Milei’s government appears to be determined to turn Argentina into the first Latin American country to send weapons to Ukraine.
In April we warned that Javier Milei Seems Intent on Embroiling Argentina in War, Whether in Ukraine or the Middle East (Or Both). At that time, the Argentine president had just expressed “solidarity and unwavering commitment” to the State of Israel following Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel after Israel’s bombings of the Iranian embassy in Damascus. After holding a cabinet meeting attended, if not chaired, by Israel’s ambassador to Argentina, Milei allegedly said off-screen that Argentina “cannot be neutral in the Third World War”.
“Milei is determined to take sides in international conflicts, believing that this positions him as an international leader,” says geopolitical analyst Gonzalo Fiore Viani. “Everything he does is to reinforce that image and not to advance Argentina’s national interests.”
Milei seems determined to involve Argentina not only in the escalating tensions in the Middle East, but also in the meat grinder that is Ukraine. Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III welcomed Argentina as a new member of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (aka Ramstein Group) during his opening address at the group’s 23rd meeting. The Ramstein Group is an alliance of (mainly NATO) countries that meets monthly at the Ramstein air base in Germany to coordinate the ongoing donation of military aid to the Zelensky government.
A “Gift” for Zelensky
During his tour of Europe, Milei will participate in the G7 summit in Orgo Egnazia, at the invitation of Italian PM Georgia Meloni. He will also take part in the pie-in-the-sky Summit on Peace in Ukraine in Geneva on June 15-16, in which Russia, like many other prominent non-NATO countries, has refused to participate, describing the event as “irrelevant”. As for Milei’s government, it appears determined to turn Argentina into the first Latin American country to send weapons to Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN Español’s Andrés Oppenheimer in April, Milei even entertained the possibility of sending military personnel into the meat grinder, a proposal that enjoys the support of just 21% of the population, according to a survey by the consultant Gustavo Córdoba. Any decision to send troops would have to go through Congress first, an unnamed diplomatic source told La Politica Online.
The same is not true of sending arms. A new article by Infobae suggests that Milei wants to gift Ukraine’s (now wholly unelected) President Volodymyr Zelensky five French-made fighter jets (readers will have to excuse the rather crude pro-NATO propaganda in the first paragraph):
Javier Milei approved a plan designed by Luis Petri and Diana Mondino to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia, which started an illegal war in Europe to fulfill Vladimir Putin’s imperial dreams.
It involves sending to Volodimir Zelensky’s government five Super Etendard combat aircraft that are out of use due to the embargo that Great Britain applies against Argentina as a result of the Malvinas War.
France’s participation is key to overcoming this geopolitical obstacle, and Chancellor Mondino and Defense Minister Luis Petri have been working for weeks to advance this secret move that also involves the United States and NATO.
Mondino discussed this complex issue during the meetings he held in Paris with Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, in a secret meeting she held with NATO in Brussels, and when she visited Jake Sullivan… at the… White House.
So, the plan has been discussed at the highest levels, though it is not yet clear whether it enjoys the all-essential blessing of the Biden administration. As readers may recall, Washington, Kiev and Brussels already tried to persuade Latin American countries to donate their Russian-made weaponry to Ukraine’s war effort, to no avail.
By this point, NATO’s demoralised members are presumably delighted to bring any new country on board with project Ukraine, even one with so little money or weaponry to offer…
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Nick Corbishley 