i think you can add latin america (excluding brazil and argentina) to that vassal list considering that the united states is imminently poised to put boots on the ground in peru and mexico and with panama, el salvador & columbia not far behind.
american hard & soft power will keep anyone else in latin america from joining brics, no matter how much they want to join (as exemplified by mexico today); american boots on the ground in peru is the response to bri (and it will be turned into an example like venezuela or cuba); and milei is going to do everything in his power to remove argentina from brics.
Brazil alone is by far the biggest economy in Latin America, but we shouldn’t forget Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua as some other important countries in the region. The countries that end up bending the knee to the US will necessarily see their economies decline as they become further exploited, meanwhile countries that turn to BRICS will see their economies grow.
American soft power is primarily based on its economic power, and that’s far weaker today than it’s ever been since WW2 ended. The whole G7 bloc was already smaller economically than BRICS, and now with the west fighting each other, the situation for US is even more grim. Meanwhile, US hard power has been exhausted in Ukraine, the US is still mired in West Asia where over a billion has been spent on bombing Yemen in just the past few months, and a potential war with Iran is looming. All while the US has ambitions to take on China. Where you think the US is going to get the resources to project hard power in Latin America, I have no idea.
i think you can add latin america (excluding brazil and argentina) to that vassal list considering that the united states is imminently poised to put boots on the ground in peru and mexico and with panama, el salvador & columbia not far behind.
american hard & soft power will keep anyone else in latin america from joining brics, no matter how much they want to join (as exemplified by mexico today); american boots on the ground in peru is the response to bri (and it will be turned into an example like venezuela or cuba); and milei is going to do everything in his power to remove argentina from brics.
Brazil alone is by far the biggest economy in Latin America, but we shouldn’t forget Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua as some other important countries in the region. The countries that end up bending the knee to the US will necessarily see their economies decline as they become further exploited, meanwhile countries that turn to BRICS will see their economies grow.
American soft power is primarily based on its economic power, and that’s far weaker today than it’s ever been since WW2 ended. The whole G7 bloc was already smaller economically than BRICS, and now with the west fighting each other, the situation for US is even more grim. Meanwhile, US hard power has been exhausted in Ukraine, the US is still mired in West Asia where over a billion has been spent on bombing Yemen in just the past few months, and a potential war with Iran is looming. All while the US has ambitions to take on China. Where you think the US is going to get the resources to project hard power in Latin America, I have no idea.