What's behind NATO's invitation to Brazil?

Brazil can be designated as a major non-NATO ally,or maybe a NATO ally, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

Trump said he was strongly considering NATO membership for Brazil as he welcomed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the White House.

"As I told President Bolsonaro, I also intend to designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally - or ... maybe a NATO ally. I’ll have to talk to a lot of people but maybe a NATO ally - which will greatly advance security and cooperation between our countries," Reuters cited the U.S. leader as saying.

Trump also said he supported Brazil’s efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a club of the world’s advanced economies.

Sixteen other countries have major non-NATO ally status, including South Korea, Australia, Argentina and Kuwait. The designation makes it easier for those countries to purchase U.S.weapons and collaborate on other security issues.

Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that NATO found itself in a situation where it has no other option but to expand beyond the Euro-Atlantic region. "NATO is the North Atlantic bloc with only two countries outside of Europe, while the remaining 27 are European countries. The situation is stalemate because countries delay payments and pay to the Alliance budget really reluctantly," he named the first reason for inviting Brazil to NATO.

"In political terms, the situation in NATO is not very simple as well. There are countries that are already beginning to disobey the United States, primarily in Eastern Europe, except Poland and the Baltic States. And in Brazil, the pro-American president has come to power; impeachment of Dilma Rousseff confirmed the U.S. intentions to rule the whole world, including such a major economic power of Latin America, like Brazil. Therefore, such a statement was made, because the U.S. needs to strengthen NATO in any way, and it’s not necessary that the new members should be from Europe, the main thing is to obey Washington," Alexander Gusev said.

"In addition, Brazil is a member of BRICS, and it is very important for Americans to tear it away from Russia and China. Trump has far-reaching plans: after Brazil, the question of including Argentina in the Alliance may be considered. Much will be determined by the global situation, mainly by positions of Russia and China - if they take steps to curb the Americans, the process of expanding NATO beyond the Euro-Atlantic can be stopped, although the Americans, of course, will not abandon such attempts," the political scientist said.

"Washington will unite with anyone just to resist Russia and China, which is gaining momentum," the director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting concluded.