For all the talk of possible wider Russian attacks against countries in Europe, presidential candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo shows there is another reading of the situation in which drones and fighter planes have been identified flying over NATO territory.
In Brazil, at the commemorations of the 114th anniversary of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the still odds on favourite to win the presidency in 2026, Gouveia e Melo used his speech to talk of various matters concerning Portugal and Brazil, but also of Ukraine and Russia – the latter two being popular themes of the former Naval commander, on which he is starting to speak quite regularly.
His take on the current situation is that “Russia is in a quagmire, a real quagmire. Russia has major internal problems. To think that Russia is now in a position to launch a major invasion of Eastern Europe, involving NATO countries, is, in my opinion, a bit far-fetched, and more of a nightmare than a reality”, he told CNN last week, stressing that as a way of deterring Russia, Ukraine should be supplied with Tomahawk missiles.
“Europe has a serious problem in the East. Eastern Europe will be decided in Ukraine, whether we like it or not. It is easier to supply Ukraine with equipment and support and prevent Russia from achieving its aims there, thereby defeating its expansionist ambitions, than to face this with a NATO country – and that is what we in the West are doing.”
In Rio, where the former Chief of Staff of the Navy lived in his early years, and studied at the former Colégio Estadual Caetano de Campos, he returned to the notion of the Russian quagmire, saying: the Russian Federation is already showing the first signs of economic exhaustion. Either the Russian Federation solves this problem itself, or there is a danger that it will break up, ceasing to be a federation and becoming Russia and a few other countries.
“We are at a critical moment where I do not believe that the Russian Federation will be able to carry out an attack greater than the one it has already carried out, because it does not have the capacity to do so.”
Gouveia e Melo’s interest and interpretation on ‘international matters’ is beginning to show that all the criticism of his lack of past political experience is forgetting the wealth of military knowledge and expertise that a lifetime in the Navy fomented.
The presidential ‘race’ has yet to truly start, but Gouveia e Melo stands physically head and shoulders above his rivals for the position, and is increasingly being seen as bringing a new outlook to the whole notion of Portugal’s presidency.
Talking to CNN, the former submarine commander also explained his ‘reported fall in popularity in the polls’ to a poll taken of 350 people that was then expertly ‘promoted’ within the media “by analysts who have the desire that I really do fall in the polls”.
“A poll straight afterwards, receiving 2000 answers, did not give this fall. A survey with 350 responses is believed more than one with 2,000 responses. This is an attempt to provoke an effect – and it has succeeded. I must take my hat off to the great strategist who conceived this effect”, he quipped.
Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy is viewed by the political establishment as ‘challenging the status quo’ – something the former military man seems very comfortable doing.
Sources: SIC/ CNN/
