Why Ahmadinejad is warmly welcomed in Brazil
Iran seeks to increase trade with Brazil from $2b to $15b

When Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva -- dubbed by U.S. President Barack Obama “the most popular politician on earth” -- hosted Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brasília on Monday, he was doing what Mr. Obama has taken heat for proposing: engage Iran without preconditions.

The difference? Mr. da Silva (known as Lula) “engaged” with a publicized series of hand clasps, smiles -- and a prolonged embrace…

It’s the first visit by an Iranian president to Brazil. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s trip to the world’s fourth largest democracy -- part of a five-country tour also slated to include Gambia, Senegal, Venezuela, and Bolivia…

With Lula, Ahmadinejad -- and his entourage of businessmen -- will discuss opportunities to increase and diversify commerce as well as boost cooperation in nanotechnology, biotechnology, agriculture, and energy, according Brazil’s Foreign Ministry.

The trip to Brazil offers Ahmadinejad a chance to change the global narrative, one that’s been largely focused on Iran’s nuclear program.

“There’s a clear pattern of Iranian efforts to reach beyond the traditional global discussions that its been engaged with, because those discussions tend to be about ways to limit Iran’s influence,” says Eric Farnsworth, vice president of Council of the Americas, a New York consultancy. Mr. Farnsworth testified at a Congressional hearing in October about Iran’s reach into Latin America. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the Iranian leader to expand (his country’s) reach.”

So what’s in it for Brazil? In addition to the potential trade incentives, Brazil may be welcoming Ahmadinejad as part of its own effort to play a role as Middle East peacemaker. This month, Brazil hosted Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres, the first such visit by an Israeli president in 40 years.

But Brazil’s Middle East policy is eclectic by American standards. When he hosted Israel’s Mr. Peres, Lula discussed increased economic and defense cooperation. On the other hand, Brazil is the rare major Western power to publicly defend Iran’s development of a nuclear program -- for peaceful purposes. And when speaking with Mr. Abbas in the northeastern city of Salvador last week, Lula declared that Israeli settlement expansion into the West Bank must stop immediately.

Were Brazil-Iran relations just economic, Farnsworth says, there would be no need for a polemical visit by the Iranian head of state -- they could just swap ministers and businessmen.

Though sovereign nations can invite whomever they please, “it’s unnecessary. There’s no compelling reason why the president of Brazil has to have a visit from the president of Iran other than to say, ‘I can’,” Farnsworth says.

Even if Lula is looking for a negotiator role in the Middle East, Ahmadinejad, in a televised interview with the Brazilian media conglomerate O Globo, seemed to be hoping for more than a mediator. His responses to questions posed in English were then translated into Portuguese subtitles:

“The world needs a new economic order. Iran and Brazil have independent positions in relation to the international situation. … The two can work together to help create a new international order.“

The U.S. has not been pleased by Ahmadinejad’s recent thrusts into its diplomatic backyard. Since Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, Iran has opened new embassies in Colombia, Nicaragua, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia -- and added ones to Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela, according to the Washington Post.

But Ahmadinejad’s visit doesn’t come totally from the geopolitical left field.

Brazil hosts a significant Shiite Muslim population in the states of São Paulo and Paraná. … Women and girls in headscarves and men waving Iranian and Brazilian flags, chanting Ahmadinejad’s name.

(Source: Christian Science Monitor)

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