Latin America and the Arab world

While some people may be a little disturbed by the anti-Israel, anti-US rhetoric coming out of the Latin America-Arab summit, I actually see the summit as a positive step. We want these two regions to talk to each other, even if all the media reports is the negative. Three short reasons.

• Latin America, while backing the Palestinian cause, also acknowledges Israel's existence. Few Latin American leaders, if any (maybe Chavez), would back a war against Israel. Some of these nations, like Argentina, strongly support Israel's existence, even if they disagree with some of its geo-politics. Even though Latin America backed a fairly strong resolution, there was definitely a sense of discomfort among some of the Latin American leaders, who are much more concerned about trade and economics than playing the politics of the Middle East.
  

• Latin America has experienced the worst of dictatorships and can be a strong promoter of democracy. This may seem like a small thing, but both Lula and Lagos were leaders of repressed opposition parties who played key roles in overthrowing their ruling dictatorial regimes. Long term, if Latin America starts having influence in the Middle East, these experiences will play out in their multilateral relations.

• For most of Latin America, it's their first contact with the new Iraqi government. The conference will pass a resolution supporting Iraq's fight against militants. Latin America needs to see a different face of Iraq than what they currently get in their media.
  

To put this in Tom Barnett terms, if the Middle East, along with Africa, is the deepest part of the "Gap", then contact and strong relations with Latin America can help pull them up just a little closer to being "Core" nations. The Arab nations are more likely to trust Latin America, because their experiences are similar and they express similar distrust at the whole international system. However, Latin America's advances will rub off on Arab nations when there is some cross-cultural exchange. Long term, stronger relations between the two regions will end up bringing more positive results than we initially see.