“Caribbean” on The Daily Caller

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s once again sticking by embattled Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) — at least for now. (more)

Exploratory oil drilling began this week in waters off a set of islands in the South Atlantic where sheep have long outnumbered people. British oil concern Desire Petroleum’s rig arrived in the Falkland Islands to much fanfare and commenced a long-anticipated drilling campaign. Potentially important from an energy perspective, the drilling has stoked long-simmering tensions over British control of the islands and neighboring Argentina’s sovereignty claim on the archipelago. (more)

DCCC to institute paddling if members don’t catch up on dues — Dems distraught over distant, distracted public option — Eric Holder confuses drug dealers with terrorists — Inhofe seeks climate redemption — Christians attack C Street for being shady — Dirty Chavez embarrasses self, southern hemisphere, in Mexico (more)

Cancun, Mexico (CNN) — A shouting match involving the presidents of Venezuela and Colombia is the latest rumble in months of tension between the two South American nations. (more)

According to reports coming out of Europe, the main suspect in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway has confessed in a media interview. Joran van der Sloot has long been named the chief suspect by law enforcement officials on the Caribbean island of Aruba, where Holloway was visiting in the summer of 2005. (more)

Abstract: "The fall of the [Soviet] empire," former Czech president Vaclav Havel wrote, "is an event on the same scale of historical importance as the fall of the Roman Empire." It is true that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev repudiated the Brezhnev Doctrine–that the Soviet Union will use force if necessary to ensure that a socialist state remains socialist–and in so doing undercut the Communist leaders and regimes of Eastern and Central Europe in the critical year of 1989. But why did Gorbachev abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine? One Western leader above all others forced the Soviets to give up the Brezhnev Doctrine and abandon the arms race, brought down the Berlin Wall, and ended the Cold War at the bargaining table and not on the battlefield: President Ronald Reagan. (more)