Ibne Siraj :
The great strategy for Vladimir Putin at this particular time in history obviously stands out as a visible fact that Russia is gaining and the United States is losing, demonstrating a positive influence in Latin America, when Washington is wasting the US peoples’ money in a futile effort to change the Middle East. The end of US influence in the world is accelerating, offering the global people some real hope for peace and stability in the future. While the US bankrupts itself carrying out its grisly military campaigns, covert ops and surveillance, Russia and China are quietly doing business around the world. The moment Putin is on a very important Latin American tour, it is guessed with guarantee that Moscow and Brasilia will try to move away from trading in the US dollar and will work on a mechanism for mutual use of their respective national currencies. The end of the petrodollar system, and the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency are now in sight. The US dollar will implode as fewer international transactions are denominated in dollars. There’s a lot of (well deserved) suffering coming to Americans. It’s like taking candy away from a spoiled child though. There’s the inevitable final tantrum. Nations of the world have to be prepared for the inevitable: the US and Israel will stop at nothing to bring about world war.
Broadly speaking, two factors are currently harming the US interests in Latin America. First, the burden of history insofar that several governments view relations with the US through the lens of Washington’s pseudo-colonial past.
Secondly, American decline, or in other words, a new reality in global politics that casts the US as one important player among several others. It follows that Latin American states now enjoy a greater degree of choice in the global economic, political, and military engagements.
In many ways, Russia is a natural winner here, for its’ capital, energy reserves, global influence, and military technology represent an appealing alternative to feeding the politically unpopular perception of US dominance in the region. Such was the dynamic at work during Putin’s recent visit to Venezuela.
The visit resulted in the announcement of a $1 billion USD deal for a consortium of Russian energy companies to develop the Hunin-6 oil field; a reserve that could end up producing up to 450,000 barrels a day by 2017. Venezuela needs technology-intensive capital to develop its vast energy reserves and is politically averse to dealing with Washington. Consequently, Russia is able to step in as a natural partner.
The political symbolism underpinning Russian re-engagement with Latin America cannot be understated. From the Rio Group’s announcement of creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELC)-a regional forum that excludes the United States-to Brazil’s more recent slapping of sanctions on a variety of American trade goods, there is no shortage of evidence to show that Latin America is committed to move out of the shadow of their powerful neighbor to the north. This issue carries symbolic weight on the Russian side as well. Re-engagement with Latin America offers Moscow an opportunity to reclaim some of the international prestige that vanished during the demise of the Soviet Union. To once again penetrate a region that carried so much weight during the Cold War caters to Russian nationalist sentiment, which just so happens to be a central pillar of Putin’s political fortunes.
Given the mutual benefits, symbolic potency, and the diplomatic space afforded by American decline, one should expect Russia to continue to deepen relations with Latin American states, much to the displeasure of the Obama administration. Bolivian President Morales’ calls for Russia to “return to Latin America” will likely go down in history as prophetic, because that is exactly what’s going to happen.
On July 11, Putin set off on a six-day trip around Latin America to visit Cuba, Argentina and Brazil and meet with leaders from across the region. The visit comes on the heels of a similar trip by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in May and is considered a further step by Russia to strengthen ties with countries outside the US and Europe in the face of disagreements over Ukraine. Vladimir Davydov, President of the Institute of Latin America at the Russian Academy of Sciences, called Putin’s visit “historic.”
“A visit from our President is a sign of respect for Latin America and a sign that Russia acknowledges the growing significance of Latin America in the global economy and in world politics,” Davydov said. It also comes at a difficult moment when the West is currently trying to isolate Russia. Moscow senses very friendly relations coming from the Latin American community, and that is extremely valuable. Puitin is signing a number of important agreements with these three Latin American countries to the utter dismay of the United States.
At the last leg of his visit, Putin will attend the 6th annual BRICS summit taking place on July 15-16. Delegates are expected to discuss the next steps to establish the BRICS alternative to the World Bank and a meeting will be held to foster dialogue between the BRICS leaders and other countries. Twelve Latin American leaders will come to Fortaleza for the talks. Putin plans to hold separate meetings with some of them, including Uruguayan President Jose Mujica. The global political experts are now surely taking their closer look at why Latin America is emerging as a region of new geopolitical rivalry, examining the strengthening of military and economic ties between Russia and Latin America, and analyzing how China’s expanding presence in the region may impact the political calculus of both the US and Russia.
On the eve of his visit to Latin America, Putin in Moscow said Brazil and other emerging powers must play a greater role in world affairs, suggesting they could do more to counter US influence. In an interview published on Friday, Putin framed his tour of Brazil, Cuba and Argentina as part of an effort to build a multi-polar world at a time when he is isolated by sanctions over Ukraine and his relations with the West are at their frostiest since the Cold War.
Russia sees strong relations with Brazil as “strategically important” in opposing the western clout, Putin says ahead of next week’s summit with fellow BRICS nations, which includes China, India and South Africa.
“This powerful and fast-developing country is destined to play an important role in the emerging poly-centric world order,” he also said assuring that Moscow would back Brazil to obtain a seat on the United Nations Security Council, where Russia is a veto-wielding member along with the United States.
Although Russia has fostered warm ties with Latin America since the Soviet era, Putin’s visit has taken on more significance given Russia’s fallout with the West over the Crimean issue. Putin’s visit to Latin America in the current international context is a demonstration that Russia is seeing the world more broadly and this visit shows the desire to create a multi-civilization world order.
Addressing the Russia’s ambassadors to foreign countries earlier this month, Putin said “the unipolar world order had not come into being” and that nontraditional centers of power had been gaining influence on the international stage. “Peoples and countries are raising their voice in favor of self-determination, civilizational and cultural identity, which conflicts with the attempts by certain countries to maintain their domination in military sphere, politics, finance, economy and in ideology,” he said in an apparent reference to Western countries.
(Ibne Seraj is a regular contributor to The New Nation)
