Mexico Straddles the Fence Between the West and Russia

As the United States and Canada struggle with geopolitical challenges abroad, the potential weak link in continental defense sits at the U.S. southern border. For too long has Mexico forged a political path that often acts at cross-purposes to the goals of its democratic northern neighbors. And the problems run far deeper than just Mexico's internal difficulties with the drug cartels. The nation's true allegiances remain undefined.

The Mexican ambassador to Russia -- Ruben Beltran -- has recently come out with some recent statements to Russia's official media channels that should cause concern in American and Canadian diplomatic circles:

"Russia has all the elements and relations [needed] to successfully counter the current economic crisis ... Many are talking about Russia's turn towards China, but we see that Latin America is also playing a very important role in these relations and we also see that countries such as Myanmar and Bahrain have very promising relations with Russia and so do some of the German companies," Beltran said ... Beltran added that Russian business circles are "developing appetite" for strengthening ties with the countries of Latin America. He also noted that Mexico and Russia are bonded by "very close friendship" and this should be celebrated, especially given the fact that the year of 2015 marks 125th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries."

During almost any other time, such comments would be either benign or even welcome in Western circles. But after the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea and its ongoing invasion of eastern Ukraine, Beltran's views -- which represent the official position of the Mexican government -- are directly at odds with the West's position on Russia. The West has imposed sanctions on Russia for the purpose of harming the Russian economy to such an extent that Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine will cease, and ideally, that Russia will return the Crimea to Ukraine (however unlikely either of these two ideas, particularly the latter, may seem to the geopolitical realists). Thus, by noting that "Russia has all the elements and relations [needed] to successfully counter the current economic crisis," Mexico is taking sides -- and not with the West, but instead with Russia.

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Beltran's statements today come on the heels of a report just a few months ago that Russia and Mexico are developing relations in joint space exploration. "So we [Mexico and Russia] are bringing our interests together in the space sphere too," Beltran said in Moscow. Russia is also selling arms to Mexico, although Mexico claims they will only be used "to fight drug trafficking and organized crime." As recently as February of this year, Beltran and Andres Rozental -- the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico and founding president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations -- were writing that "Mexico seeks to deepen its ties with Russia in the long-term." The authors went so far as to state that "with respect to the multilateral agenda, the two countries share great similarities and intend to enhance their dialogue on such topics as nuclear disarmament, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the fight against organized crime, the reform of the United Nations Security Council, and the situation in Syria, to name a few." No mention was made of the Ukraine crisis. The similar geopolitical aims of both nations towards their neighbors is evident is a speech given by Vladimir Davydov -- the Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Institute of Latin America -- at the Russia and Pacific Alliance round table in September 2014:

Secondly, the Mexican nationality exists in two large communities divided by the Rio Grande. We can say that the Mexicans are one of the largest divided peoples in the world. And in this regard we can find some similarities with the situation in the Russian Federation.

In other words, Russians are divided across the Russia-Ukraine border (and other borders in Russia's sphere of influence), and need to be united under the Russian flag, much as how Mexicans are divided across the Mexico-U.S. border, and -- in Mexico's view (with Russia's support) -- need to be united under the Mexican flag. A year earlier, Vladimir Sudarev -- the Deputy Director of the RAS Institute of Latin America -- also argued that "in future, a great deal will depend on Russia's ability to drop its stereotypes about Latin America as the United States' backyard -- where Russia stands no, or little, chance." The hypocrisy reeks: Ukraine is Russia's backyard where the United States and other Western powers are not welcome, and yet Mexico is not the "United States' backyard" where Russia is unwelcome? Mexico is playing a duplicitous game with the West, and it is time to take a more serious approach towards the geopolitical risk emerging south of the Rio Grande.