Commies In Our Back Yard

The Russians are coming!  The Russians are coming!

I'm tired of hearing about Russia and China wooing Latin America, and I'm tired of the hand wringing that accompanies the latest news reports of it.

Latin America is not Uncle Sam's back yard. It is a diverse collection of countries full of people who hate the United States. I think much of the dislike is unjustified and springs from envy, but our history is checkered there, so I won't begrudge the good Latinos their emotions.

It's been a fiery, tempestuous relationship between Uncle Sam and the sexy, exotic land to our south. 

Latin Americans willfully forget our acts of generosity while cataloging our every sin and carving them in stone never to be forgotten. It’s time we dropped the Sisyphean task of force feeding them aid and democracy. Outside of Colombia, Panama and Chile (who did it on their own), it really hasn't done much lasting good.  One could argue that El Salvador and Honduras has benefited from our meddling, but Obama and Hilary are trying their best to push Honduras back to the socialist caudillo bloc.

A dedicated core of socialists across Latin America hate the US and romanticize Russia. Well, it’s time they got a taste of what it’s like to be embraced by the bear. Russia selling their pathetic military junk to gullible caudillos does not threaten the US.

Catch a Falling (Red) Star
The smart governments like Brazil, Chile and Colombia have already forged a confident path for themselves and trade effectively with a variety of world players. They have 21st century economies build upon solid democratic principles. Dealing with China and Russia will do them no harm; avoiding exclusive agreements with any one country actually improves their position.

Meanwhile, tinpot dictators in places like Venezuela and Bolivia (Evo Morales has actually donned a tin hat) will cozy up to Vlad the Impaler, thumbing their noses at the colossus to the north. Fine. They've already gone over the edge anyway. Might as well hitch their fortunes to a falling red star; it'll make the inevitable crash all the more spectacular.

http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2008/11/russia_china_move_in_on_latin.html
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/forecast-for-latin-america-cold-war-winds-from-russia/

Russian Loser Visits Latin American Loser

Vlad the Impaler visits Fidelito Chavez in Venezuela

So the Russians will sell their military junk to a Venezuelan megalomaniac who is losing favor with his own citizens and bankrupting his country. I still don't understand how that impacts US national security.

We should encourage such partnerships in the hope that the negative synergy will hasten the downward spiral of both parties.

Look at the picture.  Simon Bolivar must be yearning to jump out of that portrait and crack Vlad and Chavalito's heads together...

This is an armed skid-row drunk and a heroin addict prostitute who found a thousand dollars on the street and decide to shack up in a seedy motel. It's bound to end badly.

Here's a laugh line from the bloomberg article:

“The world is becoming multipolar,” Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said yesterday at the event in Caracas. “Latin America is also one of the poles of strength.”

That Russian spokesman is either stupid or he is laying out a gigantic line of BS. A continent whose greatest exports are cocaine and angry, overheated Marxist rhetoric is hardly a "pole of strength."

It's more likely Venezuela will end up being either abandoned or owned by Russia who, unlike America, is impervious to indignant cries of it's "victims" and the clamor of world option. This could actually provide a valuable lesson to the naive.

* - I originally posted this a year and a half ago.  The more things change, the more they stay the same...