Another attempt by the Collective West to isolate Russia from the rest of the world — or the “Jungle,” as the EU’s chief “diplomat” Josep Borrell calls it — fails spectacularly.
Volodymyr Zelensky is accustomed to being the star guest, whether in person or on-screen, at just about every Western international summit, though his shine does appear to be fading. But at the summit that took place in Brussels early this week between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the president of Ukraine was nowhere to be seen. This was despite the best efforts of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is current holder of the EU Council’s rotating president, to get his name on the guest list.
At a bare minimum, Zelensky’s participation would have required the endorsement of the governments of Latin America’s three largest economies, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, all of which have taken a largely neutral stance on the war in Ukraine. Which is why it came as little surprise that the EU’s dogged attempts, not just during the two days of the summit but in the preceding weeks, to include in the final declaration a paragraph condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also come to nothing. The move faced opposition from a host of CELAC members including Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Another Failure By Collective West
Once again, an attempt by the Collective West to isolate Russia from the rest of the world — the so-called “Jungle,” as the EU’s chief “diplomat” Josep Borrell calls it — has failed. From AP:
European Union and Latin American leaders concluded a summit that was supposed to be a love-in after eight years of separation, but instead ended Tuesday with aggravation over the failure to unanimously support even a bland statement on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Europe’s fervent support of Ukraine clashed with the more distant or neutral approach pervasive in the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. What should have been a mere detail in a landmark summit celebrating economic ties and fresh investment became its encompassing theme.
In the end, the heavily diluted paragraph (#15) not only did not mention Russia but merely expressed “deep concern” about — as opposed to “condemnation” of — the “ongoing war…, which continues to cause immense human suffering and is exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy, constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity and elevating financial stability risks.” And even then, Nicaragua, a close ally of Russia, refused to join the 59 other nations, including Cuba and Venezuela, in signing the statement.
In his closing statement at the Summit of the Peoples, a parallel event taking place in Brussels, Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, which will be hosting the next EU-CELAC summit, in 2025, pilloried the EU’s obsession with the war in Ukraine, which he described as “a far-removed issue” for Latin America and the Caribbean:
“The EU has basically focused on a topic that was of fundamental interest to itself, but which is far-removed for us: the war in Ukraine. [It wanted] to point to the construction of a block in the world, Latin America and the European Union, coalescing around Zelensky and support for a political, economic and military strategy, obviously. That was its priority.”
The President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also blasted the EU’s position on the conflict and lamented that “resources that are essential for the economy and social programs” are being channelled toward sustaining the war in Ukraine. He also suggested that both the EU and US sanctions against Russia contravene international law:
“Brazil supports all the initiatives proposed by the different countries and regions, demands a ceasefire, an end to hostilities and a negotiated peace. Using sanctions and blockades without the support of international law is something that merely serves to punish the most vulnerable segments of the populace.”
No Signs of Peace
At the beginning of this year, in his first month back in office, Lula laid out his government’s core positions on the NATO-Russia proxy in a phone conversation with Macron:
- Brazil acknowledges that Vladimir Putin’s Russia violated Ukrainian territory and this is illegal.
- But NATO’s behavior in recent years has not contributed to guaranteeing a relationship of trust with the Kremlin.
- Brazil defends the establishment of negotiations with Russia so that a ceasefire can be reached.
- Brazil will help to bring about peace, but will not contribute in any way to military operations.
- Brazil’s war is against an entirely different foe: poverty.
In her speech at the summit, the President of Honduras Xiomari Castro underscored the opportunities offered by the newly emerging multipolar world. Castro is the wife of Manuel Zelaya, who was removed in a Washington-sponsored military coup in 2009 that set in motion not only a decade of brutal political repression in the country but also, as Castro outlined, “a continent-wide persecution of our leaders, Lula Da Silva, Rafael Correa, Dilma Rousseff, Cristina Kirchner, Evo Morales, among others…”
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Nick Corbishley 