Al Jazeera.
New York, NY - Behind the scenes, US diplomats are
reportedly becoming very leery about Brazil's rise on the world stage.
An exporting dynamo with a growing middle class, Brazil has recently
sought a greater role in global affairs and is discombobulating
Washington in the process. Classified US diplomatic cables recently disclosed by whistle-blowing outfit WikiLeaks underscore such geopolitical tensions.
In Lima, for instance, US ambassador to Peru Curtis Struble wrote that
Washington was enmeshed in an "undeclared contest" with Brazil for
political influence in the Andean region. Back in the US meanwhile,
right-wing hawks at the Brookings Institution
view Brazil's rise with trepidation, remarking gloomily that the
country "appears determined to position itself as the Latin American
hegemon as it deepens its investment in various schemes of regional
political and economic integration that pointedly exclude the United
States".
Whatever its long term reservations about Brazil, however, Washington
has apparently come round to the view that it needs the South American
nation's help in the here and now. Speaking at the Brazilian War College
in Rio de Janeiro recently, US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta
remarked, "This is a relationship, the United States and Brazil...
between two global powers, and we welcome Brazil's growing strength. We
support Brazil as a global leader, and seek closer defence cooperation
because we believe that a stronger and more globally engaged Brazil will
help enhance international security for all of us."
