You seem to be operating under the delusion that Putin or Chavez would happily mind their own business if not for the US. That's stupid. Putin was going to "turn up the heat" in Eastern Europe regardless of what we do. Chavez was going to use any advantage he could get to assert himself over all of Latin America.
Do you honestly think that Putin or Chavez would have refrained from dominating their weaker neighbors if not for US action? Do you understand nothing about these people?
Excuses matter because most countries will not make a move on another country without at least some excuse, for whatever reason. Even Nazi Germany was full of them, so they do matter-the excuses tell you how the propaganda machine is working, at a minimum. Second, when the "excuse" follows in time and specifically references some previous event, there's a very good chance that the previous event had something to do with the present. Why Russia was not attacking Georgia and menacing eastern Europe throughout the 90's, for example, but is today, is something you can understand by looking at "excuses."
With regards to domination:
Putin has no interest in spending money on Eastern Europe, independent of using it as a security zone between Russia and the rest of the world. There is nothing in Eastern Europe that he needs aside from distance, hence the obvious connection between US armaments flowing around Eastern Europe and Russia attacking one of its neighbors.
Chavez did not dominate any neighbor-so that's a red herring.
I think the problem here is that you have assumed you have an understanding of "these people" (who are completely and totally different-Chavez and Putin's rises to power could not be more in contrast) without actually reading anything on the subject, apart from a news headline that calls each a dictator.
Failing to regard any of the factual details and intricacies of an entire country in considering that Country's policies is a recipe for some really odd, and frightfully bad, policy analysis.
Complicating this is that you are unwilling to consider that there might be any policy considerations for Putin or Chavez other than the character of Putin and Chavez. What they do is not just influenced by, but is driven by, the political climates and geopolitical situation of their countries. That's why if you pay attention to the specifics, Chavez's Venezuela and Putin's Russia are explicable in terms beyond "Well the guy that runs it wants to."
