What interests me most about this piece is actually a somewhat minor point. As part of my thesis I am working on, I'm studying Democratic Peace Theory in South America. What I see happening is Chavez running into the classic problem of DPT. Chavez is obviously trying to saber rattle in order to shift focus away from domestic politics at the expense of Colombia and the US. However, as is the trend when talking about DPT, the population will not mobilize to support an actual war. I tend to agree that neither the US nor Colombia pose a serious threat at present time. As the author points out, it would be political suicide for Obama to propose any sort of military action and Colombia is more interested in trade than a costly war, or even a major arms race and reshaping of its military from a drug hunting force to one prepared to engage in cross boarder fighting.