UNASUR, is an acronym that I believe we will all need to know very well in the coming years.
Friday was a monumental day in the History of the Western Hemisphere, and there was all but a complete blackout in the corporate media about this:
South American Nations Form New Regional Grouping: UNASUR
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez described UNASUR as the culmination of the region’s search for unity since South American independence two centuries ago. "Only in unity will we later have, progressively, complete political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and military independence," Chávez commented.
UNASUR is not a new idea. It's been around for at least 10 years, but never really got off the drawing board until the recently. According to Wikipedia it was concocted as a EU-like idea.
The leaders announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union, including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.
The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in Brasília on 29 September–30 September 2005.
While most of the focus is on free movement and economic cooperation, there is serious talk of a military component already (with only US-dominated Colombia resisting).
This is possibly the worst news for the BushCo neocons and the old neo-liberal globalizers. It means saying goodbye to FTAA and it will likely undermine the few bilateral free trade agreements the Bush administration was able to get through congress. In addition, American companies will be locked out of energy contracts continent-wide. The dollar will also suffer.
Good for Latin America. The Bolivarian dream of independence and unity is finally being realized while Sauron's eye was too busy fighting "islamofascism". I do, however, wonder of the economic impact to the US though. We'll see what Jim Cramer says next week.