Olympic Opening Ceremonies have always been over-the-top affairs combining theatrics and pyrotechnics with intricate choreographies, but China has out done them all. From the architectural works down to the masses of never-ending dancers and cheerleaders, China has proclaimed its right to host these games and after today nobody can deny it.
While accusations of human rights abuses and government information control still haunt the games, China commanded the attention of the world and demanded respect. "BE IMPRESSED" that was the message, "BE VERY IMPRESSED".
And the people were impressed, down to the staff preparing the London 2012 Olympics who gathered themselves to watch how high the bar has been set.
The London 2012 Blog recounts of the staff's reactions "...everyone was spellbound by an amazing show."
Now the London organizers must figure out how, within the next four years, they are going to top China's incredible efforts.
For 15 years, every year, the United Nations General Assembly has voted on the issue of the Cuban Embargo imposed unilaterally by the United States. This year's vote was no different with 184 countries calling the embargo an illegal act that must come to an end. Voting for the measure has become a tradition at the United Nations where Cuban and American dignitaries trade barbs like in a game of ping pong. This year was no different with the US calling for democracy in Cuba and Cuba calling out the hypocrisy of American policies around the world. The vote carried only one abstention and four votes against. Micronesia abstained, while the United States, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Israel voted against lifting the embargo.
The vote also reminds us of the innate inequalities present in the United nations as a democratic body. When 184 countries, which include Russia, China, and EU members, are unable change such an obvious act of imperialism as is the embargo, there is no more proof needed to say that the United nations must be changed. However that change must come from the bottom not from the top.
Calls for reform are now being fielded by the Secretary General, but only that one proposed by the United States is being given any attention or hopes for ratification.
The Non-Aligned Movement must step forward and reclaim its sovereignty, by first withdrawing from the UN as a form of protest until the General Assembly is given the right to veto the Security Council, as any congress or parliament gets to veto its executive. Only then will a palpable change come to the affairs of the world. And if the United States is truly interested in democracy it must allow this change to occur.
[From BBC Caribbean]Costa Rica has been elected to fill a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Its opponent, the Dominican Republic, bowed out following two rounds of voting in which they'd trailed behind.Costa Rica received 116 votes and the Dominican Republic 72 votes in the first round.In the second round, the vote was 119 for Costa Rica and 70 for the Dominican Republic.
BBC Caribbean's correspondent in Santo Domingo Jean Michel Caroit says the China factor could have swung the vote in Costa Rica's favour. "The Dominican Republic has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Costa Rica broke away from Taiwan a few months ago and established diplomatic relations with mainland China," he said. "And obviously many people were saying here in the Dominican Republic that it would be a major factor in the election." Relief over decision
Costa Rica has sat on the council twice before, while the Dominican Republic never has. Dominican officials said Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso held more than 45 bilateral meetings with other UN delegations to seek support but Costa Rica also waged a vigorous campaign.
The early withdrawal of the Dominican Republic drew applause from the UN assembly mixed with relief that there would be no repeat of last year's epic between Venezuela and Guatemala. They then both failed to get the two thirds majority necessary to be elected to the second regional seat in the security council. After three weeks, both withdrew and Panama was elected as a compromise candidate. Costa Rica will now serve on the security council for the years 2008 to 2009.
Also elected on Tuesday were Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso and Croatia.
Everyday that passes, it seems more and more likely that the United States will unilaterally, although with a possible coalition, declare war upon Iran. This move, compounded by the invasion of Iraq, will result in a chain reaction that has already begun to take shape and which the American mainstream media has chosen to diminish in severity or ignore altogether.
The Drums of War: It should first be noted that Iran is not in any way like Iraq. Where Iraq was controlled by a brutal dictatorship, and whose people and army were woefully demoralized. Iran is very much the regional power that others wish to be. With a government that is largely supported by its people and a military tradition that is unequaled by any neighboring power, Iran will put up a fight.
Of course all things being equal the United States could probably defeat Iran in under a week. But all things are not equal. Iran has a number of serious advantages that can help it maintain itself in a prolonged conflict. Unlike the majority of Iraqis which lived under a hostile government which did not represent their ethnic diversity, Iran does have a representative government which does assume responsibility for its constituency. Iran's parliament is not a rubber stamp as it is portrayed and is often at odds with the presidency and the ayatollah's decisions. It's parliament also includes among its members representatives of the country's ethnic minorities and women. To add to that Iran has a progressively-minded reform movement that, although at odds with the ayatollah, has been successful in bringing about changes in governance and public policy. This means that the Iranian people will not simply sit idly by while their government is attacked, and any American who believes otherwise will pay for it in the blood of America's youth.
Geography is also a factor here that cannot be ignored. Unlike Iraq which is almost entirely flat, Iran is a maze of deserts and snowcapped mountains and one which is three times larger in size than the entire country of Iraq with three times the population (roughly 70 million people to Iraq's 25 million). See the picture below:
The Iraqi Insurgency: Despite assurances by President G.W. Bush that the Iraqi insurgency is in its last days, the truth is that it is not. Attacks upon U.S. troops are a daily occurrence which have only diminished because American security outposts around Iraq are increasingly being manned by Iraqi security forces. But declaring war against Iran will mean that the the Iraqi insurgency will confront a weaker American military throughout Iraq as American troops are redeployed to the Iranian front, leaving only a skeleton force, most likely bunkered into the Green Zone in Baghdad.
In other words, American troops will face fire from both sides of the Iran-Iraq border , and will be forced to rely on the increasingly temperamental and untrustworthy Iraqi Security forces to cover its flank. If Blackwater and other such mercenary groups are kept out of Iraq as the Iraqi government has asked and as the U.S. Congress is moving to support, the United States will be forced to call upon troops of other nations or move towards a draft to bolster its troop numbers. The first will the hard, the second will be politically impossible.
Thus Iraq will become increasingly unstable once war against Iran begins.
The Rise of Kurdistan: Straddling both Iran and Iraq (and Turkey and Syria) is the region of Kurdistan. The Kurds, for almost 100 years have been asking for an independent and sovereign nation state to call their own. The United States encouraged this sentiment somewhat after the 1990's Gulf War by setting up the Kurdish Safe Zone in northern Iraq, which in 1992 formed its own autonomous government. After the invasion of Iraq, the United States bent over backwards to try and keep the independence movement in check by giving the region a measure of self government from the new Iraqi government.
The problem is that for the Kurds, history is finally moving in the right direction. the more unstable Iraq becomes the more local power and control the autonomous government claims. If that instability continues to increase the Kurdish people will not only see an opportunity for independence, but will rightfully claim the right of self-preservation against that instability spreading into their region.
In this way, not only would a U.S. war against Iran create the opportunity of a lifetime for Kurdish independence, it would also allow for the integration and annexation of Iranian Kurdistan, if the Iranian government collapses under an American invasion. If that series of events occurs there will be no stopping the development of a Greater Kurdistan whose people will begin asking for the full integration of all Kurdish areas under foreign control, namely those in Turkey and Syria (See map below).
The Turkish & Syrian Reaction: The Turkish reaction to the rise of Kurdistan will be swift and bloody, make no mistake about that. Turkey's current domestic and foreign policies both make complete their perception that an independent Kurdistan is a threat to the Turkish Republic. This week, Turkey's Parliament gave permission for its armed forces to enact a military campaign against Kurdish rebels, despite opposition from the United States. Turkey is fully aware that such an incursion into Iraqi territory will not only put it at odds with the U.S. and its NATO allies, but will surely cost it admission into the European Union, but from Turkey's point of view stopping an emergent Kurdistan in its tracks is more important.
The issue is that Turkey's population is 20% Kurdish and Kurds dominate much of the southeastern provinces. For turkey the idea of an internal rebellion and the possible loss of part of its territory is enough to throw caution to the wind. In turn, if the United States and Europe turn its back to Turkey, Turkey will look for other allies, definitely in Syria and possibly in Russia.
Syria, however, will be a minor factor, their internal situation is much too fragile to directly get involved to stop the reunification of Kurdistan. For that very reason, however, they cannot simply accept it, thus Syria will simply support Turkey's every decision regarding Kurdistan. And keep in mind that Syria and Iran have a loose but very real mutual-protection pact which will certainly come into effect if Israel decides to join the American war against Iran.
The Palestinian Street: Any action taken by the United States in the Middle East resonates in Israel. If the United States attacks Iran, Israel will follow protocol and raise its internal security measures in self defense. The weight of this heightened vigilance will primarily fall upon the Palestinian population. This will result in the further trampling of human rights, which will relight the fire under Hamas to carry on attacks against the Israeli population and its government. Hamas has ties to Iran and is suspected of being financed by the Iranian military, thus any attack against Iran will be surely followed by a Hamas attack against Israel.
The security crackdown by Israel will also finally destroy Fatah, Hamas' political rival and the more moderate of the two organizations. Fatah's open public profile will also make it an easier target for Israeli security sweeps, leaving the Palestinian people with only Hamas to rely upon for protection. The demise of Fatah will also allow for Lebanon's Hezbollah organization to claim solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinian people and solidify its strained relationship with Syria. Which Syria, by its relationship with Iran, will clandestinely support both organizations.
The Central Asian Question: In the mean time, Afghanistan's government, which mostly operates from bunkered compounds, will be severely destabilized by a war against Iran. As American resources are pulled into the Iranian conflict, Taliban forces will increase their insurgency against the government of Hamid Karzai. Karzai in 2005 signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United States, making it a definite member of any coalition that moves against Iran.
Unfortunately for Karzai, the public wave of public discontent may topple his government and return the country into the hands of the Pashtun people where the Taliban main source of support is found. At worst Afghanistan will fall into utter chaos, Somalia-style, as each local tribal leader vies for control in the power vacuum. At best, Afghanistan will fall into civil war with tribal leaders banding together, under the same groupings as the Nortern Alliance and the Taliban represented before 9/11.
Pakistan will be another favored staging area for U.S. troops, but the Musharaf government is already in political thin ice with its people, so apart from being a possible launch pad for an assault into the interior of Iran, Musharaf will do everything possible to keep his troops out of the fight. It should also be noted that Pakistani military leaders are very unhappy with the secret nuclear pact signed by the U.S. President and India, whose details are unknown but include the transfer of American nuclear technology to Pakistan's rival.
The Incidentals: President Putin of Russia recently declared that the Caspian Sea is off limits as a staging area for an attack against Iran and the Caspian states have signed an agreement to prohibit use of their countries for the same purpose. This is a difficult development to surmount for the United States because in the past few years the U.S. has acquired space in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan possibly in preparation for an attack upon Iran. This means that if these Caspian states stick to the agreement, or are made to stick to the agreement by Russian influence, the Caspian Sea will become refuge for Iran's government should it be forced to abandon the country and the capacity of the United States to surround the country will be severely undercut.
Russia itself will not go to the aid of Iran, but will surely keep control of the Caspian by air and sea to ensure the U.S. does not transgress into Russia's sphere of influence. Putin does not want a military confrontation with the United States, but he is betting the United States wants a confrontation with Russia even less. Besides, for the past 10 months the Russian air force has made it a point to show off its capabilities by running Cold War Era drills that have included incursions into British airspace. Putin may not want a confrontation, but is willing to have one to reclaim the military respect his country once had.
China is also a variable in this whole mess. An attack on Iran by the United States will severely harm China's chances of ever tapping into the Caspian Sea oil reserves, which Iran has been negotiating with them. China will not go to war against the United States, but they are conscious of the fact that they can make matters very difficult for the United States in a variety of ways economically. But that sword is double-edged, and it is China's trump card of last resort.
France's Prime Minister Sarkozy, has vowed to go to war against Iran if it develops its nuclear capabilities. This is probably a bluff, but if it isn't, Sarkozy will have a very short political career. The French people, although ridiculed in the United States, are often passionately anti-American and when the first French soldier dies in Iran, Sarkozy will be blamed personally. More likely is that any French aid to the U.S. will be logistic in nature rather than truly military. There is of course France's Foreign Legion which has been borrowed in occasion by the United States, but the numbers that would add are minuscule compared to the task and Sarkozy wouldn't be able to claim a true French involvement. Besides Sarkozy's announcement was not positively received by the French people and he is probably looking for a way to wiggle out of any commitments to live up to it by now.
Globally, it should be noted that nobody is going to shed a tear if the Iranian government falls to a U.S. invasion. Still the reception of American diplomats will be increasingly cold around the world as peoples all over the world will see nothing else in these American actions than a rogue war-mongering empire whose president will stop at nothing until the world bows at his feet. And nothing would make China, Russia, and the European Union happier, than an increased anti-American sentiment for them to exploit.
This video was forwarded to me by the editor the Huntermania blog. I think this video sheds some light on the increasingly contentious race for the dwindling supplies of global oil.
The past week has demonstrated once again how Puerto Rico's status as an American Colony continues to hurt Puerto Rico.
In the past week South America held its first Energy Summit to discuss regional energy supply issues... Puerto Rico could not be represented. During that meeting a new organization UNASUR or South American Union was formed and agreed upon by 10 nations to develop regional solutions for common problems including foreign trade issues.... Puerto Rico could not take part. In the Dominican Republic the RIO Group met representing 20 different Latin American countries and secured aid from the EU for development and increased trade with the European bloc... Puerto Rico could take part. Spain appointed its first ambassador to Caricom (Caribbean Community) to serve as a liaison for Spanish based industries interested in development in the Caribbean, Jamaica is particularly expected to benefit... Puerto Rico cannot compete for those investments. Trinidad announced the signing of an agreement to build a new oil refinery and begin construction of a Caribbean pipeline with financial aid from Venezuela... Puerto Rico cannot be part of the pipeline, nor can it look to build any refineries without US permission. Caricom announces an extension of the new visa program that enables open trvel among Caribbean countries, reinforcing trade in tourism... Puerto Rico cannot take part in the program. China announced a new trade deal with Cuba bringing the total amount of trade to 2 billion dollars between the two countries... Puerto Rico not allowed to compete. The World Trade Organization held another series of trade talks known as the Doha Round... Puerto Rico could not attend. CARIFORUM countries reenter negotiations to open trade with the European Union without tariffs on Caribbean products to directly benefit over 22 million people in every country of the Caribbean... except Puerto Rico. France announced a new project to lend French experts to help organize and manage government functions such as law enforcement, decreasing government corruption, and trade relations to help speed development in countries that apply for the expertise... Puerto Rico cannot apply.
This all happened this week... Makes you wonder what other opportunities Puerto Rico miss out in during the other 5,668 weeks since the United States took over the island.
Meanwhile in the US... The city council of Heperia, CA seeks to ban the display of all flags except the American flag. Nevada discussed making English its official language while in the U.S. Congress, bill H.R. 997 is moving quickly to adoption with 89 co-sponsoring representatives, aiming to restrict all government functions to English only.
[Editorial Note: This report published by the Sun-Sentinel touches upon the smae developments covered in the previous Latino Insurgent analysis report "South American Union Becoming a Reality." This is of course only compounded by the EU's renewed interest in the region see upcoming report "EU Pledges Aid to Latin America & Caribbean"
U.S. losing Caribbean clout
By Jonathan M. Katz The Associated Press
April 17, 2007
The United States neglects its Caribbean neighbors and is losing influence in the region to China and Venezuela, a U.S. Congress member visiting the islands said Monday.
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said officials in Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago feel Washington ignores the region and are looking elsewhere for investment and aid.
"The people there are begging us to be engaged. By our neglect, other countries operating in their own self-interest will move in and fill the void," Engel said by phone from Trinidad.
During a four-day Caribbean trip, Engel and four other congressional Democrats met with Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning and toured a Grenada medical school that draws a large number of U.S. students.
The other members of the delegation were Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Yvette Clarke of New York.
In Grenada, the delegation stopped by a $40 million cricket stadium financed by China and rebuilt by Chinese workers after it was damaged in a 2004 hurricane.
"They built the whole place. They're moving in," said Engel, whose Bronx district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants.
U.S. aid to the Caribbean declined by more than a third in the 1990s and stayed low for most of this decade, the Congressional Research Service reported in 2005.
Though funding has risen since -- the White House requested $316 million in 2006 -- the majority of that assistance goes to Haiti.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gained popularity offering low-cost, long-term financing for oil. China has dramatically increased investment in the region and recently asked to join the Inter-American Development Bank.
Chavez received a warm reception when he visited Haiti last month. And in March, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez chastised Washington for having abandoned his country in its fight against surging cocaine traffic.
With the conclusion of the first South American Energy Summit, South American leaders surprised everyone with signing an agreement to established the UNASUR, Union of South American Nations. Ten of the twelve South American presidents attending the Energy Summit including Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Nestor Duarte of Paraguay, and the Prime Ministers of Guayana, Sam Hinds, and of Surinam, Gregory Rusland.
Only Peru and Uruguay decided to abstain from the measure, which actually provides details like the establishment of a headquarters in Quito, Ecuador and the election of an executive President to administer UNASUR meetings and issues, with the Protempore Secretariat located in Brasilia, Brazil. Looking a lot like a model of the European Union, composed of cross tangled treaties, UNASUR will house the regional agreements possibly including MERCOSUR, ALBA, OPPEGASUR, The Bank of the South, the Great Gas Pipeline of the South, the Trans-Caribbean Pipeline, and the Andean Community Bloc.
Latino Insurgent ANALYSIS:
This development pushes forward the 2004 Cuzco Declaration, which seemed stalled for a while, and outlined a road to developing a regional parliament, a common market and a common currency.
If South America can elect an executive president, a regional parliament will follow to balance the executive office. Once the Bank of the South is established, which Brazil has now joined with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina, a common currency will be possible. The true next step will have to be the integration of the ALBA, MERCOSUR and Andean Community economic blocs. This common market will be necessary for a common currency to arise. The Suro???
There are problems to be overcome however. Cuba is a member of ALBA and by American decree under the Helms-Burton Act nations who trade openly with Cuba can face economic sanctions from the United States. In addition is Colombia's relationship and dependency with the United States who wields great influence in the country under the American program called "Plan Colombia". As a member of the Andean Community, Colombia could block integration if leaned upon by the United States. Panama, which did not take part in the Energy Summit will nevertheless play a crucial role as the bridge between the continents and the bridge between the oceans. However due to its importance to the United States, by which the US navy can move rapidly from the Atlantic to the Pacific and considered the single most important defensive bulwark of the United States, integration of Panama into UNASUR will be an objective for member nations and the primary reason for the United States to obstruct that objective.
Any trouble concerning the Panama Canal will however draw the attention of China and the European Union which could easily push for the waterway to be declared neutral and with it for Panama to remain outside of any and all trade blocs. Consequently, as UNASUR will present a challenge to American influence, the true tug of war will be among the the nations of Central America under CAFTA and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in which the European Union has preference and the United States is often seen as an obstacle to progress. The competition for dominance however will swing with UNASUR, which will likely align itself more closely with the European Union than the United States. This shift will of course also benefit China, as the similar competition for Africa between the US and the EU is slowly delivering the region to Chinese influence.
Interestingly, African nations prefer their Chinese "uncle" due to the country's tradition against intervention and its apparent present untouchable trade position and monetary stability.
Latin America and the US can learn a lot from China's new regulations to save money and the environment, despite the country's record setting budget surplus. This is from the Xinhua News Agency.
Report:
The Chinese government will ban the construction of wasteful and extravagant official buildings, including departmental hotels and entertainment centers.
A circular from the State Council and the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has detailed a list of features prohibited from government buildings.
It includes:
-- Lobby areas higher than a single storey.
-- Meeting rooms equipped with simultaneous translating facilities.
-- Indoors gardens.
-- Atriums.
-- Stage areas with audio-visual equipment
The construction of "luxurious" government buildings has incurred many public complaints, said the circular.
It sets a cost limit of 4,000 yuan (US$512) per meter in the construction of ministerial level buildings.
The circular requires all government officials to be frugal in spending public money because China is still a developing country.
The circular orders finance and expenditure officials to thoroughly inspect construction plans of government buildings.
"The government will veto plans for any multi-functional meeting or training centers of government departments or institutions," the circular said, referring to the addition of restaurants and hotel-style accommodations in government buildings.
"Nor will funds from the government budget be allocated to renovate existing centers."
All government office buildings should be "stately," simple, and practical without "luxurious" interior or exterior decorations, the circular reads.
The elevators, heating, and air-conditioning facilities in these buildings must be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.
All funding for the construction of government buildings must be allocated from the central budget. Bank loans or donations under any guise are prohibited.
It also requires departments and institutions in charge of construction planning and auditing to thoroughly investigate government buildings constructed in recent years or those under construction.
The circular stipulates that excessive space could be confiscated and sold if the constructions violated government rules.
Recently, I found my fortune telling 8 ball, the one you shake and tells you the future. Its a toy, made in China and produced for the American market. Over the last few decades China has increasingly produced consumer goods for markets in the United States, leading to its emergence as an economic powerhouse. This long lost toy spurred my thinking, given the challenge China presents the United States, is China good for Latin America?
Within the past 5 years Chinese influence has grown in the region to the benefit of the people and commerce of Latin America easily outpacing the immediate negative effects some sectors of the economy may face from direct Chinese competition.
It is useful to remember that China is still a developing nation still seeking to balance its economic potential with its domestic scarcity in many areas including civil liberties, entrepreneurship, and basic necessities outside the urban cores. However it is catching up quickly and reassuringly with the OECD countries and in fact carries more economic weight than most. So to regard China as a "developing country" is often a misrepresentation that will increasingly seem ill fitting.
This "developing" status is nevertheless important because it still places China as a direct competitor to Latin America. However, with cheaper labor and greater resources than any individual Latin American nation, China is quickly reaching the sweet spot in development, the window in time in which domestic production and domestic consumerism represent the greatest economic safety net. This same window in time was experienced by the United States and Europe in the post-WWII era. However once consumerism expands beyond the means of the domestic capacity to produce a nation begins to transfer wealth out to foreign markets, much like the United States, beginning in the 1980s through today.
Latin America never having successfully industrialized has developed a consumerist's appetite without ever having developed the capacity for production to meet the domestic demands. The production supply has always been met primarily by the United States, and running at a far second Europe, then Asia. But the recent trends in the political and economic understanding of the situation, represented most pointedly by the rise of left-leaning governments, has begun to shift the focus of policy making in different ways specially through diversification of what Latin America sees as its consumer markets.
China, which today sits on the world stage with an unparalleled budget surplus, is a much sought after consumer market for Latin America and China for its part is willing to share in a trade relationship. The lack of a manufacturing base in Latin America however still places the region in the role of a support player trading its unfinished, unrefined resources for Chinese manufactured products. This is not dissimilar to the region's existing relationship with the United States but by including China as a consumer of its resources, thereby diversifying its market, Latin America can better enhance its position against both.
Dependence, the dirty word every Latin American nation, excluding Cuba, lives by but hates to admit, is the very system of economic bondage that the recent leftist surge in Latin America seeks to deconstruct and eradicate. The problem is that Latin American dependence upon the United States is not merely economic, but by default political in its implications. Pinned under the American sphere of influence and lacking for breath, the only recourse left is to thrust against that overriding power and establish a proper living space that allows for diplomatic, economic, and social communication with the rest of the world.
China, as an emerging global power stands as a good samaritan to the Latin American struggle by continuously nudging the weight of the American Empire and leveraging it with Chinese production and investment capabilities. The trick however is not to replace one empire with another, but to play the two as opposing forces which will increasingly repell each other and allow for a gap through which the sun will finally reach Latin American soil.
This will certainly strike many as a Machiavellian interpretation, but que sera sera. For the past 100 years Latin America has been the recipient of Machiavellian politics directed from Washington, it can now hardly be blamed for having learned the game from the masters. If Latin America can reach a stable and consistently integrational process towards a Latin American Union it will enable itself to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the quickly developing U.S./China rift.
Perhaps the greatest advantage for Latin America is the USA's dismissive attitude to the idea of regional integration in Latin America which belies a far more dangerous belief in American superiority. That self confidence is blinding the US to the developments of the region which are set to focus on political self-determination.
First, however, the shadow of colonialism must lift or be lifted from the minds of Latin American communities in which many still see themselves as culturally inferior perhaps even genetically inferior to their northern neighbor. Its a shadow of self hatred and self doubt that has stripped the region of its possible future and one that Simon Bolivar would be ashamed of today. China in this aspect has something to teach Latin America. While the model of self love presented by the United States relies heavily upon the teaching of selective history and a reliance on military might, China's recent rise is preceded by an effort of the government to instill pride through largely scientific accomplishment, not the least of which is China's pursuit of space exploration.
In the meantime, while North American investments have looked to the Far East, Chinese investments are looking increasingly to Latin America. At this moment it seems that China's self interests include weakening American power and influence in throughout Latin America and by doing so Latin America regains sovereignty in the world stage. The emphasis on economic development promoted by Chinese policies in the region have thus far proved much more effective than the failed Soviet strategy to promote an ideological shift away from the United States.
In general, I would argue that playing ball with China will set the stage for a future power play by Latin America in global politics. Surely time will tell whether or not this will come about, but my fortune telling 8 ball has been shaken and 'all signs point to yes'.
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