THE ROVING EYE
Welcome to the Luladinejad axis
By Pepe Escobar
President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva from Brazil and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad from
Iran. What is this - the new axis of evil? No - Luladinejad is a new axis of
business.
As Ahmadinejad was coming from a visit to the Brazilian parliament in Brasilia
on Monday, Lula was waiting for him, virtually alone. The embrace by Lula was
sudden, spontaneous, extremely warm; it's fair to assume Ahmadinejad was not
expecting it. Those who saw it interpreted it as a graphic message.
Ahmadinejad did mean business: he traveled with 200 Iranian businessmen. In the
long run, Brazil wants to export to Iran not only meat, grains and sugar, but
also trucks and buses. And Iran
wants to invest heavily in the oil industry, petrochemicals, agriculture,
minerals and real estate. Lula will visit Iran in March or April 2010, also
with a business caravan.
Lula and Ahmadinejad signed agreements on energy, trade and agricultural
research in the latest round of what is becoming an increasingly warm embrace
between Latin America and the Middle East.
The meat of the matter was, of course, nuclear energy. US President Barack
Obama admitted at the Group of 20 gathering in London this year that Lula "is
the man" - and opinion polls back him up, with the Brazilian leader at present
the world's most popular political leader, with an approval rating of 79%;
Obama has just slipped below 50%. So what is "the man" saying? He's saying that
Brazil supports Iran's access to "peaceful nuclear energy".
When Lula talks, world leaders do listen; nor is he shy about running through a
roll call of those he "advises" on how to behave with Iran.
"I told Obama, I told [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy, I told [German
Chancellor] Angela Merkel that we will not get good things out of Iran if we
corner them. You need to create space to talk." This is not only Lula talking -
it's BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) talk. Carefully balancing his act,
Lula at the same time defended the rights of "a safe and secure state of
Israel".
Lula's key formula regarding the Iranian nuclear dossier is "nuclear
non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament must walk side-by-side". For Brazil
and the other BRIC countries, - it's the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) that should solve the Iranian nuclear dossier, not the United Nations
Security Council.
Brazil, which holds the seventh-largest uranium reserves in the world, enriches
uranium for its own nuclear energy program, and no one is accusing it of
building a nuclear bomb. Brazilian foreign policy has always been strongly
against unilateral sanctions on Iran. In Lula's words, "It's simple. What we
advocate for us, we advocate for others as well."
Ahmadinejad, who repeatedly referred to Lula as "my friend", sang in tune. He
even admitted on Brazilian TV that Iran and Brazil, "... can build partnerships
to build nuclear plants." Or as the headline splashed on the cover of Tuesday's
edition of the Tehran-based Iran Daily newspaper proclaimed, "Nuclear
Cooperation Possible With Brazil".
Let's play ball
Ahmadinejad's whirlwind tour of five countries in Africa and South America -
Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and Evo Morales' Bolivia are included in the itinerary
- means South America especially is seen as a business escape route for Iran do
dodge more Western sanctions. For the leadership in Tehran - the Supreme
Leader, the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Ahmadinejad political faction -
Brazil is now regarded as a business partner and as a strategic partner.
This is South-South dialogue in action, multipolar world style. Iran sees
Brazil as a possible mediator vis-a-vis its intractable problems with the
United States and Europe. Brazil for its part wants a permanent seat in the UN
Security Council (Iran supports it) and more than welcomes more "soft power"
influence in the Middle East.
Iran is not as "isolated" as Western propaganda would like people to believe.
For instance, Iran is very much alert to preserving its rights in the Caspian
Sea, it is advancing its energy deals with China, and it is busy changing from
dollars to euros.
Right in the middle of a non-stop demonization campaign of Ahmadinejad as the
"new Hitler" - after Saddam Hussein's demise - it would be naive to expect
Western corporate media to pay attention to what Ahmadinejad actually said in
Brazil - that Iran is definitely willing to buy enriched uranium abroad - but
the country won't allow suppliers to set the terms. Referring to the latest
IAEA plan to defuse the Iranian nuclear power stand-off, under which Iran would
send the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France to be further
processed for use in a medical reactor in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said "no
independent country would accept this proposal".
So the key question now to be debated under the deal brokered by IAEA director
general Mohamed ElBaradei between the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council plus Germany, and Iran, is about the volume of enriched uranium that
should leave Iran for Russia, and then to France, and then return to Iran as
nuclear fuel. Iran is not completely satisfied this is a 100% guaranteed deal.
Ahmadinejad made a startling admission at his press conference in Brazil. He
said, "We have the conditions to enrich uranium at 20% and we have the legal
right to do it. But to create an atmosphere of cooperation, we are ready to buy
nuclear fuel."
Even before the Luladinejad get-together, US corporate media had hit the
hysteria button, warning that Lula "may lose global influence" (Los Angeles
Times) just by talking to Ahmadinejad, and warning that the meeting would
"chill Brazil's relations with the US and damage its growing reputation as a
global power" (New York Times).
They still don't get it.
Obama for his part sent a letter to Lula reminding him of Washington's deep
mistrust of Iran. Lula will place a call to Obama to discuss his meeting with
Ahmadinejad. It would be quite absurd for Lula to take morality lessons from
Washington, given that the US has reactivated its Fourth Fleet, is it announced
early last year (the fleet covers the waters around the Caribbean, and Central
and South America), plans to deploy a new set of military bases in Colombia,
and hardly condemned the June military coup in Honduras.
The fact is the Middle East is coming to Brazil. Former Moldovan bouncer
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, was in Brazil and Argentina
four months ago. Israeli President Shimon Peres was there last week. Same with
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas. Translation: Brazil, as one of the
key emerging actors in the global South, along with the other BRIC countries,
may have a much more balanced shot at global diplomacy than the heavy-handed US
and Europe.
Doing things the Brazilian way involves a certified amount of swing. For
example, during his radio show this past weekend, Lula even proposed a soccer
match next March between Brazil - favorites to win next summer's World Cup -
and a mixed Israeli-Palestinian team. So what if the UN takes a cue from Lula,
and sponsors a tournament including the UN-5 - the US, Russia, China, France
and Britain - plus Germany, plus Brazil and Iran? Remember those Cold War days
when ping-pong politics broke the ice between the US and China? Seriously,
maybe the time is now for some real political soccer.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
