Mahmoud Ahmadinejad graces Latin America with his Presence.

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will land in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday to visit el Presidente Chávez and then proceed to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador to work whatever mischief he can. A lengthy article at my blog looks at his trip, the situation in Latin America and suggests that the United States no longer has sufficient dominance there to do much of anything in her own interests.

Here is an analogy:

Herds of horses have leaders. They establish dominance by fighting all comers and by protecting the lesser horses within the herd. Eventually, fighting ceases to be necessary. A hard stare, the baring of teeth or even a kicking gesture become sufficient. Only when the dominant horse weakens or a new horse is introduced into the herd and tries to assert dominance is actual combat necessary. The winner becomes and remains the new leader until another horse asserts and establishes dominance. Relations among nations are much the same.

Under President Obama we have become a weak horse, apparently unable or unwilling to resist other nations. Nations that desire to dominate can rely upon this perception to convince others that we will do nothing about it when they attempt to get what they want, inconsistent with what we want.