The Washington Post lashed out at Mexico's “wrong ideology” in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

More than a month has passed since the violent invasion of Russia in Ukraine. In the last of the regrettable episodes experienced daily on Ukrainian territory is the attack on Bucha, a town in the north of that country, where there are already 400 bodies in the streets after being besieged for weeks by Russian troops. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba considered it “the worst massacre in Europe since World War II”. But nevertheless, according to the renowned newspaper The Washington Post, there are countries that are strategic partners of the US - one of the main detractors of the attack - that seem undeterred by this situation, to which the Biden government must react soon. And one of them is Mexico.

Following the latest events, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed to have indications that the Russian Army has committed possible war crimes in areas under its control, including summary executions of civilians.

While US President Joe Biden said Monday that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, should be tried for war crimes due to the massacre committed by Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. “We need to get all the details so that there can be a war crimes trial,” he said in statements to the press at the White House.

“Many large and influential nations, including some democracies with which the United States has strong relations, have been wrong. This is a worrying aspect of the crisis and requires a deliberate but differentiated US response,” the Washington Post said Monday in an editorial.

Then, they listed taking into account the seriousness of the silence or inaction of the countries they refer to.

“In a separate category is China, which has sought neutrality while refusing to modify its pre-war declaration of friendship with Moscow. A little less indefensibly, South Africa and India abstained from a United Nations resolution deploring Russia's aggression and refused to impose sanctions. Then there are countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (which is certainly not a democracy), which voted in favor of the UN resolution but are still resisting sanctions.”

Although, among the reasons, the most unjustified is the Mexican position. The US daily reports that, for example, South Africa still feels excessive thanks for the Russian support against apartheid; India buys most of their weapons from them; Brazil depends on their fertilizers... to mention a few cases.

“For Mexico alone, the problem is pure mistaken ideology rather than conflict of interest. It has only $2.3 billion in two-way trade with Russia, but the southern neighbor of the United States and the largest merchandise trading partner ($614.5 billion in 2019) sticks to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's non-interventionist dogma. Some members of his left political party, unscrupulous, chose this moment to inaugurate a 'friendship committee' with Russia,” the publication condemned.

Precisely, in mid-March, the Chamber of Deputies decided to postpone indefinitely, the installation of the Mexico-Russia Friendship Group. Ignacio Mier, coordinator of the Morena National Regeneration Movement (Morena) bench in the Lower House, agreed that out of prudence in the face of the war incidents taking place in the eastern European country, the installation of this work table must wait, which is not the same as suspending it.

The Washington Post notes that while these countries reluctant to Russian punishment do not represent any decisive part of the world economy, “The United States should not underestimate the need to counteract Russian influence among nations that are wrong, or the opportunities to do so.”

And in their conclusion, they conclude by noting “Washington should aggressively deploy moral persuasion, trade and aid, both economic and military. That is what Russia has been doing; this country must respond in the same way.”

KEEP READING: