Sometimes it is usefull to hear what those close to the Administration are saying. Even though Zbignew Brzezinski has not been "officially" on Obama team, it is clear that his thoughts, and now his son's, are listened to. This is why I was amused to find this statement on the change in missile defence plan. "It should affect it [Russian-U.S. relations] positively. It is a good initiative. Hopefully, the Kremlin should now ask itself if it would like the U.S. to imitate Russia's recent actions with Venezuela in US actions towards Georgia," Brzezinski said. How interesting. Any further armament of Venezuela will be reciprocated by US actions in Georgia. As if, US has not been arming Georgia dirctly and indirectly for ages now. It may well be that the Latin American opening to Russia and China is having US on edge more then they would like it to be seen. I do not think that Iran is the issue. US knows very well what Russia will or will not do. The whole Caspian "theater", as it is sometimes called here, will take a while to sort out. However, the Latin American problems are becoming accute, and at the worst possible time. The problem is that the world is not ready to stop doing business with people just because somebody does not like them. The problem is, when a country starts shooting. US may follow the same model in Latin America. No shooting at Venezuela, and the problem is solved. At any rate, Chinese curse seems to to be upon us: "May you live in interesting times".