has described her role as “above the president,” which grates on Western ears, though everyone realizes it’s accurate. After 27 years of campaigning for democracy, she has won, and the world will be watching what happens now.

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