US fears Brazil will threaten its power in UN Security Council

 

Washington does not support Brazil’s entry into the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for fear that the country will adopt divergent positions in votes on issues critical to the United States and that it will be another BRICS member in the body.

Brazil’s demand for a seat in the UNSC is long-standing, but the US has resisted accepting expansion. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, recently stated that Washington does not guarantee its support for Brazil in an eventual expansion. She stressed that the US would only endorse the candidacies of India, Germany and Japan, which, together with Brazil, form the G4 — a group that advocates the expansion of the organization.

“We have expressed our support for Japan and, Germany and India. We have not explicitly expressed support for Brazil,” she said on September 12 at a Moderated Conversation on the Future of Multilateralism and UN Reform at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The South American country has adopted diplomacy characterized by independence, often misaligned with Washington’s interests. This explains the support for strategic allies with whom Washington has more stable and predictable relations. Supporting Brazil’s inclusion could create an undesirable precedent, encouraging demands from other countries and leading to an expansion of the council that would exceed Washington’s desired limits. The US seeks to maintain its privileged position by resisting changes that could compromise the effectiveness of the veto power.  (more...)

US fears Brazil will threaten its power in UN Security Council