***Whew*** I am sooo glad that's over!

The diplomatic crisis in Latin America has apparently been resolved, with Presidents Correa of Ecuador, Uribe of Colombia and Chavez of Venezuela all shaking hands and agreeing unanimously that the situation should be resolved diplomatically.

Tensions have been high for a week, since Columbian commandos crossed the border into Ecuador to kill FARC members as they slept in their encampment across the border in Ecuador. Ecuador took exception to having their sovereign territory violated, and recalled the Ambassador from Bogota.

The situation with Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela was the most serious threat to regional security that has materialized in years. The reconciliation took place just hours after the rhetoric ratcheted up significantly, with Mr. Correa condemning Colombia's "aggression", while Mr. Uribe accused Correa of having links with the FARC rebels, as a summit of Latin American countries got underway in the Dominican Republic.

"With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved," said President Correa to thunderous applause and television cameras before the monumental handshake that precipitated the sigh heard round the world.

My Bullshit Detector is Beeping Like Crazy

Colombia is accusing the FARC rebels of seeking the components of a radioactive "dirty bomb" that would scatter radioactive debris over a geographic area. The charge was leveled by Colombia's vice president, Francisco Santos, at a U.N. disarmament meeting in Geneva. It upped the rhetorical ante considerably.

Santos claims that a raid against the rebel group had yielded a laptop with information that indicated the rebel terrorists were actively seeking radioactive material. "This shows that these terrorist groups, supported by the economic power provided by drug trafficking, constitute a grave threat not just to our country but to the entire Andean region and Latin America," he said in a statement that was posted in Spanish on the UN disarmament conference's Web site.

He did not indicate with whom he believed the rebels were negotiating, and offered no empirical evidence to support his claims that the rebels were seeking 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, of uranium.

I'm not saying unequivocally that the story is entirely without merit, I'm saying the odds are about 50/50 that it is entirely without merit. Here is what is making my bullshit detector go crazy - besides the lack of supporting evidence. You don't exactly process uranium with cases of ether. It's slightly trickier than manufacturing cocaine and requires lab equipment that is a bit more sophisticated than you will find in a mobile, makeshift jungle lab.

Given the track record of lying by this administration and it's allies, the presence of American troops in Colombia and the fact that Venezuela is an OPEC member, and let's just say I need to see a hell of a lot more proof than a ranting diatribe delivered while beating frantically on the terrorist fear-drum by Colombia's vice president.

Here's What Neglecting Our Obligations Gets Us

Hey, wouldn't it be nice to have the ability to do something when things like this happen?

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez moved tanks to the Colombian border and mobilized fighter jets on Sunday, warning Bogota could spark a war after its troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador.

Reacting to Colombia's killing on Saturday of a Colombian rebel over the border in Ecuador, a Venezuelan ally, Chavez also withdrew all of his diplomats from Bogota in the worst dispute between the neighbors since he came to office in 1999.

"Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions. The air force should mobilize," Chavez said, adding he will bolster his military's presence along the 1,400-mile (2,200-km) border.

"May God spare us a war. But we are not going to allow them violate our sovereign territory," the ex-paratrooper added on his weekly TV show.

Colombia's military said on Saturday troops killed Raul Reyes, a leader of Marxist FARC rebels, during an attack on a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. The operation included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the frontier.

The anti-U.S. Chavez, who had warned a similar operation in Venezuela would be "cause for war," threatened to send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops struck inside his OPEC country.

As this escalates, we'll see just how much actual leverage we have in areas of the world that we've been neglecting. We don't need a full blown war in South America right now, or anywhere else, for that matter. We don't have the resources to step in and protect our interests.