And even more OAS...

The New York Times once again notes that the US proposal for an "early warning" system for democracy breakdowns is likely to be shot down. The countries are still negotiating, however, and hopefully some sort of compromise can be reached.

I disagree with much of Jackson Diehl's column today, if only because he spends way too much time on Chavez and not enough time on the other problems within the hemisphere. Venezuela's faltering democracy is just one of many problems, and I would argue that other issues in the hemisphere should take precedence. However, Diehl does get this paragraph correct:

Bush, meanwhile, finds himself confounded by a familiar Latin conundrum: Direct U.S. intervention, however benign, risks regional rejection as Yanqui imperialism. But even the governments that secretly share Bush's anxieties resist standing up on their own -- partly out of deference to the region's tradition of nonintervention, partly because of their disgruntlement with Bush's first-term policies and partly because they covet a slice of Chavez's growing pile of petrodollars.

I think the "covet a slice of Chavez's growing pile of petrodollars" is a bit cynical, but otherwise it's correct.