Free Republic

Sen. Obama isn't just wrong on the top foreign policy issues of Iraq, Iran and Russia, but also on virtually every other one that comes to mind. His strongest position is on Pakistan, where he advocates launching strikes on terrorists identified in that country if the government is unable or unwilling to go after them. This is an honorable position, although openly stating such an intention has extremely negative diplomatic repercussions and threatens the stability of the Pakistani government, which could allow radical Muslims to have an even greater safe harbor. Such statements are meant to be made in private,...

The greater threat to our nation's security comes not from Dubai and its pro-Western government, but from Venezuela, where software engineers with links to the leftist, anti-American regime of Hugo Chávez are programming electronic voting machines that will soon power U.S. elections. Congress spent two weeks overreacting to news that Dubai Ports World would operate several American ports, including Miami's, but a better target for their hysteria would be the acquisition by Smartmatic International of California-based Sequoia Voting Systems, whose machines serve millions of U.S. voters. That Smartmatic -- which has been accused by Venezuela's opposition of helping Chávez rig...

Speech give at World Education Forum in Venezuela by Bill Ayers Centro Interncional Miranda Caracas, Venezuela November , 2006 President Hugo Chavez, Vice-President Vicente Rangel, Ministers Moncada and Isturiz, invited guests,comrades. I’m honored and humbled to be here with you this morning. I bring greetings and support from your brothers and sisters throughout Northamerica. Welcome to the World Education Forum! Amamos la revolucion Bolivariana! This is my fourth visit to Venezuela, each time at the invitation of my comrade and friend Luis Bonilla, a brilliant educator and inspiring fighter for justice. Luis has taught me a great deal about the...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

CARACAS, Venezuela — They don't call him President Bush in Venezuela anymore. Now he's known as "Comrade." With the Bush administration's Treasury Department resorting to government bailout after government bailout to keep the U.S. economy afloat, leftist governments and their political allies in Latin America are having a field day, gloating one day and taunting Bush the next for adopting the types of interventionist government policies that he's long condemned. "We were just talking about that this morning on the floor," said Congressman Edwin Castro, who heads the leftist Sandinista congressional bloc in Nicaragua. "We think the Bush administration should...

For all of the 'hard-hitting, scrappy and independent Chicago news hounds' - that would be John Kass and Tim Novak. How about a bit of 'investigative work' on Billy Ayers and community organizer Presidential would -be Barack Obama? Let's root out the connection. Before you say that there is none - let's take a look at what is out in the public eye. Here is the time-line for Barack Obama and his 'guy from the neighborhood' with the drag to close a University of Illinois Chicago library to an investigative journalist - Billy Boy Ayers. 1987 William Ayers meets Barack...

MOSCOW (AFP) — Military exercises due to be held by Russian and Venezuelan navy are not aimed against the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Tuesday. "Russia and Venezuela have no plans of attacking anybody, they cooperate on the basis of international law," Lavrov told the state Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily, slamming "hypothetical scenarios of unimaginable attacks on the United States". "Among the US leadership and that of several other countries that chose absolute loyalty to Washington's way of thinking, the geopolitical ideology of doing everything possible to rein in Russia prevails," the minister deplored....

In a recent post I referred to a speech unrepentant domestic terrorist and Obama associate Bill Ayers delivered in Caracas, Venezuela, to the 2006 World Education Forum, sponsored by UNESCO. His text is full of Marxist rhetoric, but that's just Marxist Ayers being Ayers. He's also a professor of education, and there's nothing unusual about his presence at a global forum on education sponsored by an arm of the United Nations. But dig down below the topsoil, and you will discover that the ties between Ayers and Chavez run deeper than his appearance at an academic forum which just happened...

Washington DC, Oct 7, 2008 / 02:17 pm (CNA).- The Director of the Human Rights Foundation, Armando Valladares, said that electing Barack Obama as the next U.S. President, would go against "the values, principles and ideals that have shaped this great nation," because the Democrat candidate strongly supports abortion, promotes the adoption of children by gay couples and advocates to terrorists. Valladares, Cuban and a former U.S. ambassador under the Reagan and George Bush Sr. administrations, published a Spanish-written article entitled "Presidente Obama" in the Journal of the Americas.He wrote that what is happening with Obama, "reminds me of...

The Democrats also are playing footsie with Mr. Chávez, as the nearby photo -- with the two women dressed in matching chavista red -- taken in Washington a year ago indicates.

Iranian Industries and Mines Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian announced here on Sunday that the country has commissioned hundreds of millions of dollars worth of industrial projects in Venezuela. Speaking on the sidelines of a meet with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, the Iranian official said that two development projects in the housing and tractor manufacturing fields will soon be inaugurated, the Mehr News Agency reported. The two sides discussed the status quo of projects underway by Iranian entities in Venezuela as well as enforcing the 17 cooperation agreements inked in the fifth Tehran-Caracas joint economic session. Nicolas Maduro expressed his satisfaction...

Critical Pedagogy and Bolivarian Revolution. Luis Bonilla-Molina and Bill Ayers. Translation: Chesa Boudin ...

By David Paulin Caracas now ranks as the world's No. 1 murder capital, according to Foreign Policy magazine. It's an assessment that will surprise few credible Venezuela watchers. During President Hugo Chávez's tumultuous ten-year rule, Venezuela's quality-of-life indices have been in an ongoing tailspin – thanks to epic levels of corruption and mismanagement; not to mention El Presidente's increasing concentration of power in his own hands. When I was a Caracas-based journalist in the 1990s, Colombia's Bogotá was the world's No. 1 murder capital. But in the years before Chávez's election, high-crime Venezuela was catching up, boasting South America's...

OUTRAGE IN CONGRESS Forty-one members of Congress sent an angry letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, expressing their outrage over his expulsion of two top human rights activists who released a report accusing him of undermining democracy and intimidating critics. "We would like to express in the strongest terms our outrage over the decision by your government to expel from Venezuela two Human Rights Watch staff," said the letter, who signatories included Rep. Howard L. Berman, California Democrat and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot L. Engel, New York Democrat and chairman of the committee's Western...

Energy: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez revealed his worst fear on Tuesday by calling lower oil prices "a hundred hurricanes." With the ban on U.S. offshore drilling now lifted, it's time to make his nightmare come true.Why do we say this? Because Chavez is using his abundant oil earnings for three purposes: to buy regional influence, to buy arms and now to introduce Russian nuclear proliferation to our hemisphere. All are serious threats that the next U.S. president will face if global oil prices remain high. Only lower oil prices will stop him. That's because oil prices, not ideas, fuel his capacity...

Democracy in Latin America by: Irene Warren, September 30, 2008 Frantically and with great urgency, the Human Rights Foundation in New York drafted a letter beckoning the Inter American Democratic Charter and Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, with the Organization of American States (OAS), to honor the agreement to protect Latin American citizens from militant extremists. In addition, the organization invited Insulza to join its new program called The Inter-American Democratic Charter, as a way to bring global attention to his efforts in improving human rights in the Americas. Several regional experts took part in an event at the American Enterprise...

September 30, 2008 Putin Wants to Follow Peter the Great By Carlos Alberto Montaner Russian ships no longer carry the names of heroic comrades but rather of figures from imperial history. As I write this column, the nuclear cruiser Peter the Great is sailing toward Latin America heading a flotilla of four imposing vessels. Some ships from the Venezuelan Navy will meet up with them to conduct joint maneuvers. Moscow wants to send a bill to Washington for the latter's support of Georgia, as well as for the independence of Kosovo. The Peter the Great is the largest cruiser in...

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow. Chavez said he accepted an offer from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for assistance in building a nuclear reactor. "Russia is ready to support Venezuela in the development of nuclear energy with peaceful purposes and we already have a commission working on it," Chavez said. "We are interested in developing nuclear energy." Putin offered Chavez assistance in developing nuclear energy during a meeting in the Russian city of...

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday Venezuela will develop a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes, in another challenge to Washington just days after Russia offered nuclear assistance to the socialist Latin American leader. "In Venezuela we are interested in development of nuclear energy, of course for peaceful purposes, for medical purposes, for purposes of electricity generation," Chavez said at a political rally.

LISBON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday it was the capitalist system that had caused the financial crisis in the United States and the country should come up with a new constitution. Speaking to reporters in Lisbon on the last leg of a tour that included visits to China and Russia, he said: "I think the United States should start a constituent process to create a constituent assembly, a new truly democratic model." A constituent assembly is a body elected to draft and sometimes adopt a new constitution. "It was capitalism that caused the...

LISBON, Sept 27 - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday it was the capitalist system that had caused the financial crisis in the United States and the country should come up with a new constitution. Speaking to reporters in Lisbon on the last leg of a tour that included visits to China and Russia, he said: "I think the United States should start a constituent process to create a constituent assembly, a new truly democratic model." A constituent assembly is a body elected to draft and sometimes adopt a new constitution. "It was capitalism that caused the ruin"...

Russia offers Chavez nuclear help amid US tensions Sep 26 02:05 AM US/Easter Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was to meet Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Friday after Russia risked Washington's wrath by offering the fierce US foe help developing nuclear energy. The two were to meet in the city of Orenburg after hawkish Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Chavez in Moscow on Thursday that Russia was "ready to consider the possibility of cooperation in nuclear energy." The countries have boosted ties in recent weeks following sharp US criticism of Russia's incursion into Georgia, with Moscow dispatching long-range bombers and warships...

Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, speaking in China moments before flying on to Russia as part of a five-nation tour, on Thursday described the U.S. economy as "a sinking ship" in the final throes of capitalism but pledged that he would not cut off oil exports to the U.S. unless his nation were attacked. Venezuela has among the largest proven oil reserves of any country — at about 80 billion barrels, the country has nearly as much as Russia and the U.S. combined. "I said to President Hu Jintao in our meeting yesterday ... that Venezuela's oil reserves just keep going...

<p>A founding member of the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois met in New York City tonight with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.</p> <p>Jodie Evans, who co-hosted Obama's first major fundraiser in Hollywood in February 2007 just after Obama announced his candidacy and is a top fundraiser and donor to Obama's campaign, led a delegation of leftist anti-American groups that held a private meeting near the United Nations. The stated purpose of the meeting was to "serve as an opening for diplomatic resolution" to prevent war between Iran and the United States.</p>

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is no longer the backyard of the U.S. and that he finds it more important to visit Beijing than New York, as he arrived Tuesday in China's capital on first leg of an international tour. "China is showing the world that it isn't necessary to harm anyone to be a great power. They are soldiers of peace," Chavez said upon his arrival in Beijing, according to a Venezuelan government statement. Asked about his absence from talks this week on the sidelines of the United Nations in New York, Chavez said: "It's much more...

The passage is stunning. “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency,” the original draft of the proposed bill says. And with those words, the Treasury secretary — whoever that may be in a few months — will be with vested with perhaps the most incredible powers ever bestowed on one person over the economic and financial life of the nation. It is the financial equivalent of the Patriot Act. ~~ big snip ~~ On Friday...

MOSCOW - A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_venezuela

Excerpt - The Northern Fleet heading to Venezuela Order warships Northern Fleet went to the ocean trip, which will take place ships in ports of entry of Venezuela. The military stressed that this action was not politically motivated Moscow. September 22. INTERFAX.RU - Russia is determined to step up military cooperation with Caracas: Monday detachment of Russian Northern Fleet warships went to the ocean trip, which will take place ships in ports of entry and Venezuela held in conjunction with a fleet of the country's teachings. "The squad is to ship nuclear missile cruiser" Pyotr Veliky ", a large anti-submarine...

A suitcase filled with $800,000 in cash has embroiled Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez in a scandal which has fuelled claims of corruption and cover-up at the heart of his self-styled socialist revolution. A court case involving wiretaps and explosive testimony has lifted the lid on alleged attempts to buy influence across Latin America, putting Chávez on the defensive during a torrid week of coup rumours and expulsions of human rights critics and the US ambassador. Tumbling oil prices compounded the anxiety in Caracas, which is almost wholly reliant on oil revenues, and prompted the President to warn that the government...

ANNCR: Did you see who Obama wants to talk with? CHAVEZ: Go to h*ll, you filthy Yankees! ANNCR: Barack Obama says that he would meet Chavez without conditions. CHAVEZ: Filthy Yankees, go to h*ll hundred times! ANNCR: He said he would meet in his first year in office. CHAVEZ: The United States which is behind every conspiracy against our country. ANNCR: He said it was a disgrace that we haven’t spoken with them. CHAVEZ: If any aggression were to come against Venezuela, then there will be no oil for people or the government of the Unites States! ANNCR: Do you...

Well, I'm sure this will cause a furor on the Left, but the main point is true. Obama wants to talk with Chavez and others without precondition. Here's the ad with transcript and ad facts provided by the McCain Campaign:

We are all now very familiar with the aptly-named triple threat posed by Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. But there's another gathering storm closer to home and the media only feigns interest. Cuba's old news. And Venezuela's rants against colonialism and America have reached the level of parody. But recently Bolivia has stepped up and is trying to play with the big boys.

A PAZ (AFP) — Deadly clashes in Bolivia Thursday stoked fears of further widespread unrest and possibly even civil war, amid a furor over the expulsion of the US ambassador to the country. At least two people were killed and a dozen people wounded in violent clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters in the northeastern town of Cobija, officials said. It was the third day of street violence in parts of the country. Asked about the unrest President Evo Morales, opening a public works project in La Paz, said: "We are going to be patient and cautious. "We are going...

The United States stopped trying to be polite Friday in an escalating diplomatic shoving match with the populist leaders of Venezuela and Bolivia. Washington slapped new sanctions on three aides close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and called him weak and desperate. The Venezuelan ambassador got the boot for good measure, a move that was purely for show. Chavez had already brought his man home.

The US says it is expelling Bolivia's envoy in Washington, a day after the US ambassador was told to leave Bolivia. The US move comes after Bolivian President Evo Morales blamed the US envoy for inciting protesters in Bolivia - a claim denied by Washington. And Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez now says he will expel the US envoy in Caracas, in solidarity with Mr Morales.In Bolivia, at least eight people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-government groups on Thursday.

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez expelled the US envoy to Caracas today and threatened to halt crude exports to the US on a day he highlighted the recent arrival of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers. Mr Chavez today ordered US ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country within 72 hours, in a move he described as an act of solidarity with Venezuela's ally Bolivia, which also expelled its US envoy. "Starting at this moment the Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela," Mr Chavez said at a public event in the port city of Puerto Cabello, 120km west...

CARACAS (AFP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday ordered the US ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours, in an act of solidarity with Bolivia which also expelled its US envoy. "Starting at this moment the Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela," Chavez said.

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday, saying it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran. As the world's largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home. As the Saudis left the building, the message was shockingly clear. “Saudi Arabia will meet the market’s demand,” a senior OPEC delegate told the New York Times. “We will see what the market requires and we will not leave a customer without oil." OPEC will still have lavish meetings and...

Franklin Duran, 40, is alleged to have conspired on behalf of the Venezuelan government to conceal the source of the cash ($800,000), seized in August 2007 at the Buenos Aires airport. The case ignited a political storm last year when prosecutors alleged the money was provided by Venezuela's state-owned petroleum company for the campaign of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez. /snip/ Three of Duran's alleged co-conspirators have pleaded guilty. The judge, Joan Lenard, has also barred the defense from arguing in court that the case is politically motivated.

Venezuela's Chavez Changes PdVSA Board of Directors by Raul Gallegos and Darcy Crowe Dow Jones Newswires Friday, September 05, 2008 CARACAS (Dow Jones Newswires), September 5, 2008 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has overhauled the board of directors of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, bringing in a host of new faces while leaving current Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez at the helm of the company. Chavez named six new directors in a decision that took immediate effect, the state oil company said in a statement. Related Products Economics of Worldwide Petroleum Production, 2nd Edition Tales From The Oil Patch Ramirez will remain as...

As part of their recruitment drive, leaders of the anti-war, anti-American activist group, Code Pink, showed up at the Republicans' national convention in St. Paul yesterday and performed an act of political theater that got them arrested. Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, who really ought to be dressed in bright pink straitjackets, disrupted the acceptance speech of vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and were led away. Benjamin and Evans wore pink slips upon which ''Palin Not a Woman's Choice'' was written and tried to wave a banner that read, ''We need a Peace VP.'' (Sean Hackbarth has a...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citgo will be allowed to pull 250,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because of its inability to secure crude in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. Venezuela's government-controlled Citgo Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday that supplies to its refinery in Lake Charles, La., were cut off when the Calcasieu Ship Channel closed. http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/03/news/international/citgo_reserve.ap/?postversion=2008090311

Iraq and Georgia, both of which have democratic governments, are sandwiched between Iran and Russia, two of the most authoritarian governments in the world. Russia has been collaborating with Iran to strengthen the latter's nuclear program and its military. It is also steadily arming Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez. Russia's invasion of Georgia came exactly one month after Iran test-fired its Shahab III intermediate ballistic missile in order to intimidate neighbors like Israel and Iraq, and two weeks after Mr. Chávez traveled to Moscow to formalize a "Strategic Alliance" with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. Meanwhile, Iran's proxies...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Some survivors of Hurricane Katrina say they aren't getting enough attention from the Bush administration, so they're turning to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez for help. Ishmael Muhammad of the New Orleans Survivor Council has visited Venezuela three times to seek funding and forge ties. He says the group hopes to raise $45,000 for a center to house 50 people as they rebuild their homes.

Hitler snubbed Michael Phelps at '72 games? By Humberto Fontova Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has always craved the type of news coverage from the Venezuelan media U.S. presidents such as JFK and Jimmy Carter got from the U.S. media – to say nothing of the type presidential candidate Barack Obama currently gets. Alas, a few Venezuelan reporters persisted in covering Chavez in a manner more similar to that of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Andrea Mitchell's coverage of U.S. Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

Socialism: Venezuela's seizure of Cemex assets Monday is more than a typical nationalization of resources. Its vindictive manner has much to do with the firm's Mexican headquarters. It's a message to others in the region.Like a quasi-military conquest, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez marched in troops to "take back" four Cemex cement plants in the dead of night as part of his nationalization of cement announced in April. "It was time," he said Tuesday, calling it one of his "steps toward socialism." Chavez then popped out fireworks as red T-shirted mobs, judges and politicians headed to the plants and cheered their...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): The Venezuelan government has locked up control of more than 90 percent of the domestic cement industry with its nationalization of one foreign-owned plant and pressured buyout of two others. In the most recent of a series of state takeovers of key foreign-controlled businesses, at midnight Monday, Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez led workers and supporters to take symbolic control of the Mexican-owned Cemex plant in the eastern part of the country. Picture of the entrance of the Mexican cement company Cemex's Mara plant in Maracaibo, Venezuela. AFP PHOTO The move, after talks on a buyout...

NEW YORK, USA (AFP): Crude oil prices spiked higher Tuesday after OPEC member Venezuela said it would ask the cartel at its September meeting to cut production if downward price pressure continues. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, jumped 1.66 dollars to close at 114.53 dollars a barrel.

Venezuela has seized control of plants and offices belonging to Mexican cement giant Cemex, as it proceeds with nationalising its cement industry. Government officials backed by the National Guard took over the factories after talks ended without a deal. It comes a day after France's Lafarge and Swiss group Holcim agreed to hand over local subsidiaries to Caracas. Venezuela has begun nationalising several industries as part of a drive toward "21st-Century socialism". At a political rally on Monday President Hugo Chavez said Cemex would move into state hands - after 60 days of failed negotiations - adding: "These are all...