This is called "Brzezinski's nightmare" - South American countries unite and meanwhile support Russia and China.
While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was building "exemplary cooperation" with the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia in Astana, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev unexpectedly appeared in the U.S. "backyard" - in Caracas and Havana - where he held expanded Russian-Venezuelan and Russian-Cuban consultations on security and countering "color revolutions." The U.S. media and pro-American Latin American media were quick to link these visits, thinking that the Security Council secretary's unannounced trip to Latin America was Moscow's response to the U.S. Secretary of State's visit to Central Asia.
However, Blinken's talks in Astana did not particularly impress the Kremlin. This cannot be said about the White House, which was really excited by hearing what Nikolai Patrushev had to say.
"Our consultations today are taking place against the backdrop of a difficult situation in the world. The whole world, all sovereign states are experiencing a moment of truth, when a choice must be made: to defend the freedom to choose the path of development, their values and identity or to submit to the dictate of the so-called collective West led by the United States," said the Secretary of the Russian Security Council at a meeting with Jose Ornelas Ferreira, the Secretary General of the Venezuelan National Defense Council.
It seems that Patrushev's visit to Venezuela and Cuba was not unplanned. The time has come for Moscow to respond to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's January initiative.
Let us remind: on January 12, 2023, in his annual address to the National Assembly, the President of Venezuela proposed to create a bloc of countries allied to Russia and China in Latin America. "A new hour is coming, a special hour to unite the efforts and paths of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to move forward in the formation of a powerful bloc of political forces, a powerful economic bloc that will speak to the world, that will invite the world to integration, to create new poles of power, a world community with a common destiny." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed the creation of a political bloc in alliance with Russia and China, whose leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping he called "big brothers."
Obviously, you cannot go to the stage with such an address without a favorable regional environment and prior consultations. Nicolas Maduro told his nation, the Latin American and world public that he held consultations with Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Gustavo Petro of Colombia and Alberto Fernández of Argentina. Mexico and Uruguay clearly expressed their support for Maduro's legitimate government. There is every reason to believe that Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile will follow the "whales" of Latin America, also affected by the "pink tide" - the coming to power of nationally oriented social-democratic forces. And, of course, Cuba and Nicaragua, which have withstood North American provocations and blockades for decades, will not stand aside.
It became obvious that the Rio Grande has not only geographically but also politically divided North and South America. In the U.S., which used to consider itself if not the king, then the "godfather" of the "banana republics", this "demarche" of Maduro was perceived as a direct challenge and an act of defiance. It did not help that almost all the countries that supported Maduro also supported the anti-Russian resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in February of this year on "the Principles Underlying the Comprehensive, Just and Sustainable Peace in Ukraine." Moreover, not a single Latin American country imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, as demanded by the collective West. Latin America's uncomfortable, if not "lethargic," position on the "invasion of Ukraine" was evidenced by the region's unwillingness to send any combat material to Ukraine.
"The offer from the US sounded appealing: if Latin American nations donated their ageing Russian-made military kit to Ukraine, Washington would replace it with superior American weaponry. But far from taking up the US proposal, which was revealed last month by General Laura Richardson, head of the US Southern Command, Latin America's leaders lined up to denounce it," the Financial Times noted.
Not only the U.S., but also the "United States of Europe" failed to persuade "Latinos" to share arms and ammunition with Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz returned from a trip to Brazil, Argentina and Chile empty-handed. Lula rejected his request to resell tank ammunition to Berlin for use in Ukraine, Alberto Fernandez refused to send weapons to Europe, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador criticized Germany for agreeing to send tanks to Ukraine, and once the United States' closest ally in the region, Colombia, through President Gustavo Petro, declared that it "would rather have the weapons turned into scrap metal than sent to Ukraine."
And only Chilean President Gabriel Boric offered Kiev assistance, but only in mine clearance. In the meantime, these countries have a sufficient number of modern Soviet and European weapons.
Opinion polls show that Latin American nations agree with their leaders on this issue. About 73 percent of Latin Americans surveyed last year by the international research company Ipsos "believe that their country cannot afford to financially support Ukraine, given the current economic crisis," said Jean-Christophe Salles, executive director of Ipsos in Latin America.
Ukraine is not the priority of Latin American domestic and foreign life today. The position of individual countries and the whole Latin America is rather determined by the economic imperative. And if everything is learned in comparison, then the comparison of the cooperation offered by Russia to Venezuela, as well as the generally disinterested support for Cuba and Nicaragua, is diametrically opposed to what the United States offers to its "backyard."
It became obvious to everyone that after Havana and Managua, Caracas was able to withstand the blockade, sanctions, and direct interference in its internal affairs not only because of the steel nerves of its leader Nicolas Maduro, the support of the army and security forces, and the determination of the people, but also because of Russia's help. And this is much appreciated.
Lula da Silva, who had already taken office on January 1, as The Daily Signal wrote, "is likely to help revive the "Union of South American Nations" with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and strengthen the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, which excludes U.S. participation." At the same time, the Brazilian president held negotiations with his Argentine counterpart to create a regional currency, the SUR, which, according to the Washington Examiner, "is a deliberate attempt to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar."
It was hard to believe that the annual message to the nation by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in which he proposed to create a "political bloc" of Latin America and the Caribbean with the Russian Federation and the PRC, could become a "new pole of power", the countdown to a new era of the Latin American continent, would contribute to the destruction of the unipolar world and, therefore, of American hegemony south of the Rio Grande.
It was hard to imagine that the annual message to the nation by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in which he proposed to create a "political bloc" of Latin America and the Caribbean with Russia and China, could become a "new pole of power", the countdown to a new era of the Latin American continent, and would contribute to the destruction of the unipolar world and, therefore, of American hegemony south of the Rio Grande.
But we should not flatter ourselves and discount the sophistication with which the United States has for centuries imposed its dictates, overthrew unwanted governments and installed "their own sons of bitches." This experience cannot be forgotten. And the new democratically elected, nationally oriented "pink tide" authorities will have to fight hard for their self-determination, for their place in regional and world geopolitics.
But the step has been taken. And already south of the Rio Grande, they are waiting impatiently, and north excitedly, for a possible visit of the Russian foreign minister. "We expect to make a visit to a number of Latin American countries in the near future," Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference on the results of a meeting of the G-20 Foreign Ministers Council in New Delhi, TASS reported. He noted that Latin American and Caribbean countries "are increasing their political weight," and recalled the initiative of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to create "an alliance in favor of greater protection of the region's interests in the international arena." "We certainly have a very promising agenda for the development of bilateral relations in all spheres: in the economy, high-tech, humanitarian and educational contacts," Lavrov stressed.
One of the worst geopolitical scenarios, "Brzezinski's nightmare" is already looming on the "Grand Chessboard" facing Capitol Hill: the creation of a coalition involving China, Russia, possibly Iran and Latin American countries, which will change the unipolar American system into a multi-polar world.