The reference to "soft underbelly" arose from Winston Churchill's appellation of Italy being Europe's soft underbelly during WW 2.

I believe that term was used to justify the Allied refusal to open a front on the European mainland properly. When you look at how it is phrased, it almost sounds like Churchill says that Italy will open a clear pathway that will be lightly defended and easily accessible into Germany, but that is not the case. Churchill really wanted both the Fascists and the Communists to kill each other off, and then swoop in and remake Europe in a way he felt would best serve whatever ambitions he had. He refused multiple times Stalin's demands to open up a second front to divert German troops from the Eastern Front, always dodging the demands by weak defences like needing the men to protect the homeland and whatnot. Even when the invasion of Norway was staged, it could be locked with the navy, preventing any long and drawn out conflict between the nations. Never forget that Churchill was ruthless enough to orchestrate a famine in India by diverting food to England, and then claiming it was their fault for "breeding like rabbits".

The excuse of the "Soft underbelly of Germany" is a bad lie. It was to focus on colonial interests in Egypt.

Of course, that statement was complete crap, driven by Churchill's imperialistic and craven contempt not only to the Italians but the Russians as well. A second front, desired by Stalin ever since 1942-43 was postponed until June 6, 1944's Normandy invasion. The actual invasion of Italy began in 1943 after the Allies reconquered Sicily. The point here is not to relitigate the propaganda of WW 2, but to make an analogy to the current existence, widely unrecognized, about America's neglected Caribbean soft underbelly.

So long used to accept the Caribbean's status as a huge US safe harbor, despite its thousands of islands, large and small, the US has blithely ignored growing encroachment of our own "Mare Nostrum" by Chinese and Russian military enclaves. These enclaves, to be illustrated below, are already established, not merely in the planning stages. There are even two Russian encampments in southern Cuba (see maps) [Maybe they'll accept overflow from Trump's pending repopulation of Gitmo.]

How this could happen is beyond me. I can understand this happening under Hussein (traitor that he is) but how could MAGA 1 let this continue. Maybe the headlines or tweets wouldn't be sexy enough.

To understand the situation, still worsening in terms of US imperialism, see this video posted by Florida Maquis (FM) UN seizes US assets. War in the Caribbean closer (17:42)

The point of the video is to alert US residents about the subtly and silently shifting of balance of power in the new Mare Nostrum. The Southern Command is aware of this but nobody's talking--yet. This shift in the balance of power is directly affecting the ability of the US not only to effect a regime change against Maduro and seize the oil beneath Venezuelan soil, but even hinder Venezuelan tankers from supplying China and the Far East with Oil (of course in non-dollar currencies)

The above image shows the relevant area, the Caribbean basin, with markings added by FM to show areas of influence already in existence by the Chinese (red lines) and Russians (black lines). These lines are not to scale, just to give visual reference to the situation.

The next map shows US bases nearby, along Colombia's Pacific coast mainly. The green lines represent Venezuelan oil tankers adjacent to VZ ports.

Since the color fidelity of the map may not be as accurate as desired, you see only two US bases near Colombia. Bases in Panama are not shown--that omission may seriously affect FM's analysis. His analysis concludes that the presence of both Chinese and Russian vessels (presumably warships) will facilitate a path from Venezuela's Atlantic ports, through the Caribbean, thence through Panama's canal* and further to the Pacific off Colombia's west coast. See the map below.

Of course the greatest obstacle of this theory is that the US would allow passage of Venezuelan tankers through the Panama canal. This is not a given.

Here is the implication: the US seemingly is either ignoring or purposefully neglecting our soft underbelly. Perhaps US military institutions are aware and making quiet countermeasures. Or maybe not. FM states in the video that the Naval commander of the eastern Pacific/South American Fleet says his command is under equipped, relying partly on US Coast Guard vessels for patrol.

Whatever the US response, it may too little, too late--at least as far as Venezuela is concerned. Russia has multiple Venezuelan bases which are not posted there for beaches and sunshine.

One issue to be worked out, as I am sure it is, will be the effect of Chinese non-Russian oil importation upon Russia. Will Nordstream I and II soften the blow?