US President will designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally in recognition of the South American state’s deepening defense cooperation with the US.

US President Donald Trump announced the decision in a White House press release on Wednesday. The decision to recognize Brazil as a major non-NATO ally comes due to "Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United State."

“In accordance with section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, I am providing notice of my intent to designate Brazil as a Major Non-NATO Ally. I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil’s recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil.” it said.

As a non-NATO ally, Brazil would become a preferred buyer of US military equipment, would participate in Pentagon military auctions, and would participate in military exercises and training operations with US forces. </s> TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

In accordance with section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2321k), I am providing notice of my intent to designate Brazil as a Major Non-NATO Ally.

I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil’s recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

May 8, 2019. </s> WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump has notified Congress of his decision to designate Brazil as its main non-NATO partner, as Washington attempts to ratchet up pressure on Caracas, where Maduro’s government has recently succeeded in warding off two rounds of intensive coup-attempts.

FRN assesses that these moves represent attempts by the Trump administration to gear NATO towards Monroe Doctrine types of operations. This is a complicated endeavor because the main tension between the EU and Washington is over whether Washington will be allowed to insert itself as middle-man on Latin American business dealings, particularly in the area of banking and finance. Presently, Venezuela has strong ties not just to Russia, but also to Southern and Western European banking establishments.

The information was released in a White House statement without further details. According to the note, the appointment is linked to the US recognition of Brazil’s commitment to “increase cooperation on defense issues”, in particular surrounding Cuba and Venezuela.

“I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil’s recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil,” Trump wrote in a letter to the Congress and released by the White House.

During the visit of President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) to Washington in the United States, the possibility of making Brazil a preferred NATO ally was voiced. In the White House, Donald Trump said that intends to name Brazil for the position.

On Monday, it was reported that the blockade was maintained for the analysis of new members joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which represents a failure to comply with Donald Trump’s promise to Jair Bolsonaro of support the entry of Brazil into the organization.

Trump also announced back in March that he was “very strongly” considering NATO membership for Brazil, during a visit from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the White House.

NATO leadership is a little cooler towards the idea of Brazilian integration. Secretary-General of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg said last week that Brazil may not join the military pact, but could become “a very close partner” of the group.

NATO is currently made up of 29 full-fledged member states, and a handful of so-called “aspiring members,” including Ukraine and Georgia. Twenty-one more countries are considered partner states, with Colombia the most recent South American addition.

Bolsonaro rose to power last October as an unabashed admirer of President Trump, and his trip to Washington this year was the right-wing leader’s first trip abroad for a bilateral meeting. Since taking office, Bolsonaro has remained a supporter of American foreign policy, following Washington’s lead in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s claim to the country’s presidency, and coordinating a politically-loaded humanitarian shipment to Venezuela with the US. </s> May 9 (UPI) -- Ahead of a U.S. visit by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonro next week, President Donald Trump has designated the South American nation a major non-NATO ally.

Trump previously said he favored Brazil joining NATO and has been a proponent of Bolsonaro's. Wednesday, the U.S. president declared in a memo to Congress Brazil's new status as a major non-NATO ally -- the 18th nation to receive that label from the United States.

"I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil," Trump said in a statement.

The designation is given to non-NATO-affiliated foreign governments considered by the United States a key strategic military partner. Tunisia was the last to receive the designation for its counter-terrorism work with American forces.

Bolsonaro will visit the United States next week, in a trip to Dallas. He was supposed to visit New York City to accept a Person of the Year award from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, but controversial policies and statements caused activists to protest. The American Museum of Natural History ultimately canceled plans to host a black tie gala for Bolsonaro.

Spokesman Rego Barros said some U.S. cities "do not know how to take advantage of the good democratic environment in the United States, and therefore, Bolsonaro will visit another city within the country."

"Our president has already received several invitations from other [U.S.] states that ensure he will be honored properly when he arrives there," he added. </s> "I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil", Trump said in his message to Congress.

During a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, at the White House in March, Trump said that he was considering Brazil's membership in NATO.

However, article 10 of The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington in April 1949, stipulates that the alliance's members may only invite European states to accede to the treaty.

READ MORE: Just Business: Brazil Cuts Flow of Money to Venezuela

NATO is currently comprised of 29 member states. According to the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO membership is open to "any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area".

US National Security Adviser John Bolton has confirmed Brazil’s designation and has said that the bilateral cooperation would focus on Venezuela, Iran, and China.

"That's not a hypothesis we're considering. Brazil is looking forward to a peaceful and swift solution to the crisis in Venezuela". Azevedo said.

Large-scale protests against Nicolas Maduro sparked in Venezuela on 21 January soon after he was sworn in for a new term. Juan Guaido proclaimed himself an interim leader of the country. A number of Western countries, including the United States, backed his claim. Maduro, in turn, has accused the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup in order to install Guaido as its puppet. Russia, China, and a number of other countries have voiced their support for constitutionally-elected Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.

READ MORE: Failed Venezuela Coup 'Example of US Intervention in Latin America' – Campaigner

Amid the events, which Caracas has repeatedly described as a failed coup attempt, Bolton reiterated that "all options are on the table" with regard to Venezuela, adding that Washington hopes to see a peaceful transfer of power. </s> President Donald Trump will designate Brazil assays Trump's notification to the Congress.Trump announced the decision in a White House press release on Wednesday. As a non-NATO ally,Seventeen other countries, including Israel, Japan, South Korea and Australia hold equivalent status.Trump also announced back in March that he was "very strongly" considering NATO membership for Brazil, during a visit from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the White House.NATO leadership is a little cooler towards the idea of Brazilian integration. Secretary-General of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg said last week thatNATO is currently made up of 29 full-fledged member states, and a handful of so-called "aspiring members," including Ukraine and Georgia.Bolsonaro rose to power last October as an unabashed admirer of President Trump, and his trip to Washington this year was the right-wing leader's first trip abroad for a bilateral meeting. Since taking office, Bolsonaro has remained a supporter of American foreign policy, following Washington's lead in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's claim to the country's presidency, and coordinating a politically-loaded humanitarian shipment to Venezuela with the US. </s> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington's commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither "reachable nor desirable" for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states' economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that.

"Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable," Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson.

"The United States will realize it is better to talk about better spending instead of more spending," he said, noting that humanitarian, development and economic aid to stabilize countries and regions should also count.

Tillerson said allies will need to pay up or outline plans for meeting that target when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has criticized NATO as "obsolete" and suggested Washington's security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

"Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson said.

"Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. government's commitment."

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so "because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces".

U.S. defense expenditure makes up about 70 percent of the total NATO allies' defense spending. Only four European NATO members - Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain - meet the two-percent target.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg rejected Gabriel's call to include non-military spending toward the goal, but said Germany was moving "in the right direction" with more military spending after years of cuts.

He said NATO ministers on Friday discussed national plans for arriving at the target as they prepared for the May summit.

In London, Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that other European NATO allies must "raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment... should at least agree to year-on-year real terms increases."

Tillerson did however offer assurances of Washington's commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, although U.S. officials said he did not have time for one-on-one meetings, which are customary during such gatherings.

His initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had added to questions about the Trump administration's commitment. The meeting was later rescheduled and he attended on Friday.

"The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense," Tillerson said. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies."

Tillerson said NATO was fundamental to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine. A meeting on Thursday between ambassadors from NATO and Russia called on Moscow to do more to rein in the Moscow-allied separatists battling Kiev's forces there.

Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were "rock solid".

He said "fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong" and "stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism" were on the agenda on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic. </s> Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing to become U.S. Secretary of State on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington’s commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither “reachable nor desirable” for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states’ economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that.

“Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don’t know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable,” Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson.

“The United States will realize it is better to talk about better spending instead of more spending,” he said, noting that humanitarian, development and economic aid to stabilize countries and regions should also count.

In his first remarks to NATO ministers, Tillerson said allies needed to pay up or outline plans for meeting that target when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has criticized NATO as “obsolete” and suggested Washington’s security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism.

“Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how…the pledge will be fulfilled,” Tillerson said.

“Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. government’s commitment.”

In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so “because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces”.

U.S. defense expenditure makes up about 70 percent of the total NATO allies’ defense spending. Only four European NATO members – Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain – meet the two-percent target.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg rejected Gabriel’s call to include non-military spending toward the goal, but said Germany was moving “in the right direction” with more military spending after years of cuts.

He said NATO ministers on Friday discussed national plans for arriving at the target as they prepared for the May summit.

In London, Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that other European NATO allies must “raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment… should at least agree to year-on-year real terms increases.”

Tillerson did, however, offer assurances of Washington’s commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, where he did not hold one-on-one meetings with countries, which is customary during such gatherings.

His initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had added to questions about the Trump administration’s commitment. The meeting was later rescheduled and he attended on Friday.

“The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense,” Tillerson said. “We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies.”

Tillerson said NATO was fundamental to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine and said the United States would hold Moscow accountable to its commitments under a two-year Minsk ceasefire deal. He pledged to keep sanctions in place against Moscow until it complies with the Minsk agreement.

Trump has said in the past that, as part of a rapprochement he is seeking with Russia, he is prepared to review the sanctions, which were imposed by Barack Obama over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula.

“We do not, and will not, accept Russian efforts to change the borders of territory of Ukraine,” Tillerson said according to a transcript of his remarks.

“The United States sanctions will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions,” he added, expressing alarm at a surge in violence along the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were “rock solid”.

He said “fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong” and “stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism” were on the agenda on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic. </s> The United States announced its formal withdrawal from a cold-war era nuclear treaty with Russia Friday as the US military is set to test a new non-nuclear mobile-launched cruise missile developed specifically to challenge Russia in Europe, according to a senior US defense official.

The US withdrawal Friday from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow puts an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

“Russia is solely responsible for the treaty’s demise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday announcing the withdrawal. “Russia failed to return to full and verified compliance through the destruction of its noncompliant missile system.”

Meanwhile, analysts fear the US test of the non-nuclear cruise missile will mark the start of a new arms race with Moscow.

The test is expected to take place in the next few weeks and will essentially be the Trump administration’s answer to Russia’s years-long non-compliance with the INF treaty, the senior US defense official said.

Russia has been violating the treaty since the Obama administration; this year the Trump administration began taking steps to notify Russia and NATO that it would withdraw unless Moscow reversed course.

“It’s been true now for two administrations, that Russia has been the one not in compliance with the treaty, not the United States,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said recently. “We have held up our treaty obligations. And we’ve tried to work with them over the years to get them back into compliance, but it’s been to no good end.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday that the treaty’s expiry means “the world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war. This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles.”

He urged the US and Russia to “urgently seek agreement on a new common path for international arms control.”

On February 1, Pompeo announced the US would suspend its INF treaty obligations effective February 2. The Trump administration also said at the time that the US would withdraw from the treaty in six months if Russia did not return to full compliance.

In the near term, the Pentagon’s planned test raises questions about whether it will be able to develop, then deploy the new missiles. Meanwhile, Russia’s potential proliferation of mobile, hard to detect and quick to launch missiles that can hit Europe, Asia and even parts of the US is expected to heighten tensions and risks.

The implications of the INF’s demise “are dramatic,” said Jon Wolfsthal, director of the Nuclear Crisis Group and a former nuclear expert for the National Security Council under the Obama administration.

“Russia will continue to build and deploy intermediate range missiles that will significantly increase the risk to European allies, it will increase the risk of escalation with the United States,” Wolfsthal said, “and it will increase the threat that Russia can pose in East Asia to our allies and even to Alaska, because these missiles can be deployed in the Russian far east.”

Down the road, analysts say the INF Treaty’s collapse leaves the world with just one agreement — the New START Treaty — in place to prevent the start of another Cold War-style arms race.

The US defense official said that the US has long had evidence that Russia has developed, tested and fielded “multiple battalions” of non-INF compliant cruise and ballistic missiles. The US believes the deployments are “militarily significant” because the missiles are mobile, allowing Moscow to move them rapidly and making it difficult for the US to track them.

The Russian missiles use solid fuel, which means they can be readied in a very short time frame to fire at targets, especially in western Europe.

Alexandra Bell, senior policy director at the non-partisan Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation, explains that “with this type of missile there’s very short warning, attacks are harder to spot by radar, so it’s just more destabilizing. They made the situation in Europe more dangerous” before their elimination by the INF Treaty, she said.

The Pentagon has been working on the mobile launch system’s very initial phases, which will lead to the first test in the coming weeks, the defense official said. The official emphasized there is no formal program yet to develop the missile, because the INF Treaty has been in effect.

The expected test could eventually lead to a program, the official said, but there has been difficulty in getting funding secured because of some opposition from Democrats in Congress.

The administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2020, released in February, included $96 million for continued research and development on missiles with the ranges covered in the INF Treaty.

Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, noted that in March, “the Pentagon said the plan was to test two non-INF compliant missiles later this year, after the US withdrew, the first being sometime in August.”

The Pentagon also said in March that this new ground-launched missile could be ready for deployment within 18 months.

The US will likely take a current air- or sea-launched cruise missile, such as a Tomahawk, and put it on a ground-based launcher, Reif said.

“It is not a significant engineering task,” said Wolfsthal. “It’s well within the capability of major defense contractors and the Army to pull off.”

If the US were to proceed with developing a fully operational mobile cruise and ballistic missile system, a key unresolved question is where it would be deployed. “The hope,” Wolfsthal said, is to have “a system that can be rapidly deployed in Europe or Asia.”

The US has yet to formally discuss and commit to firm basing options, the senior defense official said. The concept, the official said, would be to position the missiles in militarily advantageous positions from which they could fire past Russian defenses and target the country’s ports, military bases or critical infrastructure.

“Those missiles would need to be deployed in Europe to have meaningful strategic value,” said Reif, referring to NATO countries. But “no alliance member has to date come forward and said it would be willing to host new US intermediate range missiles,” he said.

Indeed, several NATO members, including Poland, have made clear that any deployment of the missiles in Europe would have to be approved by all NATO members. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has also emphasized that NATO will respond to the end of the INF Treaty as an alliance.

“What we will do will be measured, it will be coordinated as a NATO family, no bilateral arrangements, but NATO as an alliance,” Stoltenberg said last month.

Reif said that any US “attempt to go around the alliance and establish a bilateral agreement with a NATO member would be a significant point of division within the alliance, one Russia would be eager to exploit.”

Stoltenberg also suggested the alliance would not be amenable to US missile deployments on its border. “We will not mirror what Russia is doing, meaning that we will not deploy missiles,” the NATO chief said.

When NATO defense ministers met in late June and discussed the options to ensure the alliance’s security in a post-INF world, Stoltenberg said they are considering several possibilities, including additional military exercises to improve readiness, more reconnaissance abilities, air and missile defenses and conventional capabilities — without specifying which kinds.

“Russia has said privately to me and others that if US would deploy such missiles in Europe, it would put Moscow in range … and Moscow would have to think about pre-emption” Wolfsthal said. “That doesn’t benefit European security, it only shortens the fuse to a conflict.”
U.S. President Donald Trump notifies the Congress that he will designate Brazil as a Major non-NATO ally in light of recent commitments to increase defense cooperation between both countries.