What is happening in Latin America is a portent of what will happen

in the Middle East. Latin America, which for all practical purposes was a fiefdom of the U.S. for nearly five decades has emerged into Democracy free of the stifling embrace of U.S. corporate monopolies.Brazil, Argentina, Chile which have experienced a series of military dictatorships supported by U.S. interests are now rid of those.Venezuela has embarked on a program of land reform and putting its oil revenues to work for the benefit of its people instead of benefiting the oligarchy.Other nations, small and large are following suit.

It is ironic that Democracy flowers only when the U.S. leaves people alone to do what is best for them instead of issuing edicts from Washington. The howling of the hyenas of our propagandists does the rest.

I believe a similar historic process is beginning in the Middle East. Countries ruled by dictators like Mubarak, the "Royal Family " of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kuwait,the Emirates are doomed by the taint of being associated with the U.S.It would not matter how many divisions the U.S. can land in Iraq or elsewhere or how many bases it can control. The days of U.S. hegemony are coming to an end. Instead of realizing that the March of History is inexorably running against it, the U.S. continues to swagger with false pride ensuring its doom more and more each passing day. Would that we had wise leaders like Eisenhower or Carter to lead us.

since 1945.

Time for Americans to realize and stop these crimes against humanity.

We will have some rough days coming out of empire..But this has been going on since Eisenhower's Dulles' daze..Which started in Guatemala, and the Shan of Iran......Gore Vidal said of late our bankrupt status will end our adventurism...Old tricks die hard..After some economic down days, this Fall of US empire will eventually be good for us...Just hope the World can forgive us, when our hegemony comes crashing down.

ought to look to Latin America, where it truly is spreading, and see how problematic it is - to the point of needing "containment" - to the Bush administration.

America and, as inevitably will happen in the Middle east and elsewhere, will occur, in spite of, not because of American intervention.

Bush can yell Freedom and Democracy all he wants but to people who are directly affected by our support of dictators it sounds fake.This is why our official pronouncements are the laughing stock of the world.

The biggest thing to hit Latin America is the fall of the dollar. Argentina, coming out of its recent catastrophic economic decline, has seen GDP rise 8% for the last two years. At the same time, their dollar-denominated external debt has actually DECLINED 40%, due to the fall of the dollar. Their central bank has given up on the dollar, as it makes sense to keep reserves in appreciating currencies to make it easier to pay their dollar-denominated debts. Ironically, China has been has been importing billions from Argentina in the form of Argentine beef and cheaper Argentine haute-couture knock-offs. China is investing $300 billion US this year in Argentina. This may not seem like a lot, but given the relative size of the Argentine economy it would be like China investing trillions in the US economy. It would appear that our pain is Argentina's gain.

Nonetheless, Argentina is not out of the woods yet. Their currency and incomes declined by two thirds in 2001, when their government tried to privatize their social security system. In the greatest irony of all, the US Government is trying to do the same thing right now. Don't cry for me, Argentina!