By: Andrew Korybko  /  korybko.substack.com

Taken from teleSUR

[ THE FOLLOWING EDITORIAL IS NOT NECESSARILY THE OPINION OF RADIO HAVANA CUBA, ITS STAFF OR MANAGEMENT ]

Brazil could have let Venezuela join in order to maintain the PT's farce about being a multipolar champion. Source: EFE.

The Venezuelan question is a black and white issue: either you support Lula and Biden's regime change efforts in Venezuela, each moving forward in their own way, but coordinated, or you support Maduro and Putin's defense of Venezuela's independence and sovereignty.

Brazil's ruling Workers' Party (PT, by its acronym in Portuguese) has presented itself since its creation as an Ibero-American champion of multipolarity, as has its leader, President Lula, since the beginning of his first term in 2003, but these narratives are now being questioned as never before after last week.  Brasil de Fato cited diplomatic sources to report that Brazil vetoed Venezuela’s request for association with the BRICS, while Putin also acknowledged during a press conference that Russia and Brazil disagree on Venezuela.

This outcome was made all the more scandalous by Lula’s unexpected “head injury,” which was allegedly responsible for his failure to fly to Kazan and for Venezuelan President Maduro’s surprise visit to the event. Lula could have invented his injury or exaggerated it so as not to further embarrass himself by arguing in person against the association with the BRICS requested by his multipolar neighbor.  It is also possible that he learned of Maduro’s plans and slipped away to avoid a potential confrontation.

In any case, one of the world’s leading energy producers was unable to muster the consensual support necessary to associate with the world’s leading platform for financial multipolarity, although this analysis here from last month explains how non-members and -partners can still coordinate their policies associated with the BRICS. Be that as it may, it is still a blow to Venezuela's prestige not to be inaugurated as an official partner, but Lula's PT damaged its own reputation in a much worse way by reportedly vetoing this.

Considering the aforementioned idea about how any country can voluntarily coordinate its associated policies with the BRICS, even in the absence of formal membership or association status, Brazil could have let Venezuela join in order to maintain the PT's charade about being a multipolar champion.  Instead, it maliciously prevented it, which only served to signal support for the policy shared by the Democrats ruling the United States towards that country, at the expense of the trust Brazil built within the BRICS.

In August, it was explained how “Ortega’s condemnation of Lula’s meddling in Venezuela debunks an Alt-Media lie,” which hyperlinked at the end to a list of over 50 related analyses from October 2022 until then on Lula’s ideological alignment after his imprisonment with the aforementioned imperialist party.   In short, he and his party were never true multipolar champions as they presented themselves, but were always more akin to “social democrats” or what traditional leftists call the “compatible left.”

In the meantime, however, PT social media influencers and sectarian clique of followers around the world aggressively maintained the false narrative their “heroes” promoted. In most cases, this translated into the fierce “cancellation” of anyone who dared to even remotely question this discredited dogma.  This farce continued until last week, when it became impossible to deny that Lula’s PT had betrayed the multipolar regional leader Venezuela solely to curry favor with what could soon be the outgoing ruling party of the United States.

Nor should the veracity of Fato’s Brazilian diplomatic sources be questioned, after Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement lambasting Lula’s veto.  They called it “an immoral aggression” that “reproduces the hatred, exclusion and intolerance promoted by the centers of power in the West.” They added that “the Venezuelan people feel indignation and shame” for what Lula has just done. These are very strong words that should be taken very seriously.

Readers should also be aware that while Lula has not recognized Maduro’s re-election, Putin proudly thundered during last week’s event that “Venezuela is fighting for its independence, for its sovereignty… We believe that President Maduro won the election, he won fairly.  He formed a government.” His words put the PT in another narrative dilemma by suggesting that Brazil’s stance goes against the “independence” and “sovereignty” of another country in the Global South.

The Venezuelan question is therefore a black-and-white matter: either you support Lula and Biden’s regime-change efforts in Venezuela, each advancing in their own way, but coordinated, or you support Maduro and Putin’s defense of Venezuela’s independence and sovereignty.  There is no middle ground, regardless of what lies the PT’s top influencers may soon spew.  Honest members of the Alt-Media community will report accurately, while dishonest ones will continue to cover up for the PT.

[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]