Friday, September 12, 2008

Bolivia and Venezuela expel US ambassadors

First, it was Bolivian President Evo Morales who expelled the US ambassador. Second, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did the same thing. As far I can can remember that is the first time ever that two US ambassadors got the boot practically simultaneously.

In the meantime, Russia is sending two of its strategic bombers to Venezuela as a symbolic sign of support and is announcing that a naval group headed by the most heavily armed ship on the planet, the heavy nuclear rocket cruise Petr Velikii, will soon come to Venezuela for a visit.

Make no mistake - neither the bombers nor the naval group represent any kind of military threat to the USA (the bombers are only equipped with training ordinance). But the combined political message of these recent developments is clear: Moscow is flipping the finger to uncle Shmuel.