An Independent Foreign Policy

By now you have all heard about Israel's attack agaisnt the aid flotilla, killing at least 19 people, and injuring scores more. So while virtually the entire world has been extremely vocal condemning the attack, the US has been conspicuously quiet. One region not scared to speak up and condemn Israel...the new power bloc of Latin America. So while we got a statement like this about the US:

"We'd like to express our thanks to the United States that worked behind the scenes to water down the [statement] at the United Nations," said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

We get this from Brazil (via Xinhua):

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry in a statement said that "Brazil strongly condemns the Israeli attack, because there was no justification for the military intervention against a pacific convoy with strictly humanitarian character. The event is worsened, according to the available information, because it occurred in international waters."

"The event must be investigated independently to make completely clear the event based on Humanitarian and International Laws," the ministry said.

Brazil added that this event "once more shows the need of immediate lifting the embargo in Gaza, in order to guarantee people's freedom of transit and their free access to food, medicines and consumption goods in that region."

The article contains statements from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico in addition to Brazil. Venezuela was also quick to offer their condemnation. Nothing really to add here, just pointing out the latest example of one of the most profound changes in the region over the last decade, an independent foreign policy.

On a separate note, the fact that the US is working behind the scenes to dilute the UN statement reminds me a lot of the Honduran coup. The forum then was the OAS, but the US ambassador worked hard to dilute or block anything that the OAS tried to do. Good ol' U.S. of A, using their relative power to protect their right-wing "allies" since....well I don't know, always?

(image is a poster from a Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, via Canadian Dimension.)

Full Text of Obama's Letter to Lula on Iran Nuclear Deal

In case you somehow managed to miss the background here; Brazil and Turkey reached a deal with Iran on a nuclear swap, declared victory, only to have the US criticize both the deal and the effort. Then followed a barrage of articles from supposed experts saying how Lula has tarnished his legacy and is coddling dictators. So, understandably pissed, Brazil leaked excerpts of a letter Obama had sent to Lula weeks before the deal that suggested all the major accomplishments of the Brazil/Turkey deal (widely ignored in the US press). But what was really in this mysterious letter? Well, here it is, click it to get a larger view, or click here to view original. Bottom line: Brazil wins and the US needs a towel to get the egg out their eyes.





(h/t to Toma Rosa Bueno who posted a link to a facsimile copy of the original letter in the comments section of Robert Naiman's Huff Post smackdown of Friedman that maladjusted linked to yesterday)

The Patent Breaker

Adding to the growing pile of evidence that Brazil don't take no shit, we get this, from Bloomberg:

Brazil will seek to break intellectual property rights on U.S.-made prescription drugs, music, books, software and movies in a bid to force the U.S. government to end cotton subsidies that violate global trade rules.

This is all because the US, while preaching free trade to the developing world has some of the largest agricultural subsidies in the world, depressing international prices and making it virtually impossible for developing countries to compete. Ya know, standard fare. In any case, the WTO ruled in Brazil's favor last year, and Brazil isn't going to take it lying down:

“We want to show the U.S. that it doesn’t matter if you are big or small, or how much money you have as a nation,” Lula said on March 10. “We all want to be respected and to be treated fairly.”

Amen.