10 November 2006

For Every Political Action there is an Equal and ...

Yesterday George once again authorized military training in Latin America. Why? It is to counter what is seen as a leftward movement in the political climate south of us. Leaders like Ortega, Lula, and Chavez are making George nervous because they are neoliberals.

Yet I think that one can make the argument that this perceived tilt towards the extreme left is more of a reaction to a perception that the US has tilted towards the extreme right. To the extent that citizens in Central and South America are threatened by our national interests and corporate and financial clout, they'll be inclined to do what they can to counter that influence in their region.

Re-asserting our military presence in the region will do little to alleviate their concern about our influence and will actually exacerbate the trend towards the left. One might have hoped that George would have learned a lesson from when his foray into the Middle East to combat terrorism actually created more terrorists.

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