THE AMERICAS: "Iran and Latin America: Ayatollahs in the backyard; President Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil this week vindicates Iran's strategy of cosying up with Latin America," The Economist, 28 November 2009.

WORLD NEWS: "Brazil's Leader Encourages Nations to Engage Iran: Ahmadinejad's South America Tour Starts With Endorsement by da Silva and Demonstrations Over Human Rights," by Paulo Prada, Wall Street Journal, 24 November 2009.

Lula's a hugger, in more ways than one, and so he welcomes Ahmadinejad and chides the world to pursue connectivity over isolation when it comes to his regime.

Ah, but we are told by experts that Ahmadinejad is most distinctly rattling our chains in our neighborhood. Naturally, this should strike fear in our hearts!

But Iran's success so far is only with weird little countries (Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba) and not with the mainstays--to include Brazil, despite this show.

But yes, Lula and Brazil are eager to be seen as an important diplomatic player, and frankly, given a lot of clever things they've done over the years, they should be considered as such.

Does that mean they must necessarily back off on our command? Hardly. Such reticence does nothing for them and--quite frankly--virtually nothing for us in our stubbornness and mania over nukes! Nukes! NUKES!

Plus, the more Ahmadinejad travels, the dumber he looks and the more protests he encounters. Bring on the jackass!