Fires around Columbia

The dispute between Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela is heating up. While it should not be forgotten that Ecuador and Venezuela make natural anti-US regional involvement allies, the Colombians did conduct an attack inside Ecuador.

(Was that attack one of many things we'll see this year as countries try to get things done before the Bush administration goes away? Is that one reason Turkey is going now?)

Today, Ecuador and Venezuela have sent token troops to the Colombian border, and the Organization of American States passed a quick but watered down resolution mainly aimed at calming Ecuador.

But I think the most interesting story is this very politically convenient one.

Files in a laptop computer seized from the wreckage of a Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador offer new insights into Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government.

If authentic, the computer files suggest Chavez has been in league with the rebels for more than a decade.

While Chavez is not one of the correspondents, his sentiments are conveyed in numerous messages exchanged by the rebels.

Venezuela contends the texts are lies and fabrications.

If so, they are expertly done.

Call me skeptical.

And don't miss this laptop gem from American contacts.

"They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," he writes, saying Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.

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