Desperate Situation, Desperate Measures
NC readers are already well aware that the United States and its NATO clients are struggling to stop the flow of arms and ammunition into Ukraine. Most NATO member states have already liquidated their entire stockpiles of arms, including 155mm artillery shells. In July, a special Reuters Report Hospitalized “A decade of strategic, funding and production missteps have contributed more to the shellfish shortage than recent delays in aid from the U.S. Congress.”
There are many reasons for this chronic shortage of munitions. preamble According to a recently cross-posted article, those causes include “the failure of the United States and its NATO allies to invest in growing capabilities,” “lengthy and typically corrupt procurement processes,” and “a general aversion to commandism.”
Stealth Privatization
To replenish dwindling military stockpiles, the United States and its NATO clients are again turning to South and Latin America, this time without asking governments in the region to donate or “swap” (in the words of General Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command) Russian military equipment to Ukraine, which has not donated (in the words of General Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command) Russian military equipment to Ukraine. there is nothingRather, it is trying to buy an Argentine state-owned arms manufacturer with the aim of involving the company in the Ukrainian war effort.
The company in question was Fabricaciones Militaires, which manufactured small arms, machine guns, artillery, ammunition, TNT, DNT, and nitroglycerin, as well as Produce The company makes rail cars for the state-run railway company Ferrocarriles Argentinos S.A. Until recently, Fabricaciones Militares also made explosives for Peruvian mining companies, but that contract was terminated by Argentina’s President Javier Milley’s government in May. According to According to Argentine news station Canal 26, a U.S. military delegation visited the company to evaluate its logistical capabilities.
The Milley administration appears to have already approved the idea of American and European companies taking over the running of Argentine state-owned companies. Such a move would be controversial, to say the least, and Argentina’s chronic manufacturing problems.
As Canal 26 points out, Fabricaciones Militaires is not on the government’s list of 35 state-owned companies. (The government abolished state-owned enterprises targeted for privatization under the Bases Law (ports, aviation, satellite, water, banking, telecommunications, energy, railways, oil, coal, education, etc.) and instead included them in a list of state-owned enterprises to be converted into publicly listed companies, which was included in the government’s Decree on Necessity and Urgency (DNU).
Once Fabricaciones Militares lists on the stock market, which could happen as soon as September, a U.S. or European company could take control of the company. Several companies have already expressed interest. The Azul plant has already received visits from delegations from two companies: Spanish arms manufacturer Hispania Group and Czech company CSG Group, according to Eduardo Bercovic, secretary general of the ATE union in Azul, where one of Fabricaciones Militares’ largest factories is located.
“Up for auction”
Another facility in Rio Tercero was visited by U.S. State Department officials in July. Reports San Juan seasons:
The visit in question, made by US officials accompanied by representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Military Production Agency, went outside the “traditional” channels and was condemned by the trade unions working at the plant.* Following the complaints, representatives of the Justice and Fairness parties in the State Duma demanded an explanation. The government has yet to comment on the matter, but there is widespread speculation that the US may be controlling military facilities used to manufacture equipment for Ukraine’s NATO forces.
“I was told that Fabricaciones Militaires had a sign that said, ‘For Auction,'” Bercovici said. said “The only option on the table for the government is to turn FM into a joint-stock company and let another country control the defense industry,” he said. “This is very worrying, especially since the Milley government wants Ukraine to join NATO and produce weapons for Ukraine, which could get us into a major war.”
we Reported In June, Milley appeared determined to make Argentina the first Latin American country to send arms to Ukraine.
“Milley is determined to take a side in international conflicts and believes that it will position him as an international leader,” said geopolitical analyst Gonzalo Fiore Viani. “Everything he does is to bolster that image, not to advance Argentina’s national interests.”
Millay seems determined to not only increase tensions in the Middle East, but also drag Argentina into the meat grinder that is Ukraine. Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Welcomed In his opening remarks at the 23rd meeting of the Ukraine Defense Liaison Group (also known as the Ramstein Group), Argentina welcomed Argentina as a new member of the group, an alliance (mostly of NATO member states) that meets monthly at Ramstein Air Base in Germany to coordinate the continued provision of military assistance to the Zelenskyy regime.
Argentina is the first Latin American country to join this group. Interview and CNN SpanishDuring a meeting with Prime Minister Andrés Oppenheimer in April, Millay even suggested sending military personnel through a meat grinder, a proposal that was supported by only 21 percent of the public. According to The study was conducted by consultant Gustavo Cordoba.An anonymous diplomatic source told La Politica Online that any decision to send in troops must first go through Congress.
The same cannot be said about weapons deliveries. article by Infobae Milley has suggested he would like to gift Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is currently fully elected, five French-made fighter jets.
As we noted at the time, the biggest flaw in this plan was that the plane in question could never actually fly. In fact, it hadn’t flown for years. A few days later, reports began to emerge that there were plans to send Argentine tanks to Ukraine via Germany.
“Hostile acts”
Russia responded swiftly, describing Argentina’s offer to send planes and tanks to Ukraine as a “hostile act.” President Vladimir Putin, through Argentine ambassador Dmitry Feoktistov, said: Urged Milley’s government called for not interfering in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, suggesting that Argentina would be much better off remaining neutral and “preserving the friendly nature of Russian-Argentine relations, which historically have not been influenced by political developments.”
Feoktistov said:
“Similar to the aircraft agreement with France, reports that Argentine tanks may be transported through Germany are also of concern. We have clearly and categorically conveyed to Argentina that such actions would be considered hostile acts against Russia.”
Feoktistov also criticized Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri for his country’s participation in the Ramstein Group.
“Regarding the participation of Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri in the Brussels conference within the framework of the Ramstein Alliance, there has been no official comment from the Argentine side yet. The rapprochement of Buenos Aires with its military patron in Ukraine deeply disappoints us.”
He also said the Russian government had reacted with bewilderment to Argentina’s application to become a NATO global partner: “Frankly, I don’t understand how granting this status would improve Argentina’s security.”
This is a point we have been making since April, when the membership application was first announced. In fact, the question that can be asked about almost every aspect of Milley’s foreign policy and geopolitical alignment is: “What benefit does the country of Argentina gain?” (Of course not). How does Argentina benefit when its government fervently supports Israel while Israel commits war crime after war crime in Gaza, including the worst crime of all: genocide? In doing so, Milley has essentially put a huge target on Argentina’s back. In return?
Argentina is a government decision Will we allow the stationing of U.S. troops along the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway, Argentina’s longest river system, through which about 80 percent of Argentina’s exports are transported? Established Would it be necessary to establish a joint U.S.-Argentine naval base at Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Tierra de Fuego, giving U.S. Southern Command greater influence at this key gateway to Antarctica? Or to distance itself from its closest trading partners, Brazil and China? Or to send ever larger portions of its gold reserves to London so they can be seized by any of the country’s countless unpaid creditors?
I digress. Let’s get back to the topic at hand.
As happened a few months earlier with Ecuador, another US-allied country offered to send weapons to Ukraine under the impression that Russia would not retaliate, but it didn’t take long for the Milley administration to change its stance. Just two days after Putin’s warning, Argentine presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni made it clear Excluded In response to a question about Russia’s warning, he spoke about the possibility of “providing any kind of military assistance” to Ukraine:
“We are not going to provide any kind of military assistance. Of course, we will provide humanitarian assistance, logistical support on humanitarian issues and what we call de-mining of the territory. But we are not going to interfere in the war in any way.”
Now, instead of giving weapons to Ukraine, the Milley government is considering divesting Argentine arms manufacturers for this purpose, and it seems Putin neither notices nor cares.
But how useful will these proposals be when the Millay government has already fired some key workers from Fábricaciones Militaires? Notices inviting early retirement or voluntary resignation have already started to hit employees’ inboxes. Many of the workers who will be laid off will have skills and knowledge that are difficult to replicate. Fábricaciones Militaires member Bercovic gives the example of a worker who received more than 1,000 hours of training on how to make explosives.
“It takes years to instill that kind of knowledge… but all the government wants is to get rid of civil servants.”
This neatly brings us back to Yves’ point about Western governments’ general distrust of commandism (state control of the economy and social affairs) that has made it so difficult for them to keep up with Russian military production. In the case of the Milley government, it’s not a general distrust of commandism, it’s an uncontrollable hostility towards it.
