On behalf of the Anglo-American imperialists, Secretary of State Tony Blinken has been busy warning the presidents of Argentina and Brazil, Alberto Fernandez and Jair Bolsonaro respectively, to drop their planned trips to Moscow this month. Premised on the lie that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine “at any moment,” Blinken has argued that meeting with President Vladimir Putin at a time when he should be “isolated” internationally sends “the wrong signals,'’ and might suggest that both nations are taking Russia’s side in the conflict, the Brazilian Establishment daily Folha de Sao Paulo reported Jan. 31.
It’s likely that Blinken conveyed this message when he met with Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero in Washington last week, and, according to Folha, he has been burning up the phone lines with Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Franca, most recently on Jan. 31, to again warn against Bolsonaro’s trip. As of this writing, President Fernandez is already on his flight to Moscow, where he will meet with Putin on Feb. 3 to discuss a number of bilateral cooperation agreements in the areas of trade, science and technology, and vaccine production, among others. He will then go on to Beijing on Feb. 4 for three days of intensive activities, including two bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping, culminating on Feb. 6 in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on joining the Belt and Road Initiative. Bolsonaro is scheduled to be in Moscow Feb. 14-17, and also plans to visit Hungary to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Reports from Folha and other Brazilian media indicate that Blinken didn’t get the response he wanted from Franca, who instead told him that Bolsonaro had no intention of discussing the Ukrainian situation with Putin, and that there are other pressing bilateral issues to be taken up in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology, etc. It would appear that Itamaraty, as the Foreign Ministry is known, is in fact setting the tone for this trip, which is more in line with the pragmatic, non-interventionist foreign policy Brazil has followed historically when it has had decent leadership.
Add to this the fact that, at yesterday’s special UN Security Council session on Ukraine, called by the U.S. and the U.K., Brazil’s UN ambassador, Ronaldo Costa Filho, did not join the vilification of Russia, but instead urged all parties “to strictly observe international law. It is imperative to apply the principles enshrined in the Charter consistently, in a non-selective manner…. Open references to military actions, unilateral economic sanctions and other measures are developments that should be avoided, under the UN Charter…. Brazil also highlights the need for good faith in order to address legitimate security concerns of all parties, including Russia’s and Ukraine’s.” Blinken had secured Brazil’s vote in favor of holding the meeting, but certainly didn’t get its support for his warmongering.
In an interview with Record TV in Rio de Janeiro yesterday, Bolsonaro echoed Franca’s remarks, emphasizing that Brazil “is a peaceful country,” and expressed the hope that the conflict in Ukraine could be resolved “in an environment of peace and harmony.” If the subject of Ukraine were to come up, he said, “this would be raised by the Russian President, not by us. What we want is to increasingly integrate ourselves into the world on trade relations, and to the degree it’s possible, collaborate on world peace.” He added that “this could be a very good trip for Brazil,” according to Poder360, and also mentioned that Brazil belongs to the BRICS, the five-nation organization he has largely ignored during his presidency. But now, he emphasized, Brazil and Russia are partners in the BRICS, and “we do business with Russia,” and collaborate in important areas such as agriculture.
It’s noteworthy that Brazil’s Vice President, retired general Hamilton Mourao, who has tended to be intelligent on many important issues, in contrast to Bolsonaro, also brought up the BRICS in comments covered by Folha. “Let’s remember that Brazil is part of a group with Russia, the BRICS, through which we have a partnership with Russia. Russia is an important country for doing business and we can’t give up on that,” he said. As for Ukraine, he commented that he didn’t believe Russia would invade that country, and that in any case, Brazil is “very far away from that conflict,” although he added that “there are pressures from other countries that are more involved.” Brazil’s foreign policy, he emphasized, is based on non-intervention, defending people’s right to sovereignty on their own territory, and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Brazil will also work for this, he said, jovempan.com.br website reported.
