- cross-posted to:
- us_news@lemmygrad.ml
- usa@lemmy.ml
dialecticaldispatches.substack.com
- cross-posted to:
- us_news@lemmygrad.ml
- usa@lemmy.ml
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The goal is to “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces. Competitors cannot position other threatening capabilities. They cannot own or control strategically vital assets in our Hemisphere.”
I believe this is the linchpin of the US’ strategy. Latin America contains vast amounts of resources, a large labor pool, and a strong comprador presence in almost every country. It also happens to be in an area where the US has a near insurmountable logistical advantage compared to their main competitor (China). If the US could dominate the region and extract their resources, it could feasibly maintain its hegemony for quite a while.
Mexico is the largest producer of silver, with nearly 25% of global production. They are also in the top ten producers of gold, copper, zinc and lithium.
Brazil is the largest producer of Niobium (around 95% of global production!), has the second-highest reserves of rare-earth minerals (after China), the second highest production of iron ore (again, after China), and the second highest hydroelectric production (also after China).
Also, there’s the Lithium Triangle, a relatively small region in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile that contains 54-58% of all Lithium reserves in the world, and it’s a vital component in things like battery production.
There’s a lot more that isn’t said here, like Venezuela’s gargantuan oil reserves, but the point is that the American imperialists are no doubt drooling at the idea of plundering the region and extracting unimaginable amounts of super-profits. Fortunately, the US is still unlikely to pull a significant portion of their forces away from Asia (containing China is the whole point), and they can’t pull out of Europe or West Asia instantly either. But still, I do genuinely fear for Latin Americans, and I do hope they continue to resist American pressure and stay vigilant.
The question is whether the US has the ability to dominate Latin America the way they have in the past. The world today is very different, and US power is a shadow of what it was. There’s also a lot of baggage around US colonialism in Latin America. I expect that the most likely scenario is that attempts to impose hegemony will end up uniting people against the US.
That’s true, but I’m worried about the thousands of Machado wannabes dreaming about becoming part of the comprador class. Also, it feels like the pink wave is faltering and a new tide of fascists are being elected.
I believe the litmus test for your question is Brazil. They have the scale and power to meaningfully counteract US imperialism on the continent, but also the resources to sustain US hegemony if they were to become a glorified mining pit. I hope they can receive enough support from their BRICS partners to achieve the former.
I agree, Brazil will be the one to watch. I do think BRICS is a big factor in all of this because it provides economic alternatives to the west. All these color revolutions and regime change operations ultimately start with destabilizing the economy to sow discontent. I also think this is the part of the reason the US is now doing piracy on the high seas, to create fear around international shipping.
