Moctezuma faces Cortés. ("Réplica de Cera de Moctezuma y Hernán Cortes). Photo: Antxoa is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
By Pepe Escobar – Mar 1, 2023
Lula’s moves toward the US seem collaborationist. His condemnation of Russia’s SMO strikes a note of discord in the multipolarist alliance.
Moctezuma was the last de facto emperor of the Aztecs. It is known that during his reign the Aztec Empire reached its peak in terms of expansionist activity, political reforms and infrastructure construction. On the other hand, according to the more popular version, Moctezuma promptly surrendered to the Spanish newcomers without any resistance, betraying his people and then helped the European colonizers to rule until his death.
Moctezuma’s biography is the subject of intense dispute among serious historians, and much of what is known and taught in history courses is based on documents written by the colonizers themselves. In any case, it is exactly the image of Moctezuma as described by his conquistadors that interests us in this analysis.
On his second official trip, President Lula visited the U.S. The Brazilian ambassador in Washington, a notorious Olavo-bolsonarist who inexplicably continues to hold his post, took a vacation during the presidential trip and did not receive Lula at the airport. Bolsonarist whim or veto by the White House? We will never know for sure. On the other hand, even though he was snubbed by his own people, Lula was received with pomp by the Biden administration. The body language of Lula and his entourage, in general, showed a jubilation rarely seen among statesmen who command economic powers of the caliber of the Group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa ( BRICS).
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The details of what was actually talked about are slowly coming in, but Lula’s statements in his press conference with Biden certainly raised eyebrows. Lula condemned the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine, reaffirming criticisms he had made previously alongside Alberto Fernandez on his visit to Argentina in January, displaying little, if any, grasp on the subject. Here is the excerpt from the joint statement:
The two leaders also examined a wide range of global and regional issues of mutual interest. Both presidents deplored Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and annexation of parts of its territory as flagrant violations of international law and called for a just and lasting peace. The leaders expressed concern about the global effects of the conflict on energy and food security, especially in the poorest regions of the planet and expressed support for the full functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Presidents Lula and Biden intend to strengthen cooperation in multilateral institutions, including in the context of the upcoming Brazilian presidency of the G20. The two leaders expressed their intention to work together for meaningful reform of the United Nations Security Council, such as expanding the body to include permanent seats for countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to make it more representative of UN members and improve its ability to respond more effectively to the most pressing issues related to global peace and security.
In diplomacy, words and gestures are very important. And Lula continues to insist on a narrative all his own, that Russia erred and should not have entered Ukraine and annexed the territories targeted by the ruling Nazis in Kiev, but rather negotiated a peaceful solution to the conflict. Even after the interviews of Merkel and Hollande, in which they admit to the entire farce staged in the Minsk agreements aimed at arming Ukraine, not to mention the countless evidence and proofs of war crimes, as well as abuse and suppression of rights, perpetrated against the Ukrainian Russian-speaking population since the Maidan coup in 2014.
And these basic facts, which now are permanently noted in the playbook of any minimally serious geopolitical analyst, by themselves do not compose the full picture. In the panoramic tableau of the contemporary geopolitical situation, we have the dizzying decline of the Anglo-Saxon Empire, dragging along with it its European vassals, NATO and its rules-based international order. The inexorable decline of the dollar, the euro and the other currencies in the imperial basket is at this point inevitable. The Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine is only the opening salvo of a much broader, intense conflict to come, involving China, Iran and other countries of the Global South that are coordinating to consolidate the Multipolar Order away from the U.S. imperial agenda. In other words, the picture is one of systemic change.
Does Lula not perceive this? It is difficult to conclude from his statements and first actions. For example, during Lula’s visit to the USA, Brazil denied Iranian ships access to Brazilian ports without any convincing reason.
Returning to the joint communiqué, we have references to joint management of the Amazon, to prevent climate change, with Brazil signaling a willingness to cede sovereignty over the region in exchange for access to funds that are derisory compared to its own economic potential and offered by countries with a colonialist tradition, now in deep economic trouble.
And of course, the inevitable myriad platitudes about democracy, as if the democratic regimes in place in Brazil and the U.S. were comparable. The mention of the invasion of Congress insinuates a disturbing naivety. Is the Brazilian president unaware that this was a rehearsal of tropical Maidan prepared by the USA?
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Thus, in the first months of his government, Lula reveals himself to be a confused and vacillating leader, unable to outline a domestic economic policy to put the country back on track, distracted by superficial identity issues, as well as erratic and ill-advised about Brazil’s geopolitical role in the BRICS+ and the multipolar Global South.
None of this comes as a surprise if we consider the deep imperial infiltration of the Brazilian left, via NGOs and related entities, duly financed by NED, USAID and the Soros Foundation. Many of the current ministers were in fact catapulted into public life from this environment. Another relevant force in this game is nested within Lula’s own party, the PT. It is the Brazilian Atlanticists, the native fifth column, who fight tirelessly to convert the PT into a branch of the U.S. Democratic Party. A sample of how the members of this wing “think” can be found here.
These are early days, but as a result of the actions of a Lula beleaguered by endemic, ill-advised Bolsonarism and pressured by his fifth-columnist co-partners, Brazil is now the first and only BRICS+ country to criticize Russia due to the Special Operation in Ukraine. This negatively distinguishes the country in the Global South and severely limits its diplomatic leverage. Furthermore, it invalidates any possibility of mediation by Brazil in the conflict in question, generating unnecessary tension within the BRICS+.
Also, Lula’s official visit to the United States, before he visited any partner of the BRICS, amounts to a tacit acceptance of the Monroe Doctrine, as recently put into perspective by General Laura Richardson of U.S. Southern Command. Is Lula flirting with Moctezuma?
Pepe Escobar
Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian journalist. He writes a column – The Roving Eye – for Asia Times Online, and works as an analyst for RT, Sputnik News, and Press TV. In addition, he previously worked for Al Jazeera.
