TODAY: US snubs Russia’s Latin American cooperation; NATO and EU seek to mend Russia ties; corruption in Armed Forces over $75 million; Far East security, HIV, art slump.

Joint exercises by the Venezuelan and Russian navies have begun in the Caribbean Sea today, ‘close to US territorial waters‘, prompting Condoleezza Rice to insist that ‘a few Russian ships [are] not going to change the balance of power‘.  The Washington Post suggests that the next US president ‘ignore the whole affair‘ of Latin America’s role in Russia’s ‘imperial game‘.  Rice is also disparaging of NATO’s attempts to engage with Russia.  If the US is not careful, says the New York Times, Moscow could benefit from serious disagreements between Washington and Berlin.