Brazil Discredited Itself By Expressing Annoyance At Moscow Discussing Russophobia At The UN
According to the UN’s official report about last Tuesday’s session, Brazil's Deputy Permanent Representative João Genésio de Almeida reacted to the event by saying that “The mere repetition of national positions, in a format that shows clear signs of exhaustion, will contribute nothing to the end of the conflict.” This stance discredits President Lula, who claims to be a fierce opponent of bigotry in all its forms. Quite clearly, however, he’s perfectly fine with Almeida implying that bigotry against Russians doesn’t deserve to be discussed at the UN.
The UNSC held a session on Russophobia last week, during which time two Russian briefers raised maximum global awareness about this growing form of bigotry while an American one gaslit by claiming that no such discrimination exists and that it’s supposedly just a form of “imperial propaganda”. It was to be expected that different views on this issue would be shared, but what’s important is that it was discussed, something that Brazil’s Deputy Permanent Representative surprisingly seemed annoyed by.
According to the UN’s official report about last Tuesday’s session, João Genésio de Almeida reacted to the event by saying that “The mere repetition of national positions, in a format that shows clear signs of exhaustion, will contribute nothing to the end of the conflict.” This stance discredits President Lula, who claims to be a fierce opponent of bigotry in all its forms. Quite clearly, however, he’s perfectly fine with Almeida implying that bigotry against Russians doesn’t deserve to be discussed at the UN.
After all, there’s no other way to interpret that representative surprisingly expressing annoyance about this particular session. The purpose was never to contribute anything to ending the conflict but to raise maximum global awareness about this growing form of bigotry. To that end, Executive Director of Rossiya Segodnya Kirill Vyshinsky and Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Trade Union of Law Workers Dmitry Vasilets did a marvelous job, and anyone interested in this subject should read their testimonies in full.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Russophobia is one of the root causes of the then-Ukrainian Civil War that subsequently transformed into an international conflict upon the commencement of Russia’s special operation and soon thereafter into its present phase of a NATO-Russian proxy war. To act as if this issue isn’t important like Brazil’s representative did is dishonest. “Russophobia Is No Less Evil Than Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, & Racism”, yet Lula’s government apparently doesn’t want to discuss it.
President Putin does, however, and he’s spoken about it in practically every major speech he’s made over the past year. For instance, last September he reminded everyone that “[the West] used indiscriminate Russophobia as a weapon, including by nurturing the hatred of Russia for decades, primarily in Ukraine, which was designed to become an anti-Russia bridgehead.” A few days later, he rhetorically asked, “What else, if not racism, is the Russophobia being spread around the world?”
It can therefore be argued that Lula ordered Almeida to literally violate Article 4 of the Brazilian Constitution by strongly implying that the form of racism known as Russophobia isn’t worth discussing on the world stage. This damning conclusion is arrived at by remembering that the cited passage mandates the government to pursue a foreign policy that’s guided by repudiating racism per its eighth clause, among other principles.
The politically unfriendly approach that Lula has taken towards Russia in the most geostrategically significant conflict since World War II not only clearly aligns Brazil with the US amidst the impending trifurcation of International Relations, but also discredits him at home in this particular example. His government can’t credibly claim to be against the bigotry that it alleges is espoused by the opposition while downplaying the anti-Russian bigotry that’s indisputably practiced by Kiev.
Nevertheless, it should be taken for granted that the ruling party’s perception managers will either refuse to inform folks about this surprising stance that Lula ordered his diplomats to take towards Russophobia or might even gaslight about it in one of two ways. On the one hand, they could emulate Snyder by claiming that no such form of bigotry exists and that it’s just “imperial propaganda”, or they might lie that Brazil’s approach towards this issue is somehow or another in Russia’s interests.
The last-mentioned approach, for as much of an insult as it is to everyone’s intelligence, shouldn’t be discounted since it’s already been applied with respect to justifying Lula’s condemnation of Russia in his joint statement with Biden early last month. Even those that previously railed against Russophobia might do a one-eighty on this issue exactly as they did when it came to Nicaragua after they flipped from condemning the hosting of regime change agents to supporting it once Brazil offered them “asylum”.
What’s happening on the home front is that pro-Lula forces are waging a Hybrid War against the Workers’ Party’s (PT) base aimed at manipulating their perceptions about his foreign policy, which is intended to preemptively avert a political rebellion if they realize that he’s aligned Brazil with the US. Perversions of the truth, literal conspiracy theories, and outright lies are all being employed in this campaign, which even Lula himself is directly participating in after what he just said last week.
The Brazilian leader claimed that the Ukrainian Conflict is “over small things”, which veritably isn’t true but importantly confirms that he extends credence to the US’ false narrative that Russia supposedly “invaded” Ukraine for purely “imperialistic” purposes. As coincidence would have it, this was the same day that President Putin said that the conflict “is about a fight for the survival of Russian statehood” and Almeida later expressed his annoyance at Moscow discussing Russophobia at the UN.
Last Tuesday can therefore be regarded in hindsight as a defining moment in terms of Brazilian foreign policy since it undeniably placed that country on the US’ side in the political sense when it comes to the most geostrategically significant conflict since World War II. Lula lied by claiming that it’s really only being fought “over small things” while ordering his diplomats at the UN to imply that the form of bigotry known as Russophobia isn’t worth raising awareness about, both stances of which are US-aligned.