Venezuela Archives
Big Trouble in Little Venezulea
Filed under: Venezuela
Venezuelans waited to buy subsidized food last month in San Antonio de Tachira.
The New York Times reports:
These should be the best of times for Venezuela, blessed with the largest conventional oil reserves outside the Middle East and oil prices near record highs. But this country's economic and social problems have become so acute lately that President Hugo Chavez is facing an unusual onslaught of criticism, even from his own supporters, about his management of the country. In a rare turnabout, it is Mr. Chavez's opponents who appear to have the political winds at their backs as they reverse policies of abstention and prepare dozens of candidates for pivotal regional elections. Mr. Chavez, for perhaps the first time since a recall vote in 2004, is increasingly on the defensive as his efforts to advance Venezuela toward socialism are seen as failing to address a growing list of worries like violent crime and shortages of basic foods.
Will the Bush administration allow this golden opportunity to pass by unnoticed? Can the people of Venezuela snatch victory from the jaws of Chavez?
del.icio.us | 
digg | 
technorati | 
stumble upon | 
furl | 
redditIs Hugo Chavez in Big Trouble Financially?
Filed under: Venezuela
One blogger says so, based on a recent report in the Spanish language press that indicates his oil revenues may be drying up due to his own incompetence. Click through to check out the good news!
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAnnals of Infiltration
Filed under: Venezuela
We've written before about the blood-curdling activities of the Kennedy family in cozying up to Venezuelan madman Hugo Chavez. Well, it turns out that they're not the only ones under the covers with him. The Times of London now reports that London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone (pictured) is "embroiled in fresh controversy after allegations that his most senior aides have been members of a Trotskyite faction that plotted to turn London into a 'socialist city state.'" Now seeking reelection, it's been revealed that "Livingstone also faced claims that his aides breached the Greater London Authority's codes of conduct by engaging in election fundraising while continuing to draw public salaries" and various other corrupt misdeeds. But perhaps worst of all is that, just like the Kennedy clan, Livingstone has made a deal with Chavez which "provides cheap fuel for London buses in return for Livingstone sending a team of consultants to South America to advise on recycling and public transport."
It seems that birds of a left-wing fanatic feather flock together.
Just in case you've forgotten who Chavez is, Pajamas Media provides a timely reminder: "Judge Monica Fernandez, a Venezuelan human rights advocate, was shot by on January 4 in what police ruled a botched car robbery. The night before the attack, she was branded an enemy of the state, a coup-plotter, and a fascist on a state television show which condemns those who dare to oppose the government's actions. Coincidence? Thor Halvorssen doesn't think so." Click through to gaze upon the horror.
And that's not all. He's a drug addict, too.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditThe Students of Venezuela, Roaring Like Lions
Filed under: Protest Babes ~ Venezuela
Writing in the International Herald Tribune Enrique Krauze, a Mexican historian, editor of the magazine Letras Libres and author of Mexico: Biography of Power states that "if President Hugo Chavez dreams of turning Venezuela into a Cuba with oil, the Venezuelans who oppose him have discovered the perfect antidote: the student movement." He concludes his scintillating and incisive essay by asking: "Can they remain united?" He answers: "Their enemy is formidable, and the chances of a violent or even tragic conclusion are very likely. But against the Chavez slogan, 'Socialism or Death,' they have their own: 'Liberty and Life.' In the battle of words they might have the upper hand. Perhaps they can take hope from a line by the Mexican poet-diplomat Octavio Paz: 'We must give back transparency to words.'"
Click through the link to read the full details.
The protest babes of Venezuela are much more than pretty faces.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditChavismo Without Chavez?
Filed under: Venezuela
The former foreign minister of Mexico, Jorge Castaneda, now a political scientist at NYU, has a piece in the New Republic analyzing Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He believes we will now see increased radicalism and recalcitrance from Chavez, including going ahead with planned reforms regardless of the popular will, and that this opens a window of opportunity for Chavez opponents:
According to most accounts, both [former defense Minister General] Baduel and the military high command forced Chavez to accept his defeat under certain conditions, and threatened to remove him if he refused. One can easily contemplate a scenario whereby many chavistas would prefer to remain in power, pursue both the socialist and populist policies of the past few years, continue to considerably enrich themselves, and maintain more independence from Washington than in the past, but without the endless domestic and foreign conflicts generated by their current leader's personality and excesses. They might prefer to follow the path of what many are calling "chavismo without Chavez." This course is all the more likely if it turns out that the Caracas caudillo simply cannot sit still or remain silent. The opposition's victory on December 2 ushered in a new stage in Venezuelan--and Latin American--politics. But it did not determine where things will head. Much will depend on what the Venezuelan people decide--but part of the likely upheavals will also stem from what the rest of the region, Europe, and the United States do. For the moment, they do not seem to have a clue about what to do with Chavez.
Will this be yet another foreign policy opportunity missed by the Bush administration as it continues to obsess over the Middle East?
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditJoe Kennedy as Hugo Chavez's Little Bitch
Filed under: Venezuela
Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is an ally of the Iranian mullahs, a supporter of North Korea, a close friend of Fidel Castro and a good customer for Vladimir Putin's weapon factories. Now he's also a business partner of Joseph P. Kennedy II [shown above standing beneath the Venezuelan flag]. The former Democratic Congressman describes the deal he's cooked up with Mr. Chavez as charity for low-income consumers of heating oil. But it's worth asking what the price of this largesse is to Venezuelans and to U.S. security interests. The arrangement is this: Mr. Chavez's Citgo -- a Houston-based oil company owned by the Venezuelan government -- is supplying home heating oil to Mr. Kennedy's Citizens Energy Corporation at a 40% discount. Citizens, a nonprofit outfit, says it passes the savings onto the poor, aiming to help 400,000 homes in 16 states that would otherwise have trouble heating their homes. In the process, Mr. Kennedy happens to get a high-profile publicity plug. If you think you qualify, says the television ad that drew our attention to this partnership, just dial 1-877-Joe-4-Oil.
Joe-4-Oil is now running an aggressive ad campaign on network TV. He says he knows many people think he's crazy and evil for cooperating with Chavez, but he's sure it's the right thing to do. Jimmy Carter was also convinced:
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditYou Can Fight City Hall . . . and You Can Win
Filed under: Venezuela
In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare goes to great pains building up two seemingly mighty, gleaming fortresses on the stage, one called Montague and the other called Capulet. And just as they seem at their most formidable, indeed invincible, a tiny little mouse called "love" scurries onto the stage, opens its mouth, and roars like ten thousand lions. The soaring ivory towers crumble and fall like so many houses of cards.
There are those who see the forces of dictatorship as invincible, and claim that our democratic forces cannot surmount their brutality and power. And then suddenly Roger Cohen is writing in the New York Times:I salute you, Hugo Chavez.Those are words I never thought I’d write. But nor did I think it possible that a Latin American strongman, issued from the barracks, accumulating power through threats, slandering opponents as "traitors," buying support with $150 million a day in oil money, and bent on a socialist revolution, would accept a marginal electoral defeat. No, if it came to the humiliation of a 51 to 49 percent rejection of his proposal to end term limits and undermine private property rights and centralize authority, he would surely use a controlled Election Commission to tweak the numbers for Venezuela's glorious march to socialism. And yet, there was a glum Chavez declaring in the unadorned language no totalitarian system can abide that: "The people's decision will be upheld in respect of the basic rule of democracy: the winning option is the one that gets most votes."
It doesn't mean the struggle is over in Venezuela. Nobody can dispute that. But it does mean this: The people of Venezuela can win, their voice can rule the day regardless of the brute force arrayed against them. And nobody can dispute that either.
The people of Russia have so much to learn from the people of Venezuela. Next to the latter, the former look like a barbaric, uncivilized tribe of cavemen, cowering in fear from the light of a match. If they aren't willing to stand up and be counted, as they weren't during the time of the brutal dictator Josef Stalin (who they should view with exactly the same sort of antipathy they reserve for the madman Adolf Hitler, because Stalin's treatment of the Russian people was every bit as barbaric as Hitler's was), then they are inviting the worst form of human suffering that life can visit upon us.
It doesn't have to be that way. Venezuelans have shown themselves, and the Russians, that there is pathway out of the darkness.
And lets be clear: Venezuelans are following the beacon light that we Americans have lit, that we alone despite all odds continue to tend. In his column, Cohen has some harsh words for American democracy, and some of his warning points are well taken. Sadly though, as is so often the case the Gray Lady, he misses the main point. He's asking the questions, as Americans always have done. Nobody's trying to stop him from doing so. Americans are the most self-critical people on the planet, the most apt to change and reform, and that is why we are by far the strongest. Indeed we must be vigilant, because if we are not we risk not only our own futures but most assuredly that of the entire world.
We continue to operate by far the oldest system of constitutional government on the face of this planet. We stand against tyranny, no matter how many times a given American might "look into the eyes" of a demonic dictator and see something "trustworthy."
If we wish it to be so, and if we will stand behind our wishes with blood, sweat and tears, the forces of democracy will bring down those that stand against us. We should never forget that.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditThe Thrill of Victory (Venezuela) and the Agony of Defeat (Russia)
Filed under: Russia ~ Venezuela
Three cheers for the heroic people of Venezuela! Sweet, sweet victory is ours! By a narrow vote of 51-49, the voters have rejected the attempt by Hugo Chavez to anoint himself "president for life." This means that, unless he comes up with something even more nasty than this proposal, he's out in 2012.
Three catcalls for the craven lemmings who call themselves the voters of Russia! By an overwhelming margin, they have ejected from their legislature every single member of every single party who favored democracy and civil liberties, handing dictator Vladimir Putin about 90% of the seats and implying they want him to become "president for life." This means that unless somebody does something truly heroic, Putin will only leave office as his Soviet predecessors always did, in a pine box.
The only hope for Russia is that there are allegations of widespread fraud in the tabulation of the ballots, so there may be many Russians who are victims of fraud rather than collaborators in atrocity -- but if they do nothing to stand up for their votes, it matters little.
Check out my latest installment on Pajamas Media where I review the election results from Russia. Pajamas also has an excellent piece on the Venezuela vote. The contrast between the peoples of these two countries, one struggling with all its might for freedom, the other doing all it can to repeat the mistakes of the failed past, could not be more striking.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditThe Venezuela-Columbia Nexus
Filed under: Venezuela
Writing in the Washington Post, former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld explains the nexus between Columbia and Venezuela, and calls for immediate and decisive U.S. action:
Today the people of Venezuela face a constitutional referendum, which, if passed, could obliterate the few remaining vestiges of Venezuelan democracy. The world is saying little and doing less as President Hugo Chavez dismantles Venezuela's constitution, silences its independent media and confiscates private property. Chavez's ambitions do not stop at Venezuela's borders, either. He has repeatedly threatened its neighbors. In late November, Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, declared that Chavez's efforts to mediate hostage talks with Marxist terrorists from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were not welcome. Chávez responded by freezing trade with Colombia.With diplomatic, economic and communications institutions designed for a different era, the free world has too few tools to help prevent Venezuela's once vibrant democracy from receding into dictatorship. But such a tragedy is not preordained. In fact, we face a moment when swift decisions by the United States and like-thinking nations could dramatically help, supporting friends and allies with the courage to oppose an aspiring dictator with regional ambitions.
The importance of the Venezuela-Colombia clash goes beyond turmoil in the U.S. back yard. The episode can help us understand what's at stake in a new age of globalization and information, an age in which trade networks can be as powerful as military alliances. Extending freedom from the political sphere to the economic one and building the global architecture, such as free trade agreements, to support those relationships can -- and should -- be a top priority for the United States in the 21st century.
The best place to start is with the prompt passage and signing of the Colombian free trade agreement, which has been languishing in Congress for months. Swift U.S. ratification of the pact would send an unequivocal message to the people of Colombia, the opposition in Venezuela and the wider region that they do not stand alone against Chávez. It would also provide concrete economic opportunities to the people of Colombia, helping to offset the restrictions being imposed by Venezuela -- and it would strengthen the U.S. economy in the bargain.
He goes on to discuss the need to reform international institutions to meet the new challenges to democracy we face.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditChavez and the Avoidable Venezuelan Apocalypse
Filed under: Venezuela
Writing in the New York Times, columnist Roger Cohen says of Venezuelan lunatic Hugo Chavez (shown above arguing with the King of Spain):
The bottom line is this: Latin America's oil-gilded caudillo is getting serious about ruling for life, just like Franco and Castro. I might add Vladimir Putin to that list. Like the Russian leader, Chavez has already used gushing oil revenue, a pliant judiciary, subservient institutions and the galvanizing appeal of vitriolic anti- Americanism to concoct a 21st-century, gulag-free authoritarianism. But even Putin has not contemplated going as far as Chavez now intends to take his "Bolivarian revolution." Venezuelans will vote Sunday in a referendum that would remove all limits on presidential re-election, grant Chavez direct control over foreign currency reserves, allow him to censor the media under a state of emergency declarable at his discretion, expand his powers to expropriate private property and create the second formally socialist nation in the Americas alongside Fidel's. Unlike other votes during Chavez's nine-year presidency, and unlike the assured victory of Putin's United Russia Party in voting the same day, the referendum is not a foregone conclusion.
Click through to read why, and let's get that message out to the people of Venezuela, before it is too late!
Now, dis iz dee tym ont Pooblius Poondit ven ve dans (hat tip: Reader Gringo):
God only knows what they are saying in the above, but it's pretty darned damning (funny, too).
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditEvil, Incarnate
Filed under: Russia ~ Venezuela
"There is a perverse subversion of our existing Constitution under way. This is not a reform. I categorize it as a coup d'etat."
-- Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel, a retired defense minister and former confidant of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez who broke with him in a stunning defection this month to the political opposition, speaking to the New York Times last week
Chavez is bribing the people of Venezuela to accept him as "president for life" with unlimited dictatorial power by offering them a six-hour work week. This in a country which already can't put basic food staples on the shelves.
This man is evil, incarnate. He must be stopped.
And let's be clear: The people of Venezuela are complicit in this atrocity, just as the people of Russia are complicit in the anointing of dictator Vladimir Putin. As the Times quotes Alberto Barrera Tyszka, co-author of a best-selling biography of Chavez: "We are witnessing a seizure and redirection of power through legitimate means. This is not a dictatorship but something more complex: the tyranny of popularity."
The similarities between Venezuela and Russia today are striking. Both Putin and Chavez are in the final act of a perverse opera leading them to formalizing dictatorship by means of democracy (Russia has just succeeded in totally blocking all foreign elections observers at its upcoming parliamentary poll; looks like they've got plenty to hide). Both preside over economies that could collapse at any moment. The Times reports:
Walking into a grocery store here offers a different view of the changes washing over Venezuela. Combined with price controls that keep farmers from profitably producing some basic foods, climbing incomes of the poorest Venezuelans have stripped supermarket aisles bare of items like milk and eggs. Meanwhile, foreign exchange controls create bottlenecks for importers seeking to meet rising demand for many products.
Both Venezuela and Russia rely entirely on oil revenues from the West to support their regimes, and in neither case is the West holding the peoples of the countries responsible for their outrageous irresponsibility. And indeed, Chavez and Putin are in bed together, with Putin supplying Chavez huge quantities of weapons and Chavez providing Russia with even more extreme anti-American rhetoric than Putin will dare produce and a foothold for imperialism in Latin America just like Cuba used to be for the USSR. Chavez, in turn, is actively seeking to turn OPEC into a weapon with which to bash the United States, working in league with Iranian lunatic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- to whom Russia is supplying nuclear technology, standing like a bulwark behind two rogue leaders, assisting them in wrecking havoc upon the United States. Oh, what a tangled web they weave!
If we won't call the people of Russia and Venezuela to account for their betrayal of the democratic trust, how can we expect those within them who would fight for real freedom to step forward and risk everything to stop the madness? How can we expect any real change to occur?
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditCommunism, by Any Other Name, Would Still Stink
Filed under: Venezuela
Venezuelans wait in line outside a state-run market
in Caracas on Oct. 30, 2007 hoping for the chance to buy groceries.
"It takes a miracle to find milk."
-- Venezuelan construction worker Gustavo Arteaga, 37-year-old father-of-two, who has to take days off from work in order to spend sufficient time searching for basic food products to feed his hungry family.
The world's command economies are showing predictable signs of destroying themselves. Venezuela, despite it's oil riches, can't put milk on the table. Russia, similarly blessed with fossil fuels, is experiencing such vicious inflation that Soviet-style price controls have been imposed. And we've just discovered that Chinese factories are spewing out poison toys to the world's children.
Looks like a job for SUPER capitalism!
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditWARNING: Annals of Anti-Protest "Babes"
Filed under: Venezuela
If you have a squeamish stomach do NOT click this jump.
Supermodel at work. Use caution.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditWeekend Update
Filed under: Cuba ~ Russia ~ US Elections ~ Venezuela
It was an eventful weekend. Democracy took it on the chin.
Despite recent revelations concerning deep flaws the factual presentation of his film An Inconvenient Truth, to say nothing of the lack of any apparent connection between global warming and global war (much less any life-risking courage shown by the recipient, much less any actual evidence that anything he's done has actually reduced climate change) it was announced that Al Gore would receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee no doubt believes that noted humanitarian Yasir Arafat is beaming widely up there in heaven, delighted to welcome his fellow traveler to the club.
Then, Fidel Castro came out of hiding and had a powwow with Hugo Chavez, including a joint broadcast on a Cuban radio program, and observers declared him to be on the track to regaining his health. Among other things, Chavez actually sang love songs to Castro.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that "Israel's air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel."
And to round things out, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin snubbed a visiting delegation to Moscow comprised of Condi Rice and Bob Gates "by making them wait 40 minutes and then delivering a stern lecture before a room full of reporters." The pair were in Moscow to discuss U.S. plans to install a ballistic missile defense system in Europe, and Putin crazily declared: "Of course we can sometime in the future decide that some anti-missile defense system should be established somewhere on the moon. But before we reach such arrangements, we will lose the opportunity for fixing some particular arrangements between us." Echoes of Khrushchev and his infamous, self-destructive shoegate incident. Rice (who Putin, like his predecessor, may have forgotten leads a nation with an economy twelve times larger than Russia's and which leads a large group of powerful allies) promptly responded by issuing a stern blast against the Putin dictatorship and followed it up by meeting with his political opponents. This came on the heels of French President Nicolas Sarkozy giving Putin the business a few days earlier.
All that can be viewed as adequate preparation for today's main course: Putin is due to arrive in Tehran later today for another meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As world criticism of this conspiracy mounted, it was suddenly announced by Russian authorities that a plot to assassinate Putin during the visit had been discovered (Putin craftily cloaked the visit in the shroud of a regional conference on the Caspian Sea). Is it possible that Putin's KGB pals have cooked up this "threat" as a way of further distracting the world's attention from the outrageous nature of Russia's actions in Iran (providing nuclear technology, missile defense systems to protect it -- even while opposing such systems in Europe -- and diplomatic support against international sanctions in the U.N. -- and Russia is also supplying weapons to Syria)? Oh, it's possible alright. Last week, Putin's rubber-stamp legislature passed a law which will basically abolish referendum voting in Russia. The bill's sponsor stated: "There is, for example, a group of disgruntled people who get together and begin to disrupt society. We don't need this." Days earlier, it had been announced that Garry Kasparov's party would not be allowed to vie for seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and many others were facing the same fate. Welcome back to the USSR.
The net result of the Clinton administration in which Al Gore served was the rise to power of proud KGB spy Putin in Russia (shortly before that, Clinton became the first U.S. president to shake Castro's hand since he took power), resulting in a new cold war, and the most significant terrorist attack on U.S. soil by the Islamic extremists beloved by Ahmadinejad. Little wonder, then, that Gore is so fond of the subject of melting ice (even if he has to misdirect the conversation).
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditWhat's That Up in the Sky?
Filed under: Russia ~ Venezuela
Reuters reports:
A wealthy Russian tried to buy a U.S. B-52 bomber from a group of shocked American pilots at an airshow near Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday. The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by bodyguards, approached the U.S. delegation and asked to buy the bomber, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said. An astounded member of the U.S. delegation said the bomber was not for sale but that it would cost at least $500 million if it were to be sold on the spot. "That is no problem. It is such a cool machine," the Russian was quoted as saying by the newspaper, which said its reporter overheard the conversation. The bomber was not sold.
Reuters also tells us:
Russia has signed a deal to sell 98 Ilyushin civilian aircraft to Venezuela, Russian newspapers reported on Friday. Sergei Chemezov, head of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, signed the deal for the Ilyushin-114 planes, which can be used as passenger and cargo planes, the Vremya-Novostei newspaper said. The deal could be worth several billion U.S. dollars, the Izvestia newspaper reported. Russia said last year it had sold 24 Sukhoi jets and 53 helicopters to Venezuela as part of a long-term package of arms contracts worth over $3 billion. Details were not disclosed.
Granted, sending creaking Russian aircraft made by clueless Russians (who can't even show them properly, much less make them safely -- such that the oligarch wants to buy American) to Venezuela may be one way to undermine the Chavez dictatorship by killing off its pilots. But one has to wonder why Chavez needs so much cargo space. What does he want to send, and to whom?
Speaking of Russian planes, Georgia says that they have once again overflown Georgian territory without permission, and this time Georgia has fired at them. Cold war? Perhaps not. Seems to be getting pretty hot in Putin's kitchen.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditHugo Chavez: "President" for Life
Filed under: Venezuela
Reuters reports that Venezuelan "President" Hugo Chavez has proposed abolishing presidential term limits and extending the presidential term from six to seven years:
Under the current constitution, Chavez is in his second and final term and could not be elected again after it ends in 2012. The reform proposal would allow him to stay for as long as he keeps winning elections. "If anyone is going to say this is a project to enthrone oneself, no," Chavez said, in a speech before the legislature that stretched pass midnight. "This is only a possibility, a possibility that depends on many variables."
So even Chavez himself admits that it's "possible" he'll be "enthroned" as a monarch. To bribe the public into accepting his idea, he's also proclaimed he'll reduce the work day from eight to six hours. Yikes.
Dark days ahead for Venezuela.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditTalk about Burned Toast: Russia, Venezuela and Cuba, the New Axis of Evil
Filed under: Americas ~ Cuba ~ Europe ~ Russia ~ Venezuela
During his visit to Moscow last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that when he and Cuban leader Fidel Castro last met in Havana, they had drunk a toast to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his famous speech at the Munich security conference in February that attacked Washington for imposing its will on the world community.-- Asia Times, July 7, 2007 (above, a sign welcomes Putin to Cuba)
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditRussian Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds
Filed under: Americas ~ Europe ~ Russia ~ Venezuela
Yup, that's Hugo Chavez and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov laughing and holding hands like lovers whilst they gaze upon a spectacle of Russian folk dancing as part of Chavez's state visit to Moscow. Do you dare to imagine how Russians would react if Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev (or, for that matter, exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky) had been invited to visit the White House, stopped by New York City on the way, and been photographed cuddling with Mayor Michael Bloomberg under similar circumstances?
How is it possible that Russians can wail to high heaven about America getting involved in Russia's "sphere of influence" in Eastern Europe (installing missile defense systems and inviting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO) and yet have no problem whatsoever providing massive quantities of AK-47s and attack aircraft to Hugo's dicatorship in South America? Hasn't Russia ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine? Does Russia really think it can have its cake and eat it too, even though it's economy is 1/12th the size of America's and it lacks any allies remotely comparable to the NATO group?
To put it simply, this is exactly the same "have your cake and eat it too" behavior we saw from the USSR, the same behavior that brought the USSR to ultimate destruction. And despite that lesson, the victims of the the USSR's brainwashing, like "president" Vladimir Putin, are so filled with anti-American venom that they are prepared to do the whole thing over again, and to have Russia go the same way the USSR went.
How depressing is that? Click the jump for more inspiring Chavez photo ops.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditChavez touring Russia, Iran and Belarus
Filed under: Venezuela
Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez started a six-day tour of Russia, Belarus and Iran during which he plans to discuss the possibility of buying weapons.
"Russia and Venezuela remain strategic partners in the energy sector, and this visit should serve to strengthen this cooperation," Chavez said at the opening ceremony of the Simon Bolivar Cultural Center in Moscow today. "Lukoil is already in Venezuela, and Mr. Bush doesn't like it," Chavez said.
Venezuela has already purchased some US$ 3 billion worth of arms from Russia, including 53 military helicopters, 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 24 SU-30 Sukhoi fighter jets and other weapons.
In Belarus, the Venezuelan leader will probably discuss a plan to buy an air defense system equipped with radar and antiaircraft missiles.
Chavez then travels to Tehran for talks aimed at further deepening his ties with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is one of Venezuela's closest allies outside Latin America. Chavez dismissed speculation that he would sign an agreement with Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
"We don't need an atomic bomb, because we already have one: it is called the Venezuelan people,'' he said in a televised speech to thousands of supporters at a political rally in Caracas. "That has the force of 100 atomic bombs." (Reuters, APF )
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditDid somebody say "Lusitania"?
Filed under: Russia ~ Venezuela
The International Herald Tribune reports this morning that:
Russia is planning to sell at least five diesel submarines to Venezuela, a newspaper reported Thursday -- a deal that would be certain to anger Washington and further strain already chilly U.S.-Russian relations. The business daily Kommersant said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected to sign the deal during a trip to Moscow starting June 29. It said that the initial contract would envisage the delivery of five Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines, and that Russia could also supply four state-of-the-art Project 677 Amur submarines later. A spokesman for the state arms-trading monopoly, Rosoboronexport, refused to comment on the report.
The response from the Bush administration appears to be a truly devastating one, echoing the Cuban missile crisis. Perhaps we're going too far, but it's clear we've just got to put forth an appropriately strong message to them Rooskies. So yes, you guessed it . . . we're sending in the Kwanster
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditRCTV Protests Spread To Atlanta, San Francisco, Mexico City
Filed under: Venezuela
%20copia.jpg)
Source: El Universal
Venezuela's freedom protests are no longer about anything political - they are about freedom. Ignited by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's shutdown of Venezuela's largest TV station, RCTV, they began with a recognition that if the biggest and most popular TV station, soap operas and all, could be silenced because it refused to stop criticizing a brutal dictatorship as a matter of conscience, then so could they.
Source: AFP, via Yahoo! News
These protests are about more than beloved RCTV, though. They are about ideals and democratic principles, and full of young people, read: babes, and in that regard, these marches are full of democratic revolutionaries in a true democratic revolution. I've not seen anything with this powerful dynamic since I hung out on the barricades in the streets of south Jakarta in 1998 as a foreign correspondent.
Source: AFP, via Yahoo! News
Venezuela's young revolutionaries are known as 'chamos' and they are amazingly organized. Today tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in the streets of Caracas, as well as the cities of the Venezuelan hinterlands, places like Puerto Cabello and further afield, and now abroad, in Atlanta and San Francisco and Mexico City, maybe other places, too, all condemning Chavez's flaming hypocrisy.
Source: Alexo05, no doubt a chamo, via Megaresistencia
See the whole album, here
The rallying cry is the simple word, 'freedom' in call for a principle applicable to all, not just the old elite or the chavista bolibourgeouisa one that's replaced them - the chamos want freedom for all. They want nothing to do with politics of either side. Politicians who've gotten into the act have been politely asked to leave. The kids have their own Web site here. They're led by student leaders with names like, I kid you not, Stalin Gonzalez, which, if anything, signals a pretty strong independent streak in the kid. His best friend is a guy named Nixon.
Source: J. Reed, Reed Research
Click KCBS -for story
Brave Globovision covered the rally, even though Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez crazily accused it of 'media terrorism' and vowed to shut it down. Against these threats, they only got braver. Media and students, together, leading the struggle for liberty in Venezuela, have not been seen since 1958, when this exact same dynamic along with sustained protests managed to topple another dictator. They're going on again. It's going to be a long hard slog and this dictator won't be dislodged easily. But they will keep marching until they get freedom.
Source: AP, via Yahoo! News
Long live Venezuela's democratic revolutionaries!
Source: Megaresistencia
Source: Megaresistencia
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditSecond Venezuelan TV Station Under Attack
Filed under: Venezuela
Alex Beech, a former Venezuelan TV newscaster, is now a writer in New York. She's knows a lot about the Venezuelan television industry and has watched this assault on RCTV closely. Wiith RCTV off the airwaves, she now sees tiny Globovision also under attack. Her thoughts, reprinted with permission, are well worth reading here:
Dear Friends,
During a nationally televised speech, President Chavez threatened to close down Globovision, the only remaining TV network which openly opposes his government. Chavez said he had the power to "not renew the concessions of some channels early," as the crowd chanted "A Globovision, ahora le toca." ("Now, it's Globovision's turn.")
At midnight on May 27th, the government took RCTV off the air, accusing it of participating in the events which temporarily removed him from power in 2002. RCTV was the only remaining VHF channel with a critical editorial line.
Before being removed from the air, RCTV had a 90% penetration throughout Venezuela, a 33% market share, and was ranked number one in the country for its entertainment and news programs. The government-financed network which replaced it moments after midnight, TVES, has fallen to the last place in the ratings. (In the latest survey, 83% of Venezuelans opposed the closing of RCTV; 70% believed its replacement will only broadcast pro-government content.)
Chavez's remaining target, Globovision is on channel 33, and is mainly viewed on cable. While only 47% of Venezuelans have cable, Globovision's investigative reporting, opinion shows, and editorial line have turned it into a state enemy.
If Globovision disappears, there will be NO dissenting voice on Venezuelan television, VHF or UHF. Please don't mistake "privately owned" with dissenting. While most media in Venezuela is privately owned, the voices of dissension are eroding. TO SURVIVE IN VENEZUELAN MEDIA IS TO BOW TO CHAVEZ. Dissenting voices have already disappeared from the channels with the best frequency, (2-13), and with only one dissenting channel remaining on television, it's only time before they also disappear from UHF, including cable and satellite. Radio and print media is sure to follow.
Freedom of expression is not a luxury, but a universal human right.
Best,
Alex Beech
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditOnce upon a time . . .
Filed under: Venezuela
{Turn the virtual page to read more about our brave hero Jimmy and his adventures}
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | reddit