1.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just completed a visit to Brazil. He was warmly welcomed by President Lula and generally glad handed and back slapped throughout his stay.

2.

Brazil is the largest member of the Mercosur trade bloc, supposedly a precursor to a Latin American Union on the lines of what the European Union is today. The Argentine government makes great play of its commitment to Mercosur and, especially, of the strategic nature of Argentina’s relations with Brazil.

3.

The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was destroyed by a car bomb in 1992 and the AMIA Jewish community center in the same city suffered a similar fate in 1994.  More than 100 people were killed in the two explosions, the great majority of them Argentines. Agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran are strongly suspected of participation in the two attacks and there are a number of international arrest warrants outstanding against Iranians suspected of involvement in the AMIA atrocity; one of them is currently Iran’s defense minister.  During the course of Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil I read nothing about Lula demanding, suggesting or even hinting that Iran extradite the wanted men to Argentina. I also saw no report of him having been asked to do so by his strategic allies in Argentina.

4.

One of the results of the visit is reported to have been an agreement to draw up a mutual visa waiver agreement between the two countries.  Given Iran’s record in the practice of terrorism beyond its borders it’s not hard to doubt the wisdom of this.

5.

Brazil’s president got his start in politics as a trade unionist; the sort of trade unionist that organizes strikes and generally makes life miserable for the bosses. In today’s Iran workers’ leaders are jailed, tortured and murdered by the authorities. Any rising Iranian Lula will have his neck stretched long before he becomes a serious threat to the regime.

6.

Lula is generally held to be the leader of the sane left in Latin America. No “anti-imperialist” windbaggery, serious economic management, a steady reduction of poverty and a moderate and rational foreign policy. In the light of all this, as well as Brazil’s traditional alignment with the United States, it doesn’t seem excessive to see some element of teenagerish rebellion in the decision to invite Ahmadinejad; “Look, Daddy, I’m all grown up now, I’m not a nerd and I can hang out with whoever I want.”

The thing about being an adult is that you have to take responsibility for your actions and live with the consequences of them and it’s to be hoped that neither Brazil nor any of its neighbors ever has cause to rue the day that Lula  decided to play international statesman.