comment: >
  
  Dislike.
context: Central and South American countries  have pretty much stayed out of most conflicts. >
  
  Kinda got their hands full with their own >
  
  I wonder who stoked those flames... >
  
  It wasn't the US......flashback to Mexican American war. >
  
  And the entirety of the 20th century >
  
  US been fighting somebody since they existed. >
  
  What is with this article identifying every government as leftist? Bolsanaro had exactly the same position. >
  
  Yea I got some flack for pointing out the reality in another thread:
  Brazil will literally collapse and starve if Russia ever cuts off their fertilizer. Lula, Bolsonaro, and anyone else in power down there is literally powerless to stand up to Russia. 
  Not defending Lula, just pointing out his hands are tied here. >
  
  Yup, and the level of diplomatic support provided by Brazil and many others in UN votes is quite useful on its own: it discredits any narrative that Russia's imperialism has popular global support. >
  
  China has more influence in Central America than Russia. Both Russia and China have more influence in Central America than they would have had we not promoted banana republics, regime changes and other not so neighborly policies. 
  China controls the majority of Warehousing and shipping services in the region and Chinese is taught more than English in Panama. We are to some degree reaping what was sown. >
  
  That must be why I seen Chinese car brands in Ecuador when I was there last year. I found that rather interesting. Also new Suzuki Jimnys which are cool as hell and I wish we had them in Canada. >
  
  Weird that Chile isn't mentioned, the only thing I've heard about aid was some humanitarian donations last year and promises about reconstruction and minesweepers some days ago, no weapons at all. Maybe we don't have enough equipment or old enough equipment to donate. >
  
  Chile also has almost everything Ukraine has been asking for. They have:  
  120+ Leopard 1-V
  200+ Leopard 2A4
  250 Marder 1A3
  500+ M113 and derivatives
  5-7 NASAMS batteries
  500 MOWAG Piranha
  48 M109 Howitzers 
  50+ FV101 Scorpion
  All sorts of NATO compatible munitions
  Etc...  
  Now I don't know how likely Chile is to send some small portion of their arsenal to Ukraine, but they are one of the only countries in the region best suited to supply Ukraine with this level of heavy support. It could also be an opportunity for Chile to dump some of its older stock and secure deals with NATO and allied countries for more modern replacements. Chile has had a fairly good track record of achieving these types of deals, recently recieving 3 ex-RAF E-3 Sentry AWACS for a bargain. There's been rumors of Chile trying to secure a deal for at least 20 ex-RAF Eurofighter Typhoon fighters to replace the F-5 Tigers and older F-16MLUs. Should this go through, those F-16s might need to find a new home. Maybe they could serve as spares or trainers for a new UAF squadron?  
  Humanitarian and reconstruction aid would be great, but a tad risky. Chile's experience with disasters made the country fairly resilient to catastrophes like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes and Chile does have a lot of experience in rebuilding and achieving high engineering/building standards. We could support Ukraine, but we may not have a lot of buffer room to allocate to supporting Ukraine without leaving the country more vulnerable to a major catastrophe. >
  
  The current Chilean government is more concerned for the promised new constitution than everything else. >
  
  Agreed >
  
  There's no reason for latin america to get involved with the conflicts of other continents. We're kinda busy with our own mess over here >
  
  People are talking like latin america is a disorganized dystopia. Is it really that bad? >
  
  It depends on the country.
  Some latin american countries are wealthier than others. While we do not face issues such as war or much conflict between countries our internal politics generally deal with government corruption, crime, poverty and the effects previous dictatorships have left over the years. It's certainly going to take a while for us to get out of the generational mess previous governments have generated >
  
  Can’t believe the group of nations we constantly oppressed and staged coups in are against our foreign policy du jour >
  
  Best comment in this thread >
  
  This is not our war, we don't need to get involved. Why world's problem are not Europe's problem but Europe's problem are world's problem? >
  
  This. I don’t understand this whole “Ukraine’s fight is our fight” logic. It’s not. 
  I don’t get why the west is going to countries that they’ve exploited for centuries asking them to help them help Ukraine 🤔 to me it’s an extremely bad look. >
  
  But, how long should this memory be held as the inevitable prescription for the future?  The Biden administration is not identical to Nixon's, and the situation in Ukraine is about as stark an example of one very powerful and rich country using every single tool at its disposal to wipe the other off the map as a sovereign state.  It is more than simply propping up a dictator; it is to erase a people and use their land. 
  "The West" is as lazy a descriptor as "global South" or "Eurasia" - it is about a global order where aggressors are held accountable.  The US should be as well - we should have to apologize for supporting Pinochet, death squads, and oppressive governments in Latin/South America and be accountable for our meddling and aggression. >
  
  Europeans and their diaspora ruined Latin America. They should have every right to deny involvement in European internal affairs as they don’t want to put themselves in a quagmire. Why is Latin America being asked to pick a side? You mentioned the world wars, weren’t military alliances the reason why most of Europe got dragged into the First World War? 
  LatAm needs to trade with the entire world, not just the EU and their affiliates, the US, UK, Canada, etc. because of European & their diaspora’s meddling in Latam’s internal affairs. The effects of such meddling are being felt to this day. Sure, an apology would be nice, but look at how many thousands of bright minds were lost because “socialism bad”. You can’t replace that tomorrow. 
  The Biden administration has only now distanced themselves from Guidao (sp) in Venezuela and has refused to lift the Cuban embargo. He may not be Nixon but he’s no saint, either. >
  
  These are not two equal “sides” that embarked on a war together.  But, since the US could morph into Nixon/Reagan 2.0 in 2024, there is no moral authority at work here.  The US has now allowed whatever rule of law it enjoyed to become seriously compromised.  But everyone is in trouble if corruption is allowed to consume the basic rights and quality of life of 90% of people for a gang of criminal tyrants. >
  
  They have much bigger domestic issues to take care of that sending weapons to Ukraine. >
  
  Couldn’t most countries use that excuse? >
  
  Most countries in Europe built up their armies specifically to respond to Russian aggression, so Europe sending weapons makes more sense than LatAm and Asian countries sending weapons (not to mention Africa, which has plenty of active inter-state conflicts). The US can also send stuff fairly easily since its reserve of well-maintained vehicles in storage is far greater than any other country. >
  
  Some Latin American countries have Soviet equipment that we don’t have access to, that Ukraine can use because they still use a lot of Soviet stuff. Parts are becoming difficult to get. >
  
  If they are gone some one have to pay to replace them. >
  
  They’re offering to replace Soviet equipment sent with American equipment, yes. It’s in the article. >
  
  American equipment comes with a lot of strings attached. Which is pretty problematic since America has a tendency of acting out of turn in Latin American countries. >
  
  why the fk are we trying to pressure latin america to do stuff when its europe that should be sending everything and the kitchen sink before anyone else >
  
  Because they have stuff that are compatible with Ukrainian army. >
  
  Stuff that Ukrainians don't need training with. >
  
  It implies that Latin American countries have a duty not only to pick a side, but to provide material support to a side, and for no benefit. Which is absurd.
  Yeah get on the bandwagon, Nicaragua, and throw whatever weapons you have in some crates so they can get destroyed on the other side of the planet and no Ukrainian or Russian will ever know you even did anything. >
  
  So if China or Russia decided to invade a South American country, they shouldn’t expect any help from Europe, because “not their problem”? >
  
  Odds are they wouldn’t help anyway. 
  Only 2 countries in all of Latin America have a GDP greater than what the US spends on its military. 80% of Bolivia lives on poverty. Please educate me how you think it is better for Bolivia to send aid to Ukraine than it is for Bolivia to help that 80%. 
  For most of last year we seen Europeans bitching that their gas prices are a bit to high and “oh how will we survive winter” if we cut of the gas from Russia. Finding every way to continue to justify it. Now we have the same people asking countries plagued with actual poverty to ignore their people and help Ukraine instead. “Oh I know there’s tons of people starving there but you know what a real crisis is, I almost had to buy a second sweater this winter because we might have stopped giving Russia billions for gas”.
  Even worse in Venezuela where 50% live in extreme poverty. >
  
  Let me guess. Mexico and Brazil? >
  
  Correct. >
  
  “Refuse” is an interesting choice. Could also say “did not happen to”, equally true. I guess the connotation is that they’re obliged to, which I don’t think they are, despite being pressured. >
  
  Can't say i blame them for not lining up to alienate the "other option" to the US for the last 90 years when we've been such reliable good willed partners in the recent past. >
  
  Finally, people that can think for themselves! >
  
  
  Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia have refused to send weapons to Ukraine,
  
  What do they even have to send? >
  
  Fun Fact: Taurus International is a Brazilian firearms company and was the 6th most selling firearms manufacturer in the US in 2022. >
  
  Sending Taurus guns to Ukraine could be considered as sabotage. They aren't known for the best quality control here in the US. >
  
  I didnt say they sold a lot of GOOD ones haha >
  
  We got a lot going on rn on our hands, civil wars, human rights violations, corrupt governments, drug Cartels, jungles getting on fire, deforestation, terrible education, corruption, the list goes on and on, please cut us some slack. >
  
  Most nations in Latin America don’t have enough national budget to send their weapons for Ukraine’s situation. They’ve been struggling financially like Argentina & Brazil, which is they can’t have room to try that right now. If the EU & America make them donate weapons to Ukraine, those advanced richer nations should’ve helped Latin America before undergoing the worst economic crisis. 
  Western countries & their representative group, the EU & NATO should’ve thought carefully about their demands to Latin American nations before asking like that. For instance, Argentina couldn’t come up with enough defense budget to purchase new jet fighters to protect its territories. Basically, Latin American nations don’t have enough money to feed themselves, then how can they feed other strangers who’ve lived overseas? >
  
  Because Ukrainians are CIVILIZED AND HARDWORKING THE WORLD MUST HELP THEM >
  
  What on Earth do Latin America want to send weapons for it nothing to do with them it’s the Biden administration that wants to get of is arse they have an economy total set for war. >
  
  "The commander of the US military’s Southern Command (Southcom), which operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, revealed on January 19 that Washington has been pressuring countries in the region to arm Ukraine."
  Well this is the reason they do not want to cooperate with the United States.
  The United States does not want help Latin America. Instead, they want to continue burying them in debt. The United States does not want to replace the military equipment for free. They want to sell it to those nations. Knowing very well US equipment is expensive to buy and maintain thus increasing Latin America dependence on the US. >
  
  Brazil is the worlds 4th largest lights arms exporter in the world…. They have their own industries…. Additionally, many of the other deals we have seen has saw the US offer to replace from the stockpile sometimes free… this would potentially give them Us arms and make them closer to the US… but it could be from other countries as well….
  The US has done some bad things in the south, this isn’t one of them… >
  
  I wonder why Brazil rejected this idea then. Hhmmmm >
  
  Probably because you know fuck all about the country, but knowing fuck all about something has never given you pause to think and realize that maybe you should shut the fuck up and read a book or 10 before even considering forming an opinion, so that it could possibly be considered an educated guess. >
  
  It is not an educated guess. But studies in Latin America History. >
  
  Trash article by a trash author. The US is trying to convince them to send Russian weapons to Ukr. because that's he weapon systems they know, and offering to replace them with US weapons in exchange
  no one is "pressuring" S.A. to do anything - and what would that even look like? what are we withholding from them? whole article is bogus. >
  
  Why should they? They are thousands of miles away. >
  
  Latin America should tell 'em to fuck off >
  
  Latin American countries are mostly 2nd world countries. Worrying about geo-political stability is a first world concern. >
  
  No, Latin American countries by Cold War's definition are 3rd world countries, Cold War definition of 1st/2nd/3rd world are literally where the terms come from.
  
  1st world: Western countries, mostly developed, allied under the USA and Europe
  2nd world: USSR and other communist countries
  3rd world: neutral/non-affiliated to either of 1st or 2nd world countries.
  
  How have you come to the conclusion that Latin America is "2nd world countries"? >
  
  It is quite common nowadays to use third world and developing nations interchangeably. >
  
  Yup, but 2nd world is not used at all in a contemporary context. >
  
  The contemporary context isn’t used anymore so what’s you’re point. In your own words it defined alliances during the Cold War, a war that has been over for a long time. Do you still run around calling Italy a Axis power? >
  
  I mean, we Costa Ricans could ask for the thug gangs to send some lol, they are as armed as the drug police division >
  
  NGL, that would be... at very least globally interesting. Can you imagine the news headlines if South American organized crime organisations did that? I am not sure I can, but I am certain the news reports and reactions would be absolutely bonkers! >
  
  They are smart for staying out of this like most of the world has except for NATO, Japan, Korea, Australia and NZ. I keep hearing people say the world is against Russia buts just not true. Most countries just don’t care. >
  
  Latin America is the West you spoons. >
  
  Latin America can’t stand for itself let alone another nation’s democratic aspirations. >
  
  We don't give a shit about this war. Nobody gives a shit besides the countries involved and NATO's puppets >
  
  This shouldn’t surprise anybody >
  
  This is good! no weapons in Ukraine, no dead in Donets! >
  
  You spell like a child when you write in English, Vlad >
  
  Good for them they need to worry about the cartels hurting their countries then send aid to a country they barely know >
  
  Are they shelling cartel compounds with thousands of rounds of 150mm artillary muntitions these days? Na they could spare them, but since it doesn't benefit their needs they would rather not unless Ukraine bargains with them.
  Brazil probably doesn't want to piss in Russia's cheerios just for some good PR is more than likely the reason. I don't blame them, if the West or EU offered something in return they would probably send them. Guilting them into sending aid is a poor strategy but kind of expected with how we as the US deal with SA in general. >
  
  Russia has targeted arms donating nations now?  Wow, the news is really behind Nolife16 on that one.  Alert the Associated Press and Reuters— major scoop on Reddit. >
  
  I have been curious where Mexico sits within all this global heat up going on.
  What am I about to read here?
  Wow, wow, and more wow.
  This is heating up fast, there is a huge shuffle up and deal situations being played out these days 🤣
  The irony in some of these countries preaching peace and a not wanting to take a side but in fact by their choices are taking a side.
  🤷🏻‍♀️ >
  
  They have working weapons? Lol