I know what you're thinking... "How to build strong arms???, wtf?" Relax... I haven't given up politics for a workout blog! Although, that might be a cool side project for another day...

I'm talking about political arms and foreign policy influence by the biggest players in the game, The United States and The United Kingdom. Yes, the US and the UK are undoubtedly the world's most prominent superpowers, but had you been paying attention to what's happening around the world, you'd have noticed that the world is starting to grow weary of the strong arming that both players have been allowed to get away with in the past.

Lets start across the pond with our healthier and more eloquent brethren; The UK has been slipping from the public's graces since the days of Tony Blair, and that has been at the fault of his close relationship and ties to Dubbya... who would've known that being friends with Dubbya and his buddies would get you in hot water? (right Skooter Libby?)

The news over there is that the long reach of the British parliament might be weaker than in recent years. You might have heard about the "Lockerbie Bomber" being released on the basis of compassion by Scotland, but you may not have heard that two years ago, the UK had begun talks about easing tensions with the tyrannical Libyan regime over energy and trade. Oil ladies and gentlemen, that's always the name of the game, and the US and UK will go almost anywhere and deal with just about anyone to get more of it. (my personal opinion of course) The Scottish people are also talking about seperating themselves from the United Kingdom and returning to their independent status after over 300 years of unity, and that's starting to break down the credibility of the British crown... they can't keep their own people in rank.

Now we focus on the great ole US of A! Where to begin, we can't keep our politicians civil with their constituents let alone each other! That's besides the fact though, because the Scottish release of the Lockerbie bomber also puts the American weakness on the forefront as well, because after many vocal oppositions from our Secretary of State and the White House, against the release of the bomber, the Scottish government went forward anyway.

Thrusting onto the global stage that the US doesn't run the world as it once had.

      Next we go to Israel, our little brother in the middle east... our little brother has become quite bratty since they lost their little tug of war with Hammas a few years back (you remember that war that lasted for like a summer?). Israel has begun forcing people out of their homelands in parts of the nation that are being discussed in peace agreements between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. It is becoming a humanitarian issue, because the Israeli government is militariliy forcing people off of their ancestral homelands... This administration has come out vocally against Israel's actions in the West Bank, but the Israeli government has ceased to stop any movement forward citing their rights to the land after a war in the 60's. Nothing that our government says is working against the Israeli expansionist desires.

      Lastly, we move into the western hemisphere... where we find the White House in the midst of a financial and military coup. The story here is that President Zelaya wanted to ammend the Honduran constitution and allow presidents serve more than one four-year term, that seems to me as something that their congress should address, right? No, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest and expulsion of the President to Costa Rica. The downlow in Honduras is that the new "President" Micheletti was a prominent figure in the country's "special interest" class of wealthy and powerful businessmen that have held true power over Honduran policy for years, and after many clashes against Zelaya regarding trade, minimum wages, and taxes on the private sector; the last straw for the status quo was an additional term for President Zelaya... perhaps this was too much of a threat? Anyway, the world has come against Micheletti's government and condemned their actions, Venenzuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has promised military action if Zelaya is not returned to power... you have all of Latin America raging about this, the United States condemning this, the French, the Spaniards, and many other Europeans coming out against this coup... the world is looking to the US to enforce their rhetoric of financial consequences, but the administration will have to come out strong here in order to embolden American authority around the globe.

The American and British superpowers are being tested like never before in regards to their political might... The Honduran conflict, in my opinion, will determine the global role that the United States will play in the future, because if the Latin American governments are the ones to broker a deal... once again, the United States will be knocked down another notch in the totum pole.