Showing that 77-year-old Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has the same foreign policy as his 67-year-old predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, Lula allowed two Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro harbor. Ousted from office Dec. 31, 2022, Bolsonaro was demonized by Lula for his close ties to 76-year-old former U.S. President Donald Trump. Under Bolsonaro, it’s highly doubtful, knowing his relationship to Trump, he would have ever allowed Iranian war ships to dock in Rio. Lula, like 80-year-old President Joe Biden, did a good job of demonizing Trump in 2020, turning the New York real estate tycoon into a white supremacist and reckless steward on the Covid-19 crisis. When voters went to the polls Nov. 8, 2020, they opted for change, sending 80-year-old Joe Biden to the White House. Trump attributed his loss to voter fraud but clearly Democrats and press wrecked his chance at a second term.
Granting permission to dock in Rio harbor, Lula continued Brazil’s economic policy of doing business with rogue regimes, buying oil from any fossil fuel dictator around the planet. Watching the IRIS Makran an IRIS Dena dock in Rio should tell the State Department that the Biden administration has little clout around the globe. Busy prosecuting a deadly proxy war in Ukraine, Biden has divided the world like never before, with the European Union [EU] largely backing Biden’s fight with the Kremlin. Biden claims he rallied the world against 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin but clearly Moscow has longstanding relationships with other countries. Under Trump, it’s doubtful Bolsonaro would have allowed Iran to dock in a Brazilian port. But when it comes to Biden’s Russian oil embargo over the Ukraine War, other countries, like Brazil, South Africa, India and China, don’t want to take sides.
Allowing Iran, a top-20 world oil exporter, to dock in Rio speaks volumes about Lula’s thinking in a world of shrinking oil supplies. Without diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979, the U.S. under Biden has been burning bridges at record speed. Biden has all but wrecked U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations for generations, over essentially nothing. Biden came to office blasting Beijing for committing genocide on Muslim Uyghurs in Western China and cracking down on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Biden’s foreign policy has lost the U.S. State Department so much clout around the globe that it only relies on select EU countries and staunch allies in Asia. When it comes to oil wars, other nations do what’s good for their economies, not act on Biden‘s whims. Biden’s foreign policy expects all countries to acquiesce to U.S. demands when it comes to Russia.
Biden miscalculated on the level of commitment to U.S. sanctions and Russian oil embargo. It’s no accident that Iranian warships dock in Rio, since Brazil s part of BRICS economy partnership, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. All BRICS countries do business with Moscow, despite the threats and recriminations from the Biden White House. Biden adopted Ukraine as a 51st state for whatever reason. Biden and Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky sell the idea that bankrupt, Ukraine protects European democracy from Putin’s tyranny. Most EU countries that pay dues to NATO know that it’s NATO, not Ukraine, protects European democracy. So, when it comes all countries following Biden’s demands, it’s unrealistic and against their national interests. Most countries want the Ukraine War to end but not on Biden and Zelensky’s terms.
Russia has always had a vested interest in Ukraine’s people, especially Russian-speaking enclaves in the industrial Southeast Donbas region. When it comes to the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, sizable majorities of residents want nothing to do with Kiev’s pro-Western government. Western officials and press forget that before the Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed pro-Western Kiev coup that ousted Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovich, Kiev enjoyed close ties with Moscow. Russian communities in Donbas expect the Russian government to protect its interest now as its done since the Soviet Union. Biden and Zelensky know that Russia had troops in Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion. Yet Zelensky has amassed U.S. and NATO weapons with the intent now of reclaiming Crimea, a battle that would escalate the war beyond anything so far.
Iranian warships docking in Rio harbor indicates that Lula continues his involvement in the BRICS alliance, doing business with Moscow, despite all the White House threats. White House officials led by 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinekn claim that China now considers supplying Moscow with ammunition and war material. Whether that’s true or not, who is Blinken to accuse China of conspiring with Russia when they’re Russia’s longstanding communist ally? Biden has alienated Russia and China to the point he’s at war with Russia and pushlng things to the brink with China. Shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon recently and accusing Beijing of supplying Russia with war material has only made things worse. If Biden gets another four years to hit U.S. national security with a wrecking ball, the U.S. future looks bleak, one in perpetual war.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
