"That's enough %#@ from you Yankees!"

Is this a reference to a b-movie? No, just a b-dictator. My favorite international provocateur, Hugo Chavez (henceforth "Ooogo"), is clowning for the cameras again, this time by kicking out the US ambassador. Click the video and hear Ooogo shout "Yankees de mierda vayanse mil veces al carajo," to the crowd ("Shitty Yankees, go 1,000 times to Hell" -- translation and link via Devil's Excrement, the best place for news of Venezuela).

Only yesterday, his bud Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, did the same thing, claiming that the ambassador to Bolivia has been stirring up trouble. Ooogo didn't try to get original or anything, saying: "They're trying to do here what they were doing in Bolivia. That's enough %#@ from you, Yankees." Whatever. He's still got to sell his oil to us or nobody, and those oil revenues seem to be the only thing standing between coffee rationing (in Venezuela?!) and economic collapse.

Apparently the two amigos are feeling their geopolitical oats. Just last week, Morales was in Iran, getting chummy with Ahmadinejad and the ayatollahs. Coincidence? Jeff Kouba at Peace Like a River suggests it isn't. He quotes a report from IRNA that says:

Morales, who arrived in Assalouyeh on Wednesday to visit South Pars gas field facilities in Bushehr Province, told reporters, “I have never been a US supporter and my nation has a background of 500 years of struggle against colonialism.” “The huge installations of gas and petrochemicals here impressed me and I admire such progress of Iranians,” Morales added.

He said, “Imposing sanctions against us pushes our countries to work better and harder and to develop our territories.” The Bolivian president continued, “I feel sorry that I did not contact with Iran earlier.” He said, “I intend to take advantage of created opportunity and work with Iran seriously and promptly.” Morales also called for transfer of Iran’s experiences in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemical industries to Bolivia.

"Did Morales discuss expelling the US Ambassador with Iran?" asks Kouba. "Did Morales expel the Ambassador as a sign of his willingness to “resist pressure,” as a good-faith sign to encourage the Iranian experience and assistance he covets?"

Ooogo has already visited Iran, and he's also cozy with Vladimir Putin, who sent two Russian strategic bombers on a visit to Venezuela this week. Don't I mean Medvedev? Yeah, right.

"The presence of those Russian planes in Venezuela is a warning," Chavez said. "There's nothing better to keep yourself from being attacked than to dissuade."

Uh, can't argue with a tautology, now can you?

Anyway, the bombers are only the start. In November, the Russians will send a small naval force for "exercises." Is this the Cuban Missile Crisis redux? Ooogo only wishes he could stir up so much trouble. Galrahn at Information Dissemination writes: "Hardly surprising, Hugo Chavez is making a big deal out of it, but also hardly surprising, the US is shrugging shoulders saying 'so what?'" He quotes an article in the Navy Times:

The Defense Department seemed unaffected Monday by an announcement from Venezuela and Russia that Russian warships would sail to the Caribbean this winter for exercises with the Venezuelan fleet — the first-ever such move by the Russian navy.

Pentagon officials did not express particular concern over the announcement from Caracas. “We’re aware of the announcement made in Venezuela,” said Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, “and we’ll see how it goes.”

Galrahn puts an interesting spin on the visit of the Russians:

This development should be seen for what it is, a response to the Russia's objections to humanitarian response and naval activity in the Black Sea. While Russia will be sure to hype it, and Hugo Chavez will be part of the over hype, it is very much a good thing because it is one of those small steps towards Russia saving face. Sometimes this type of non-escalation - media escalation stuff is necessary to bring about the normalization of relations.