|
|
|
|
THE
ROVING EYE
From Baghdad to
Brasilia
By Pepe Escobar
There could hardly be a more graphic
instance of an emerging new world order than Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas and the premiers of both Syria and
Lebanon all flying for a get-together in Brasilia
in Brazil, designed from scratch in the 1950s by
modernist icon Oscar Niemeyer as the futuristic
capital of the new world.
They were
among the heads of state and ministers from 33
South American and Arab League states gathered in
the Brazilian capital for the first-ever
Arab-South American summit. Brazilian Foreign Minister
Celso Amorim has described the summit as an "alliance
of civilizations" - a reference to 150 years of
Syrian-Lebanese immigration to South America. More
than 10 million people of Arab descent live in
South America, most of them in Brazil, which holds
the largest Arab diaspora in the world.
The "Declaration of Brasilia" to be
endorsed this Wednesday calls for close political
and economic ties between South America and the
Arab world; demands that Israel disband its
settlements in the West Bank, including "those in
East Jerusalem", and retreat to its borders before
1967; criticizes US "unilateral economic sanctions
against Syria", which violates principles of
international law; and forcefully condemns
terrorism. Israel is also implicitly criticized
for holding an undeclared nuclear arsenal. The
declaration also calls for a global conference to
define the meaning of terrorism, and defends
peoples' rights to "resist foreign occupation in
accordance with the principle of international
legality and in compliance with international
humanitarian law".
It's
unlikely that Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice will lose any sleep
over what happened in Brasilia - despite all
the inevitable hardline Israeli-American
rumblings. Arab League secretary general Amr
Moussa said, "It's their [Israel's] problem if
they are concerned. If they don't want to be
concerned anymore, they should change their policy
in the occupied territories."
Washington was
so concerned about the summit turning into a forum
against President George W Bush's Greater Middle
East and against Israel that it pressured the
pliable, dependent leaders of Egypt, Jordan and
Morocco not to attend. As much as Brazil counts
on Arab support in its pledge for a permanent
United Nations Security Council seat, the Arab
League counts on South America to support an
Egyptian bid.
South America is
avidly cultivating much stronger ties with China,
Russia and the Arab world - and there's little Washington
can do about it. The US officially requested to be
an observer at the summit. The Brazilians politely
declined: "It's a public meeting, you can watch it
on TV."
Not surprisingly, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez and Abbas were welcomed in
Brasilia as heroes. Brazilian President Luis
Ignacio "Lula" da Silva diplomatically praised the
Palestinians for their "patience" during the
Middle East peace process. Al-Jazeera went live
with the opening remarks by the co-hosts, Lula and
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, also the
current president of the Arab League. Lula
insisted once again that "poor countries [must]
receive the benefits of globalization". The
Algerians are excitedly talking about "a coalition
on cultural, political and economic terms".
Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a leading Arab paper, stressed
how the summit could influence the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The London
Arabic-language daily al-Hayat published a
half-page photo of Talabani arriving in Brasilia.
South-South cooperation
The key
point of all this is economic. Bilateral trade
between South America and the Arab world stands
only at US$10 billion a year, but growth
possibilities are endless. The main success of the
summit is the PetroSul agreement, which creates a
continental oil major composed by Brazil,
Argentina and Venezuela.
Arabs are
delighted to find good products and competitive
prices in South America and a business climate
much more relaxed than in Europe, and especially
post-September 11 US. For instance, Brazil will
export even more sugar, beef and chicken to the
Middle East. According to the Arab-Brazilian
Chamber of Commerce, exports may double within
five years.
According to
Georgetown University's Tarik Youssef, "From the
Arabs' perspective, Latin America is probably the
best case to benchmark the pace of progress in the
Arab world," meaning in both the political and
economic spheres. Arabs may learn one or two
practical things in South America in terms of
privatization and fiscal and political reforms. Brazil
is forcefully engaged in a campaign for
the elimination of rich countries'
agricultural subsidies - a popular theme also in the Arab
world. The summit is the first step toward a
future free trade agreement between the Mercosur
and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
No wonder Washington hawks are uneasy.
There's an emerging geopolitical axis on the map -
Arab-South American. It's non-aligned. And it's swimming
in oil. Between them, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq,
the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt,
Qatar, Libya, Oman, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil pump about 27.2
million barrels of oil a day, about 32.5% of global
production.
One of the
key reasons for Talabani's presence at the summit
is that Brazil will inevitably be back
to oil-field development in Iraq. Brazil had
very close commercial relations - in the oil service industry and
in the military sector - with Iraq
during Saddam Hussein's time. Brazilian
technical expertise helped in the discovery of some of the
largest Iraqi oilfields. Both Venezuela and Brazil hope
to win plenty of service contracts in the Arab
world. Venezuela, instead of just supplying about 13%
of the daily US oil consumption, is
avidly diversifying - striking new deals with Spain and
China. The last thing Hugo Chavez wants is to be
dependent on the US market.
The writing on
the (global) wall is now inevitable:
region-to-region economic deals, more exports, and
increased distancing from the weak dollar. In this
renewed South-South cooperation, trade and
commerce prevail over invasion and regime change;
respect to UN resolutions regarding military
occupations prevail over alienated terrorism
rhetoric. There's an alternative global agenda in
town.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for
information on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
