Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan rolled out the red carpet for Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino on May 17, to formalize the new special relationship between the two governments. As deranged Argentine President Javier Milei has made alignment with Washington his top priority, Secretary of State Tony Blinken met with Mondino to sign a “Framework of Understanding” to establish a bilateral “high-level strategic dialogue” to deepen the overall relationship so the two governments can “do more and do more together.” The “strategic dialogue,” which will be launched officially at a later date, envisions cooperation in economics, science and technology, culture, educational cooperation, among other sectors. The relationship has “intensified” in recent months, Blinken gushed, “across virtually every front.”
Mondino, a neoliberal “Chicago School” economist, blathered about “shared values,” democracy and freedom. She emphasized that before the “dialogue” is officially launched, Argentina will work on opening up markets for its exports, promote Joe Biden’s bogus Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, and seek benefits from his Inflation Reduction Act.
The readout from Jake Sullivan’s meeting with Mondino and Argentine chief of staff Nicolas Posse emphasized that the U.S. can help Argentina in mobilizing private sector investment in the country’s technology and clean energy sectors—now that Milei is doing away with state sector companies and public investment in infrastructure. Strengthening defense and security cooperation is also key, he said, and praised Argentina for its recent purchase of (used) F-16 jets from Denmark which Washington pressured it to do instead of purchasing China’s state-of-the-art JF-17 Thunder jets. On regional and global “challenges,” Sullivan offered the U.S. line on Israel’s depredations against Gaza—no ceasefire without hostages being released, so let the genocide continue—which Milei promotes, and thanked Milei’s government for supporting “democracy in Venezuela” and condemning Russia’s “aggression” in Ukraine.
