Latin America Gives US Superpower the Finger

By Tom Engelhardt

A new limit on American power is only now coming into sight: the beginning of the formation of regional power blocs in opposition to the lone superpower's various goals.

While Greater Europe, still in formation, represents one of these blocs; and some greater Asian combination another (China-India as well as Russia-China); perhaps the least expected and commented upon of these blocs lies far closer to home, consisting of a growing set of left-leaning democracies in Latin America determined to pursue their own collective interests regardless of whatever the Bush administration has in mind...

It's remarkable what the Bush administration can't do today in its own backyard. It can't fully isolate Cuba; it can't create a regional "coalition of the willing" against Venezuela; it can't simply impose its version of economics on the continent; it can't stop a number of countries in the region from making energy deals of one sort or another with China, Iran, India, and other potential energy competitors....