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Brazil at Risk of US-Backed Maidan Scenario Plunging Country Into Civil War

© AFP 2023 / NELSON ALMEIDASupporters of the government of Brazilian suspended President Dilma Rousseff protest against her upcoming impeachment trial in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 12, 2016
Supporters of the government of Brazilian suspended President Dilma Rousseff protest against her upcoming impeachment trial in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 12, 2016 - Sputnik International
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This month has seen a critically important shift in the global geopolitical balance, with the Brazilian Maidan-style scenario now entering its final stretch. According to Russian analysts, the overthrow of the country's government, if made permanent, will have tremendous implications not just for Latin America, but for the world as a whole.

Brazilian suspended President Dilma Rousseff gives a press conference with international media at the presidential residence Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on May 13, 2016 - Sputnik International
Rousseff Impeachment Trial May End in Early August – Reports
The Senate impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is expected to reach a verdict in early August, the state news agency Agencia Brazil reported on Thursday. Earlier this month, the Brazilian Senate voted in favor of an impeachment trial for Rousseff, triggering a 180-day suspension from office for the Brazilian president. Vice President Michel Temer has assumed control of the government, pending the outcome of the trial, installing his own cabinet. If two-thirds of Brazil's Senate (54 members) vote to impeach, Rousseff will be permanently barred from office.

Temer's interim government has gotten off to a rocky start and is already facing a severe political crisis, with Rousseff allies slamming the two-week old government for its lack of legitimacy and its plans to cause "enormous damage" to the country's social safety net. 

Speaking to Sputnik Brazil, Senator Gleisi Hoffmann called the new government and its actions "a disaster, and one which we had anticipated."

"We had warned that the conditions for the vice president to form a government did not exist – that he does not have the program or the moral [authority] which had previously been demanded of President Dilma. From what we've seen of the interim government's actions over the last two weeks, he [Temer] is not prepared to govern Brazil."

Michel Temer joined by allies Renan Calherios, Romero Juca, and Henrique Meirelles - Sputnik International
Leaked Tapes Show Michel Temer’s Henchmen Led Dilma Rousseff Coup in Brazil
Hoffman recalled that "at first he hesitated about whether to create or reduce the number of ministries; then there was the catastrophic interview with his ministers where they stepped out against social programs; yesterday there was the scandal surrounding one of the most important ministers – Minister of Planning Romero Juca, who was recorded saying that the impeachment was necessary to stop the investigation into Operation Car Crash," (the money laundering and corruption investigation concerning the state-controlled oil company Petrobras).

"And today," the senator added, "the interim president proposed changes to the budget which would undermine the rights of workers and cause harm to social programs, with a complete lack of concern for the fate of the majority of the Brazilian people, most of whom are poor."

Indicating that she had spoken to Dilma on Monday, Hoffman noted that the president said that the current political crisis is a confirmation of what she had anticipated. Dilma, Hoffman said, emphasized "that this process of impeachment, which we have always referred to a coup d'état, was not about her dismissal over budget manipulations, but about her desire to change the program chosen by the Brazilian people during the 2014 elections."

"The president is upset about everything that has happened, but is also calm and will await our discussions within the Impeachment Committee in the Senate, and how we will defend her, and defend our democracy," the senator concluded.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff - Sputnik International
Rousseff's Downfall Paves Way for Massive Privatization in Brazil
Amid the scandal, Dilma's allies in Latin America have rallied around her, suggesting not only that the charges against her are false, but that the trace leads back to Washington. Two weeks ago, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is struggling against a political crisis of his own, emphasized that he had "no doubts that there is a 'made in USA' label hanging over this coup."

Maduro isn't alone in his assessment, with independent Latin American, US and European media also saying that they smell a coup. Russian analysts are no different. In an article for the independent online news and analysis portal PolitRussia, journalist Ivan Shatov explained that a coup is definitely underway, and that it will have global implications.

"When two-thirds of the lawmakers of the lower house of the Brazilian National Congress voted to impeach the country's president a month ago, it became apparent that we are witnessing another regime change operation," Shatov wrote.

"President Dilma, whose main sin has been to adopt an independent foreign policy and to cooperate with Russia in the frameworks of the BRICS, called the situation in the country an anti-government putsch, organized from abroad," he added.

"The instrument used to create a split in society is well known among other countries which have faced color revolutions, and revolves around corruption charges. Rousseff was charged with manipulating government accounts."

Meanwhile, "the situation in the country has changed at lightning speed. The voting for impeachment was accompanied by a confrontation by both blocs in parliament; after that, the streets were filled with supporters and opponents of the president. It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before the go-ahead was given for the final assault."

Brazilian acting President Michel Temer is seen during the first ministers meeting at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia - Sputnik International
Whistleblower: WikiLeaks Weakens Brazil's Acting President
The new interim government, Shatov recalled, was immediately engrossed in its own scandals. "Last week, WikiLeaks published documents showing that Temer provided the US National Security Council with information about the political situation in Brazil in 2006, revealed the balance of political forces and their prospects in the elections, along with other related information. The information was classified 'important' and 'for official use only'."

In other words, Shatov noted, Temer, whose official resume includes the posts of vice president, acting president and chairman of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, can also include 'US intelligence informant' to his record of employment.

At the same time, the journalist warned, "it's impossible not to mention that the situation in Brazil today is painfully reminiscent to that at the start of the coup in Ukraine, which later grew into a civil war. Despite the fact that the situation for Washington and the fifth column in Brazil looks more promising, a change in the country's political course will not be easy. The main obstacle continues to be the broad support for Dilma Rousseff from Brazilians who are unlikely to accept the fact that their legitimate president has been replaced by an American puppet. Everything is moving toward a situation where the protests of tens of thousands in support of the ousted president might escalate into serious street clashes and ignite a civil war."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends a cabinet meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Septemver 8, 2015 - Sputnik International
Two Years On: Poroshenko's Approval Rating Collapses, Profits Up $100 Mln
The same situation can be observed in neighboring Venezuela, Shatov added. Following the parliamentary elections in December 2015 "which saw pro-American liberals coming to power, the economic situation has only gotten worse and street clashes occur more frequently. Last week, the situation escalated to the breaking point. Following President Maduro's announcement of a 60-day state of emergency, opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski said that the army must choose who it supports, 'Maduro or the constitution', and called on Venezuelan citizens to ignore the presidential decree."

Hence, in Venezuela too, "the situation is unfolding according to the Kiev scenario," the journalist wrote. "An international delegation headed by the former Spanish prime minister has come to the country to convince Maduro to give up his power and hand the country over to the Americans. In their own time, European leaders in Kiev attempted to convince Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to do the same thing, but did not keep any of their agreements."

Back to Brazil. "The Brazilian economy plays an important role in the world, all the more so considering that the country is a member of the BRICS, an organization which not long ago began to pose a serious threat to the hegemony of the US dollar. It's no secret to anyone that the US has been extremely irritated by the BRICS Bank from the first days of its existence."

Washington, Shaatov recalled, "undertook many attempts to intimidate the Bank's members, such as sectoral sanctions, during the visit of the Russian delegation to Latin America in July 2014. At the G20 summit, a massive attack was organized against Russia to slow the process of creating a new financial hub. But it was last year's BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia, where the participating countries agreed on setting up an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which became a turning point for the global financial system." At the time, analysts commenting on that summit suggested that the agreements reached there threatened to put an end to US domination of global finance.

Demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the resignation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on March 13, 2016 in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil - Sputnik International
Washington's 'Fingerprints' All Over Rousseff's Impeachment
As a result, Shaatov warned, "the US financial hegemon, which controls the money printing press, is beginning to become obsolete, with the advent of alternative geopolitical poles. The BRICS countries have decided to take another path – to gradually free themselves of the Bretton Woods system, characterized by the hegemony of the dollar."

Ultimately, "in the event that the BRICS countries do find alternatives to the elements of the [US-controlled global] financial system, such as US currency, US bonds and the IMF, the United States will immediately turn into a normal country, which must use its own resources to make ends meet. Naturally, Washington cannot simply allow this to happen."

"Incidentally, the six-month temporary suspension of the Brazilian president will end just in time for the US elections," Shaatov concluded.

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