April 16, 2024 (EIRNS)—After making a fool of himself over this past weekend, when he interrupted a U.S. and European trip to rush home and create a “crisis cabinet” to respond to Iran’s restrained drone and missile attack on Israel, Argentine President Javier Milei is now angling for bigger and better things. According to the daily El Cronista, and confirmed by other media, Milei is lobbying to make Argentina one of NATO’s “global partners,” on a par with Japan and Australia. During his trip to Europe, he had been scheduled to meet with NATO officials in Brussels. That will now be done by Defense Minister Luis Petri and Brig. Xavier Isaac, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Argentine armed forces.
Was this something that U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Laura Richardson discussed with Milei when she met with him in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, on April 4? The Southern Command coordinates with British/NATO forces stationed on the Malvinas Islands, and now wants to build a joint Argentine-U.S. naval base in Ushuaia. NATO is itching to move into the region. Escenario Mundial pointed out on April 10 that, even if Argentina isn’t part of NATO’s formal structure, it will “have a higher profile toward the primary rivals of the Atlantic Alliance, such as Russia and China, and Iran in the region…. It is also assumed that Argentina will assume a more committed role on matters of hemispheric and Western security.”
