Imperial power

What do the following places have in common - Afghanistan, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and South Korea?

They all have US army bases. There are dozens of them. To which add enjoyment or otherwise of the presence of US Navy headquarters and warships by the Bahamas, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Greece, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Although it is unlikely that any more South American countries will allow the US to establish a military base (Ecuador will cancel its airbase agreement next year), the newly-created US Fourth Fleet is patrolling off the shores of Venezuela, menacing its democratically elected leader, Hugo Chavez, who has incurred the wrath of US business interests by running his country more efficiently without their presence. Venezuela has lots of oil, which may have added to Washington's priority in creating a 12-ship fleet to "build confidence and trust among nations through collective maritime security efforts that focus on common threats and mutual interests." But it isn't clear what confidence and trust can be created by a nuclear aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ships whose ostensible mission involves countering drug smuggling and, inevitably, taking part in the absurd War On Terror.

President Chavez said words to the effect that he wondered what US reaction be if a South American nation sent a fleet to patrol the coast of Virginia, and of course he is perfectly right in fearing the baleful American presence. Who knows what special forces knuckle-draggers and CIA psychotics are going to be deployed to assist the US-supported anti-Chavez underground that already exists. (The Fourth Fleet is commanded by Admiral Joseph D Kernan, a former special forces commander; the signal could not be clearer.) In May a US Navy Viking electronic warfare aircraft "accidentally" flew into Venezuelan airspace, which doesn't provide much confidence in a navy operating a super-sophisticated plane, with every up-to-date navigation device, that can lose its way so easily. But it could be deduced that the plane was deliberately trailing its coat to assess the effectiveness of Venezuela's defence radar system, just as is done every day in the Gulf by US aircraft and ships closing up to Iran's coastline to plot radar and other defence facilities in order to be able to bomb them if Bush decides to encourage Israel to attack Iran.