Journalist: US backs some fascists, opposes others

It's a circus in Washington, where lawmakers are worried about fascists in Brazil but support them in Ukraine, according to a New York-based journalist.

Don DeBar made the remarks to the Press TV website on Tuesday after some US lawmakers condemned the rioting by far-right supporters of the Washington-backed former President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, after they stormed and vandalized government buildings Sunday.

They also called on the Biden administration and local authorities in Florida to extradite Bolsonaro back to Brazil.

“It's a circus in Washington,” DeBar said.

“I'm having trouble keeping track of Langley's apparent contradictory behavior,” he added.

“They say they're worried about the coup threat in Brazil. And that they're worried about fascists in Brazil,” he said.

“And yet - what are they doing, and who are they doing it with, in Ukraine?” DeBar asked.

“I don't know what this actually is that we're looking at in Brazil - is it an attempted coup by the former (or soon-to-be-former) middle class against a regime of global capital and the very poor? Something else equally bizarre?” he said.

“Trying to decode it can be challenging,” he stated.

DeBar added: “Regarding Washington's take on Brazil:

“Why do they like Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva all of a sudden, but hate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro? And Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega? And Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel? Etc.

“Why did they decide to support Lula now but they drove Dilma Rousseff from office not so long ago?

“Ditto regarding José Manuel Zelaya of Honduras and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

“And they're still trying to take out Cristina Kirchner of Argentina.”

In a dramatic escalation of the political situation in Brazil, thousands of supporters of Bolsonaro forced their way into the country's Congress and Supreme Court and ransacked the buildings on Sunday.  Local media outlets estimated that some 3,000 people had taken part in the raids.

The riots capped months of tension following the October 30 presidential vote that Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“I’m disturbed by the violence that took place in Brasília today,” Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “I stand with the democratically-elected government of Brazil and condemn the violence trying to undermine it.”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote that the US “must stand in solidarity” with President Lula and his government, adding that Washington “must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro,” who is currently in Florida.

Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) called on the Biden administration and local authorities in Florida to extradite Bolsonaro back to Brazil amid the chaos. Bolsonaro, 67, reportedly flew to Florida late last month as he is facing multiple investigations stemming from his time in office.  

And why didn't Biden or Pelosi or any one of the 535 members of Congress seek to extradite Zelensky to an international court of jurisdiction as the head of a government installed by a coup that has been attempting genocide against the nation's Russian ethnics since 2014?" Debar asked. 

Biden conveyed "unwavering" support to Lula on a phone call on Monday and invited him to the White House next month.

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