By Sean Goforth (Latin America blog)
During his tenure President da Silva has been a welcome, universally adored, conciliator in Latin America. In this week’s TIME, the annual “World’s Most Influential People” list starts with Lula. I am still not sure what to make of Michael Moore’s essay on him.
Now Lula is moving center stage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. President Ahmadinejad reportedly told his Venezuelan “brother” he was prepared to accept, in principle, a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by Brazil. Under it, Iran would ship its nuclear fuel to France and Russia for refinement.
Recently I penned a piece for the Portuguese Journal of International Relations on Brazil’s relations with Russia, positing that Russian foreign policy hamstrings Western engagement because the softer approach of Medvedev runs up against the hard line offered by Putin. And on the issue of Iran, Lula is listing toward the Putin camp, essentially sharing Putin’s response last fall that “there is no need to scare the Iranians” with threat of further sanctions. Iran’s program seems unlikely to be brought to an agreeable end thanks to Lula’s involvement.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
