Moderate democratic socialist President Michelle Bachelet of Chile looks to be slightly edging toward the right, given a recent cabinet shuffle. Three cabinet officials, from education, economy and interior have been replaced. This follows recent street protests from students who were demaning that the government raise funding and bus fares for education. It was the harshest challenge to her government, and curiously enough, led by the far-left.

Troy University political scientist Steven Taylor at PoliBlogger points out that on the surface, the studiously balanced cabinet, between men and women, remains. But idea-wise, the shift has moved a little to the right.

If that’s so, that’s probably good news for the free world because Bachelet’s ruling coalition is split over the question of whether to allow Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez onto the UN Security Council at a time when the Middle East is on the brink of war. Chile has made no public decision about whom it will support. Tilting right in this cabinet reshuffle, in the direction of the group that opposes Chavez on the Security Council at the UN, might mean a rightward tilt on this other international matter. Read it here.