Here’s the US countering China’s expansionist plans for Antarctica, a joint US/Argentinean military base to be built in Ushuaia.
A US base in Chile would have been unthinkable, given the current political situation here, but clearly Milei has no qualms in allying Argentina with the US.
US support will probably strengthen Argentina’s military capabilities, which could encourage their eternal expansionist ambitions in ways unanticipated by their new allies.
For example, Milei sees this as a first step towards achieving sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
What’s good for Argentina may prove not so good for Chile in the long run.
And F16s and other modern arms are on their way to Argie.
If Milei does turn the economy around, a strong Argie with modern arms is the last thing Chile needs especially with the inepts in control and a corresponding regressing economic system.
In the past, Chile has consistently pursued a neutrality policy. For instance during ww2, it only suspended diplomatic relations with the Axis powers in 1943, after the tide of war had turned in the Allies’ favour.
And more recently, President Lagos refused to back the US invasion of Iraq, despite serious arm-twisting by Bush43.
Its not a bad policy for a small, relatively powerless nation. But its a pragmatic stance that the present and previous government has damaged by misguided ambitions to figure on the global stage.
In this, as in so many other ways, Chile has truly “lost the plot”
