There is a post at A Creative Revolution, inspired by a Daily Kos diary, “Guess who expelled the US ambassador...”. Among other things:

Both Venezuela and Bolivia are declaring the US is conspiring with rightwing elements trying to overthrow their governments. They are not alone. Argentina, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Paraguay have all lined up in solidarity with them. I expect Brazil will soon join them. This has the potential to spread.

There have also been Russian ships and aircraft joining the Venezulans in a military exercise in the Caribbean. Ever since the fighting started in Georgia I've been looking at a few Russian blogs which have been full of different views on that action, but I didn't happen to notice any mention of Venezuela. In any case, here's something from today's Kommersant, a relatively new and influential daily:

Since the war in Georgia, Russia has sharply intensified its foreign policy in Latin America. A Russian Federation representative delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, yesterday completed a visit to Caracas and Havana. According to Kommersant, among the key themes of the visit were not only economic cooperation but also the development of allied relations between Russia, Venezuela and Cuba. In Moscow it is believed that the establishment of such an alliance would be a worthy response to U.S. intensification in the post-Soviet area.

I gather the military exercise part was fairly small, as the bombers have already returned to their base in Engels, so it's no probably big deal. Still, it's interesting.

Labels: Things not to Worry About