Bush Excluded From Latin Summit, Countries Turn To China, Russia, Iran

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathering in Brazil tomorrow will mark a historic occasion: a region-wide summit that excludes the United States.

Almost two centuries after President James Monroe declared Latin America a U.S. sphere of influence, it is breaking away. From socialist-leaning Venezuela to market-friendly Brazil, governments are expanding military, economic and diplomatic ties with potential U.S. adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran.

"Monroe certainly would be rolling over in his grave," says Julia Sweig, director of the Latin America program at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington and author of the 2006 book "Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[bioluminescence]

Recently in this website Sean Penn posted excellent pieces built upon interviews with two important leaders in Latin America. I got the impression that both leaders would be willing to dialogue with the next President of the United States which is a very hopeful prospect.

[strangerinthenight]

Obama's election is quantum leap. It's a new era. The State Department needs to be revamp. HRC will be an effective emissary.

[mjeffn]

They should take care that Obama's U.S. doesn't leave them in the dust.

[strangerinthenight]

That's not too smart to say.

[grailknight]

Too bad they didn't invite W. so they could snub him publicly.

[hapiday]

This a great article which shows the sentiment of other counties about the U.S. This country is being treated like the ugly stepsister. Hopefully, PE Obama can bring some respect back. We should know just how shameful the Bushwack administration is. Before people start throwing stones at the incoming administration, more attention should be paid to the outgoing administration. There should be a massive response from America's citizens showing their displeasure with Bush. The world needs to know that American citizens hold no ill will towards other people of the world. America needs to apologize for it's deeds.

[ShamballaJones]

It's not just the Latin American countries. I'm an ex-pat and as far as I can see pretty much all of the world outside our borders is eying us dubiously and looking to form new alliances that don't rely on us.

Basically, they're concerned that the US could easily be pitched into another psychotic episode in 2012 or 2016 or whenever. And, let's face it, until we root the neocon canker out of our society they're right to be worried.

[MANK]

The sun is setting, folks!

[HARVIN]

I've heard Bush bought thousands of acre of land in Ecuador.True?Anybody?

[brklynivn]

Too bad he can't be excluded from the U.S.

[health101]

Haha! Well said.