On January 1, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin led the Russian delegation that took part in the inauguration ceremony of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.[1] Volodin conveyed congratulations from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Bolsonaro.[2]
The Russian government was very cautious in commenting Bolsonaro's election, which represent a change from Brazil's socialist path. Bolsonaro, who said that his election freed the country from “socialism and political correctness,”[3] does not conceal his desire to position Brazil as the US' best ally in Latin America. In the beginning of January, in an interview with the Brazilian TV channel SBT, Bolsonaro did not rule out the establishment of a US military base in his country.
"The issue of the physical [presence of the base] may be even called symbolic. Today the capabilities of the American, Chinese and Soviet armed forces reach all parts of the world regardless of [the presence of] a base. However, depending on what will happen in the world, maybe this issue will have to be discussed in the future… My rapprochement with the US is an economic issue, but it could be military as well. We may ink an agreement in the specified area," Bolsonaro stated.[4]
However, it is worth noting that Brazilian Minister of Defense, General Fernando Azevedo e Silva, opposed Bolsonaro's remark, and stated that he see no reason for allowing Washington to set up a military base in Brazil.[5]
Soon after Bolsonaro's elections in October 2018, the influential St. Petersburg blogger Anatoly Nesmeyan, known as El-Murid, commented on Bolsonaro's victory. First, he considered it a parable for Russia. It was impossible to keep the citizens in a state of virtual reality by bombarding them with propaganda. The gap between reports on the state television and what they personally encounter is tool extensive to paper over. Bolsonaro offered an alternative to the thieving lying elites.
The impact of the new Brazilian presidency on the BRICS group comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. will not be favorable for Russia. According to El Murid, who does not view Brazil's new path favorably, with Bolsonaro's elections the BRICS is becoming a tool of US President Donald Trump to promote "his project of a new world order." "In this case, the BRICS definitively loses its identity… and becomes a target of the Pax Americana 2.0 policy,"
Below is El Murid's editorial, titled "Brazil. New trend":[6]
Caption: "A new future awaits us: Jair Bolsonaro is elected 38th president of the Fereral Republic of Brazil!" (Source: Facebook.com/jairmessias.bolsonaro)
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin shakes hands with the new Brazilian President (Source: duma.gov.ru)
The BRICS Loses Its Identity And Becomes A Target Of The Pax Americana 2.0 Policy
"Jair Bolsonaro has been elected as the next president of Brazil after the second-round vote. His being a populist, let alone a far-right one, is a separate matter altogether. In this regard, one of the largest countries in Latin America is clearly reversing the trend of left-wing populist projects in a huge region.
"The Latin American left is losing to everyone and everywhere, and it’s not just the delayed effect of the collapse of the Soviet Union that triggered the collapse of left-wing projects all over the world. The Latinos themselves have proved incapable to make the ruling elite observe the principles that it proclaimed in its slogans.
"Wherever the Left took power, they became either bourgeois or common variety Mafiosi. Say, Venezuela under Chavez, and even more so under Maduro, is more of a criminal cartel than a 'normal' country in any sense of the word. This discrepancy keeps generating endless lies, and people are simply tired of that. They can hardly be blamed for buying into the populist Bolsonaro - at least in this regard, he looks better than his rivals.
"It is the 21st century out there, the century of the Internet and free access to information. No TV zombification is capable of holding the population of an entire country captive to virtual reality for a long time - [although] we have yet to learn that. Honesty and truth, however unpleasant, become a resource that the ruling elites, being deceitful to the core, do not possess. Brazilians see one thing on TV, but when they venture out on the street, they encounter poverty, hopelessness and the most powerful criminal gangs that had emerged under the 'socialists'. Some of these gangs, five digits in size, are armed with military-caliber weapons and equipment, including aircraft, and they control entire regions of the country.
"When the 'elite' is stealing, the country is suffocated by poverty and crime; everything is interconnected here. We ourselves are aware of that equally well. Bolsonaro bet on sincerity and won. Brazilians, even those who are unlikely to share largely troglodyte views of the new president, simply bought into his sincerity, which appeared more attractive than the endless lies of its opponents.
"And there is yet another aspect of what happened. Brazil occupies an important place in the plans of the current American imperialists. In the event that the global system being broken down according to the scenario of creating separate currency zones, the Brazilian real will become the first candidate for the 'position' of the main clearing currency for the Latin American zone. And Bolsonaro, having explicitly stated that Brazil 'will no longer be on the sidelines of the developed countries', seems to be an ideal candidate for Trump in terms of promoting the breakdown of the global project.
"And we need to realize that in this scenario, the BRICS with its full membership is essentially becoming merely a tool of Trump for promoting his project of a new world order. In this case, the BRICS definitively loses its identity (although this organization was from the very beginning a purely statistical association, brought together according to matching indicators, rather than ideological and philosophical attributes) and becomes a target of the Pax Americana 2.0 policy.
"Serious contradictions are bound to emerge within the BRICS, and the newly imperial America will play the role of arbitrator. That is, at least, what Trump will attempt to do. And the new Brazilian leadership is unlikely to oppose him."
