Dear Colleague,
This week, as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with leadership in the PRC, news in the hemisphere has also highlighted China’s advance there, and the expansion of strategic challenges for the US. These include confirmation of PRC operation of an electronic intelligence collection facility in Cuba (perhaps for more than 20 years) and negotiations to train People’s Liberation Army forces on the northern side of the island, creating the prospect of an enduring Chinese military presence 100 miles from U.S. shores.
With this email, I would like to share with you my new work on a different, but complementary and also serious strategic challenge: the foreign policy posture of the Lula government in Brazil and the challenges that it poses for the United States. That challenge is made particularly serious by the economic, geographic and military size of Brazil, its historic aspirations regional and global leadership, which it is pursuing now with renewed zeal, and the radical, anti-US tone that Lula has brought to that pursuit with his return to office following his incarceration in Brazil for corruption.
Brazil’s new and concerning strategic posture includes working with the PRC in ways much more political and hostile to U.S. interests than previously, supplimented by collaboration with illiberal anti-U.S. extra-hemispheric rivals Russia and Iran, as well as embracing anti-US authoritarian governments in the region such as the Maduro regime in Venezuela. The Lula government posture becomes more dangerous through the leveraging of support for an expanded BRICS, as well as CELAC and attempts to revive UNASUR, all within a region politically much more distant from the United States and more disposed to work with the PRC and other extra-hemispheric US rivals than during Lula’s first term.
The English-language article, published by Global Americans, is available here for download:
It is also available at the Global Americans website:
https://theglobalamericans.org/2023/06/brazil-and-the-illiberal-anti-u-s-alliance/
The Spanish-language version of the article, published by the Argentine news service InfoBAE, is available here for download:
The Spanish version is also available on the InfoBAE website:
https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2023/06/04/brasil-busca-crear-un-alianza-antiliberal-y-antinorteamericana-con-regimenes-de-izquierda-latinoamericanos-y-otros-rivales-de-eeuu/
Public Presentations, Podcasts and Radio Shows:
I would also like to share with you the links to my latest media work:
These include an interview (in Spanish) on the CNN en Espanol program “Panorama", discussing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s recent visit to the PRC and meetings with PRC Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CCP Central Committee Wang Yi, and President Xi Jinping:
https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/video/eeuu-china-relaciones-analisis-diplomaticas-panorama-mundial/
They also include the latest podcasts from my weekly appearance on the John Batchelor Show, part of his special ongoing series on Latin America, The New World Report. You may find these weekly podcasts to be a useful current analysis of key events in the region.
The latest episodes include:
Mexico’s Presidential Election (June 14): https://audioboom.com/posts/8317672-newworldreport-mexico-morena-chooses-the-next-president-latin-american-research-professor-e
Crises in Colombia and Ecuador (June 14): https://audioboom.com/posts/8317671-newworldreport-colombia-ecuador-sucide-in-bogota-darkens-the-petro-scandal-latin-amer
Ebrahim Raisi Trip to Latin America (June 14): https://audioboom.com/posts/8317669-newworldreport-raisi-the-hanging-judge-romances-caracas-managua-and-havana-latin-american-r
Website for all Publications:
As always, at my professional website you can access the present, and all of my past publications, as well as select webinars and podcasts:
https://revanellis.com/
Book on China-Latin America:
My latest book, China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy, is available through my publisher Palgrave-Macmillan, at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-96049-0
Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. If you would like to be included in my (always free) distribution list, I welcome the opportunity to include you:
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work and the opportunity to continue in touch through this medium.
Respectfully,
R. Evan Ellis, PhD
Latin America Research Professor
U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
@REvanEllis
Website: https://revanellis.com
Linked In: linkedin.com/in/robert-evan-ellis-19a07975
It is remarkable how deeply-rooted in the minds of the majority of individuals in the United States, including the scientific community, is the dystopian perception of the world. Constrained by divisive analyses that classify countries as allies or adversaries based on their alignment with Washington or lack thereof, perpetuating an unceasing state of military tension, always vigilant of an imminent threat that can only be addressed through a singular means: warfare. Openly critiquing the actions and diplomatic relations of other nations such as the PRC and Latin America, despite having engaged in similar activities globally for decades, provided it remained sufficiently distant from U.S. borders. Publicly advocating for "democracy" while discreetly participating in numerous coups against non-aligned Latin American governments. Evading any form of genuine self-reflection while paradoxically channeling extensive public funds into military defense abroad, while domestically, its own citizens are engaging in acts of violence against each other, lacking adequate public health assistance, or falling victim to opioid overdoses caused, actually, by its very own pharmaceutical companies. However, the United States continues to turn a blind eye to its domestic challenges and displays an overwhelming enthusiasm to partake in a worldwide confrontation as a means to tackle its own problems. It resolutely attributes fault to external elements or countries, all the while maintaining a complete lack of awareness regarding its own internal deficiencies.
some questions
- What's the difference between NATO equipments near Russia and China equipments near USA territory?
- Why are Brazil supposed to follow USA inspirations? Brazil has the right to have diplomatical/comercial relationships with other countries with asking to US for permissions. In the same way, US don't refuse to ally with dictatoships when it's convenient. There's no moral superiority of any kind in the way US deal with other countries.
- Lula discourse
-- USA don't decide things taking account Brazil. Every decision is firstly to do the best for USA, secondly too, thirdly the same. Why Brazil must obey US points of views? Brazilian government must do the best for its population, not for the United States.