TU QUOQUE, BRAZIL?

This week, President Lula has welcome and honored the Iranian President Ahmadinejad. No one expected it, and few dare to guess what is beneath the fanfare around this man, who has already visited Venezuela, engaged in military and nuclear power talks with Chavez, the man who wouldn’t mind a South American war with the United States, if that allows him to remain in power. Is Brazil stabbing the U.S., looking for the South American Imperial throne? Or, rather, are we in a different play, in which there are more things in heaven and earth, and also in the Americas, than are dreamt of in any political philosophy?

A few months ago, President Lula and Brazil could be quoted as the best example of diplomacy in South America. Neighbors of Venezuela and also friends of Chavez, Brazil and its president made a point to underline their unaltered friendship with the U.S. When the American military bases in Colombia were discussed, Brazil showed a vague concern but felt somehow relieved that Chavez found an enemy with enough power to maybe dissuade him on his war games. A slight switch was later observed in Honduras, when Brazil hosted within its embassy the former Honduran President Zelaya, as if intending to play a bigger role than the United States and its ambassadors and mediators. The move looked suspicious to some but still was labeled by the most relevant political pundits as a mere blunder of the oldest and most efficient chancellery in South America. The cheerful meeting with the happy Ahmadinejad has put now Lula under a different light: his large, sincere smile could hide a bluff or a sense of genuine victory. Brazil won the Olympic Games over the U.S.; why wouldn’t it win the lead of foreign policy in the Americas? Over Chavez, in the first place, and over the U.S. were it possible. Evo Morales in Bolivia joined, receiving in joy the Iranian president. If this is a version of mice playing while the cat is away, we wonder where the cat is, and when will he be back. As of now, President Obama has expressed to Brazil some concern, as if he didn’t believe all this is actually happening, or as if he knew more –he should- and had everything under control. Mysteries under the rug begin to pile up.

What is Ahmadinejad doing in the Americas? Who brought him and who the Middle East wars to these shores? None other than Iran itself. It carved its way into the Americas with patience, since 1992 and 1994, when they bombed the Israeli Embassy and later the Jewish organization AMIA in Buenos Aires, at a time when the United States and Argentina were the closest friends in the world, and Argentina the best performing capitalist country in South America. Struggling for positions in the backyard to better assail the house. Then, we had 9/11, still Muslim terror under a different disguise. All seems then to be about an attack on the Empire of freedom and wealth and its allies in the Americas, which are more than one. In that case, a strong emperor will do better than a weak one, left to the saddest of farewells, a stab from a loved one.