EclectEcon

The Americans are taking the wrong approach to countries run by gentlemen like President Chavez. There's no need for confrontation: just wait until they start to cause trouble, then ship 'em a whole bunch of policy wonks trained in the Sociology and Development departments of US universities, and encourage them to help the government in question to free its people from the grip of nasty corporations. To take command of the economy and run it for the benefit of the people. No need even to use CIA plants - there are plenty of the real thing being churned out by dozens of universities (and not just in the US, if you want to add a bit of multinational flavour to the effort). Ship 'em out and wait for the whole place to collapse under the weight of regulation. By the time they're done such a large part of the population will be employed policing the market activities of the rest of the people that there won't be enough left to man a decent army. End of threat. A bit hard on the local populous, I admit, but no plan's perfect.