Alternet: By Mark Weisbrot: Take a Hint, America: Latin America Is Outraged For Good Reason Over the NSA and U.S. Hubris!

Tuesday's cancellation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's state visit to the White House, scheduled for next month, came as a surprise. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden, and reported by Glenn Greenwald and TV Globo, has caused an uproar in Brazil. According to the documents and reports, the US government had spied on Dilma's personal communications, and had targeted the computer systems of Brazil's Petrobras, the big oil company that is majority-owned by the state. TV Globo's report indicated that there was information in the targeted Petrobas computer network that could be very valuable to foreign oil companies. Former President Lula da Silva said that Obama should "personally apologize to the world", and Dilmo also demanded a full public apology, which was not forthcoming. The rift with Brazil comes at a time of worsening US relations with America, and especially South America. It is indicative of a much deeper problem. The Obama administration's refusal to recognize the results of the Venezuelan elections in April of this year, despite the lack of doubt about the results and in stark opposition to the rest of the region, displayed an aggressiveness that Washington hadn't shown since it aided the 2002 coup. It brought a sharp rebuke from South America, including Lula and Dilma. Less than two months later, US Secretary of State John Kerry launched a new "detente", meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Elias Jaua in the first such high-level meeting in memory, and implicitly recognizing the election results. But new hopes were quickly dashed when several European governments, clearly on behalf of the United States, forced down President Evo Morales' plane in July. "They've definitely gone crazy," President Evo Morales' plane in July. "They've definitely gone crazy," President Cristina Kirchner tweeted, and UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations issued a strong denunciation. The gross violation of international law and diplomatic norms was another flamboyant display of Washington's lack of respect for the region. It seems that every month there is another flamboyant display of Washington's lack of respect for the region. It seems that every month there is another indication of how little the Obama administration cares about improving relations. On 24 July, the IMF, at the direction of the US Treasury Department, abandoned its plan to support the Argentine government in its legal battle with "vulture funds". The IMF had previously committed to filing a brief with the US supreme court supporting the Argentine government. This was not out of love for Argentina, but because the lower court's decision, which would try to prevent Argentina from paying 92% of its creditors in order to satisfy the vulture funds, was seen as a threat to futures debt restructuring and therefore to the world financial system. But anti-Argentina lobbyists were allowed to prevail, even against the Treasury Department's legitimate concern for international financial stability. There are structural reasons for the Obama administration's repeated failures to accept the new reality of independent governments in the region. Although President Obama may want better relations, he is willing to spend about $2 in political capital to accomplish this.