A day of shame for the United States

Not since 1945 has the United States voted with Russia on a United Nations issue affecting European and global security. On Monday, February 24, 2025, the United States voted against the international community condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine three years ago. It cast its vote alongside Russia and other pariah states such as North Korea.

Yesterday, Tuesday, February 25, Maria Anastasia O'Grady wrote in her Wall Street Journal column that Trump is hitting allies while cozying up to autocrats, quasi-criminal states and dictators. His jokes – “juvenile,” says O'Grady – against Canada, have galvanized the support of politicians in that country, rallying around Justin Trudeau, who under normal circumstances would already be on his way out. Germany also solidified its support for the Christian Social Democrats with the weekend election, where Friedrich Merz, Angela Merkel's old rival, emerged victorious, but who is definitely a better option for Germany and the world than the holocaust apologists of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a political party supported by none other than Elon Musk and JD Vance, the power behind the Trumpian throne and the obsequious and sycophantic vice president, respectively.

The United States is no longer a reliable partner, at least not while MAGA Republicans are in power. It is not a good partner for Canada, it is not a good partner for Europe, and it is definitely not a good partner for Mexico. Over the weekend, economist Patricia Armendáriz, close to the ruling group in Mexico, used her virtual voice on the X platform to tell us that we need to diversify, probably towards the Pacific basin.

I have no idea how we could do that quickly and with little friction, but I'm not sure the best destination is the Pacific. What are we going to sell to the Chinese? We would have to open up the goods and investment market in Mexico to them, which would unleash the wrath of Agent Orange and his minions. I think there is a better bet in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the members of the British Commonwealth. Latin America and the Caribbean would be viable options as alternative markets, were it not for the fact that they are marginal nations in terms of economic value.

The truth is that Sheinbaum is in a dilemma, but she also has reason to be happy. Her predecessor's government seemed to be close to the Russians, and if Trump feels comfortable in Moscow, the doctor will then find a point of agreement with the Orange, beyond her campaign against fentanyl that the New Yorker from the tanning bed recently praised.

The negotiating, political and emotional instability of the MAGA Republicans, led by Trump, is bringing a lot of uncertainty to the Mexican economy, something we did not need. But we are not alone (fool's consolation, I know). We have to work with others affected by the MAGAists in the international community to preserve, as much as possible, the post-1945 institutions that the US government today is trying to destroy with determination and determination.

On Monday night, my Mexican Economics class at UDLAP included Dr. Eduardo Suárez, grandson of Eduardo Suárez, who was Treasury Secretary under Lázaro Cárdenas and Miguel Alemán. Eduardo's grandfather negotiated the Mexican debt that had been in default for 25 years. He was one of the architects of the Mexican miracle of the 1940s. He was co-chairman of the Bretton Woods Committee in 1944-45, along with Keynes and Morgenthau. His grandson, a very capable financier and economist, lamented in his speech that the United States is so focused on destroying the global order that our grandparents built. History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes, and this is coinciding with fascism, totalitarianism, and unbridled warlike spirit. In fact, the story Eduardo Suárez nieto tells about the expropriation of oil in 1938 is very different from the usual narrative: that was Mexico's contribution to the war effort, and Roosevelt allowed and encouraged it because he needed to contain the power of Standard Oil and Rockefeller. Musk is very similar to Rockefeller, and to the worst of the American elites. Hopefully we will not need a war for a Cárdenas and a Roosevelt to come together again, acting together for the well-being of the world and our region.

Back to Monday's UN vote on Ukraine: well done, Mexico, for voting to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Thank you, Juan Ramón de La Fuente.