- (december 2008)
The Latin American conference and the USA.
The USA was not invited at the summit meeting in Brazil of the leaders of Latin
America and the Caribbeans. The idea was to show that the USA is no longer
the influential neighbor that it used to be (and, indirectly, to assert that
Brazil is the new powerhouse of the region).
Raul Castro of Cuba was hailed as a hero. Chavez didn't miss the opportunity
to entertain with his clownish jokes. And Morales of Bolivia even asked for
boycotting the USA until it lifts the embargo against Cuba.
The only one who has a good point is Morales. It is ridiculous that the USA
does business with totalitarian regimes like mainland China and Saudi Arabia
(the former even threatens a USA ally, Taiwan, and the latter even funded a
terrorist attack against the USA) but then refuses to deal with the small
and humble country of Cuba because it is run by a dictator. Either the USA
bans trade with Saudi Arabia and mainland China, or it should restore trade
with Cuba. As it stands now, the policy of the USA is just
a self-inflicted wound to its prestige and credibility.
However, the main thing to come out of this USA-less summit is how important
the USA is for these leaders. One wonders what they would talk about if the
USA did not exist. For a meeting that ostensibly excluded the USA, they spent
most of the time talking about the USA. Latin leaders never miss an opportunity
to embarrass themselves and to show how little credibility they have.
The world paid little attention to Brazil's announcement that it will "upgrade"
its military. Lula said that Brazil needs to be ready to defend itself against
potential aggression. Given that Brazil has not been invaded in more than a
century, one wonders who that aggressor could possibly be.
Certainly not the USA (that, in any case, could easily annihilate Brazil with
nuclear bombs). Brazil's "upgrade" will mainly help protect the Amazonian
borders. You don't have to look too far: Venezuela is the only country
in Latin America that has spent huge amounts of money to "modernize" its
military, buying $4 billion of arms from Russia. That day Chavez started an arms
race in South America.
TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
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