Free Republic

With the federal treasury facing insolvency what industry do we help next? Well lets see, how about the public relations arm of the Democratic party, the newspaper industry. That way when our Taxes go even higher they can tell us that it is a great idea. Today the President said that he would be happy to look at the Senate proposal allowing papers to restructure as non-profit organizations. Non-Profit may describe a newspaper's balance sheet, but it should not describe its tax status, unless of course, if Senator Benjamin Cardin( D-Md.) gets his way. The Senator introduced a bill on...

Obama said he is "happy to look at" bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses. The bill being discussed is the Newspaper Revitalization Act introduced by Sen. Cardin (D-MD). Nonprofits can't endorse political candidates directly or indirectly, and may be constrained in taking too strong a line for or against government proposals.

HAVANA, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - Modernization of the Soviet-made military equipment and training of Cuban military personnel will be the focus of Russian-Cuban military cooperation in the near future, the chief of the Russian General Staff said on Friday.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez's government is preparing to nationalize the nation's largest coffee producers, claiming the companies have refused to comply with federal price controls. Commerce Minister Eduardo Saman said he is recommending the nationalization of coffee plants belonging to Caracas-based companies Fama de America and Cafe Madrid. He did not say when the nationalizations could take place But Chavez told journalists that his government has not made a final decision on the nationalization of the plants. "If they give me an excuse, I'll nationalize them," he said. Saman said the measure had been encouraged by workers displeased...

We might have known that Hugo Chavez would become the American Left’s favorite dictator when in 2006 he traveled to the U.N. and branded President Bush “the devil.” “The devil came here yesterday,” Chavez told the world body during its annual meeting in Manhattan, “And it smells of sulfur still today.” Liberals have been smitten with the Venezuelan autocrat ever since. Sure, some of them protested. “You don't come into my country; you don't come into my congressional district, and you don't condemn my president!” Rep. Charles Rangel scolded. But the epithet was really no worse than those liberals themselves...

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after...

Leaders of some of the most oppressive regimes in the world will be coming to New York next week for the annual opening of the UN General Assembly. Tyrants such as Cuba's Castro, Iran's Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Chavez and China's Hu were all granted visas to enter the country and address the international community. Only one international leader was considered so horrible to be denied a visa, Roberto Micheletti, the interim president of Honduras. The old president, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales was removed from office because he tried to overthrow the nation's constitution. This upset the socialist regimes in Latin America...

Venezuela's Marxist president-dictator Hugo Chavez addressed an influential university in Moscow stating that America's influence in the world is "dying," and will be replaced in "the next decades" by a "multi-polar" world in which Russia plays a leading role. Chavez wants to "accelerate" the process, a sentiment which receives support from the Moscow elite. During his Sept. 9-10 2009 visit,Chavez received an enthusiastic reception from about 1,000 students at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Peoples Friendship University, an institution founded in 1960 as a KGB training ground for communist revolutionaries and pro-Soviet activists. The university's namesake was a prime minister of the...

NAIGUATA, Venezuela (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced a 16-billion-dollar deal with China to drill for oil in the resource-rich Orinoco basin. "Yesterday (Tuesday), a deal was signed in Beijing for the Orinoco basin. It sets out a Chinese investment of 16 billion dollars over the next three years," Chavez said at a public event. He gave few details of the pact and did not name the Chinese companies involved, but said they would form a joint venture with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to produce 450,000 barrels a day of extra heavy crude. Venezuela, a founding member of...

THE mountains and jungles of South America are not ideal terrain for tank warfare. So it is hard to envisage what role Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, has in mind for the dozens of Russian tanks on his latest military shopping list. The strategic purpose of a recent tour that took him to some of the world’s least salubrious regimes is, however, easier to discern... Venezuela’s increasingly autocratic leader returned on Friday from a trip that took him to Libya, Iran, Algeria, Syria, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Russia... Apart from discussing weapons and oil with the Russians, he also courted condemnation by...

The US has said it is concerned by an arms build-up in Venezuela, a day after its president announced a major weapons deal with Russia.

The government of Andorra has frozen “billions of dollars” in bank accounts linked to Iran, Venezuela, and a variety of terrorist groups, according to the daily Diairi d’Andorra, which publishes in Catalan. The Andorran move, announced on Thursday, was carried out in conjunction with a top secret U.S. Treasury investigation in Miami involving money laundered through Venezuelan banks that was transferred to corresponding banks in the United States. From Miami, the funds were then wired to accounts in Andorra that were controlled by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, members of his family and his regime. But the funds were also used...

CARACAS (Reuters) – Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over $2 billion to finance the purchase of weapons including tanks and advanced anti-aircraft missiles, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday. Chavez said the purchases agreed on a trip to Moscow last week included 92 tanks and the S-300 missile system, which is capable of shooting down fighter jets and cruise missiles. "We have to thank the Russian government, which approved a $2.2 billion loan for arms spending," Chavez said on his weekly television show. He did not say how much the new weapons cost. A major oil exporter, Venezuela's...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Russia has opened a $2.2 billion line of credit for Venezuela to purchase weapons including armored vehicles and surface-to-air missiles, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday. Venezuela is buying more arms because it feels threatened by Colombia's decision to give U.S. troops greater access to its military bases, Chavez said. Repeating a frequent theme of his presidency, the socialist leader said the United States would like to invade Venezuela and seize the country's oil fields. He said the bases in Colombia could help the U.S. stage such an attack.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez. Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela—the first by a Russian president—to extend Moscow's reach into Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. Chavez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia's growing presence in Latin America as a reflection of declining U.S. influence.

WASHINGTON -- New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau left his home turf and came to the nation's capital on Tuesday to sound the alarm about a "blossoming relationship" between Iran and Venezuela. Comparing the situation to the lead up to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Morgenthau warned of growing threats--involving missiles, nuclear ventures and terrorist training--that Iran and Venezuela are now cultivating, together, "in our backyard." "Axis of unity" is the label that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez have themselves chosen for their alliance. The rise of this partnership, according to Morgenthau, dates from Ahmadinejad's...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says two Russian bombers have arrived in the country to carry out training flights. The Russian Air Force said the bombers would be based in Venezuela for several days and fly over neutral waters. Earlier this week Russia confirmed that it would send a Navy squadron and long- range patrol planes for joint exercises with Venezuela in November. Mr Chavez has developed close relations with Moscow, including the purchase of Russian arms and co-operation on oil. Hugo Chavez announced that two Tu-160 bombers would carry out manoeuvres, saying that it was part of a move towards...

CARACAS, Venezuela – An earthquake rattled Venezuela's capital Saturday, but there were no reports of major damage or injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 for the quake, saying the epicenter was off Venezuela's Caribbean coast 65 miles (110 kilometers) west of Caracas. The head of Venezuela's seismological agency, Francisco Garces, put the quake at magnitude 6.2, followed by an aftershock registering 4.0.

Venezuela recognizes independence of breakaway Georgian provinces 12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 11, 2009 Los Angeles Times MOSCOW – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez recognized the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Thursday during a state visit to Russia. Venezuela becomes the third country, after Russia and Nicaragua, to acknowledge the national aspirations of the small rebel regions inside Georgia's internationally recognized borders. South Ossetia was at the heart of a brief war last year between Russia and Georgia. Russia has been accused of carrying out a de facto annexation of the two provinces....

CARACAS — Amid rising tensions with neighboring Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced late Friday that his country would soon take delivery of Russian-made missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (185 miles). "We have signed some agreements with Russia. Soon we will begin receiving some missiles," Chavez said during a meeting with supporters in front of the presidential palace. He underscored the reliability of the Russian weaponry, but stressed that his country had "no plans to attack anybody." But the announcement came amid rising tension between Caracas and Bogota over Colombia's decision to allow the United States access to...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has announced that the country will soon take delivery of Russian missiles with a range of 300km (185 miles). Returning from a 10-day tour of Africa, Asia and Europe, including Russia, Mr Chavez is also planning to buy Russian T-72 and T-90. "Soon some little rockets are going to be arriving... and they don't fail," he announced at the presidential palace. But he denied they would be used for offensive purposes. "We are not going to attack anybody, these are just defence tools, because we are going to defend our country from any threat, wherever it...

Michael Ledeen does what few other commentators are doing by joining up the dots – and thus correctly assesses the true and terrifying reality of the threat facing the free world: There is a mounting body of evidence of a global alliance directed against the United States, running from Moscow to Tehran, Damascus and Caracas. United by hatred of America, funded by oil and narcotics revenues (including our own), and unanimous in their contempt for free societies, the leaders of Russia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia publicly declare their intentions and demonstrate their resolve. Manhattan District Attorney, the...

(English-language translation) Speculation about the sale of Russian weapons to Venezuela has surfaced as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is scheduled to arrive at Moscow. Chávez will stay in Russia until today, as part of his tour of Libya, Syria, Algeria, Iran, and Belarus which was interrupted by his surprise presence at the Venice Film Festival to attend the screening of a documentary filmmaker Oliver Stone dedicated to him. Venezuelan media and international news agencies today based themselves on information from the Russian Interfax agency to feed speculation about the arms sale. “Venezuela is currently negotiating new arms contracts which will...

Global Security: Radical chic hit its zenith in Europe Monday as Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez strolled the red carpet to adoring crowds at the Venice Film Festival — just as he was plotting with Iran to destroy the West.It was the thuggish Venezuelan dictator's moment of glory, just two days after thousands of Latin Americans bitterly marched against him in "No Mas Chavez" demonstrations on Friday. The humiliation of that was over when the film industry crowds at the Venice premiere of Oliver Stone's "South of the Border" heaved forward to touch his clothes and the paparazzi begged him for...

...Let's just consider this one thing for the time being. Hugo Chavez. Over the past several days I've been reading about his star turn at the Venice Film Festival. Since when did it become so chic to celebrate dictators? WTF is up with that?! Whats up is that Oliver Stone has made a film, a documentary, about Chavez which as IBDeditorials says, "emphasizes that the public has it all wrong about the clowning Chavez being a threat to the West. It's merely an image problem he has, brought on by unjust demonization from George W. Bush." Can we just lock...

Chavez has professed his delight in the election of Obama and is extremely close to the Iranian President who has also expressed a liking for Obama.This is a very eerie situation.Could Obama be in some secret oil deal with the two?It would not surprise me.Because I'm sure you remember that Barry said during the election that he would be happy to see gasoline over $5 a gallon.

Reuters reports: ”Director Oliver Stone says the U.S. media and government have demonized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftist South American leaders, and argues in a new film that they were right to stand up to Washington. Chavez, who landed in Venice for the film’s premiere, has earned a reputation for his outspoken criticism of U.S. policy, and in Stone’s “South of the Border” he is sympathetically portrayed as a hero of the people who refuses to be bullied.[…] Stone said he had been in talks with Iran to make a documentary about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but that scheduling...

Joseph P. Kennedy II said today he will not make a bid for the senate seat held by his late uncle Edward M. Kennedy, in a bombshell announcement expected to draw candidates-in-waiting out from the wings. “Given all that my uncle accomplished, it was only natural to consider getting back involved in public office, and I appreciate all the calls of support and friendship that have poured in,” Kennedy said in a statement posted on the web site of Citizens Energy, of which he is the founder. “My father called politics an honorable profession, and I have profound respect for...

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources disclose that Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are working on a wide-raging plan to replicate Iran’s key nuclear installations in Venezuela, possibly in the framework of a new program there on the Iranian and North Korean models. The French news agency AFP, reporting from Tehran Sunday, disclosed Chavez’s suggestion to Iran to establish in his country a “nuclear village” to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. But, according to DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources, the conversation between the two presidents Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5-6, when they visited Shiite shrines in Meshhad, went as far as to discuss the...

VENICE (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Venice on Monday to attend the world premiere of Oliver Stone's documentary about him and his strained relations with the United States. "South of the Border" is a sympathetic portrait of the leader, casting him as a champion of the poor who has stood up to Washington. Chavez, surrounded by bodyguards, strolled with Stone on the Lido red carpet and signed autographs like a movie star ahead of the premiere at the Venice film festival. "What's happening in Latin America is like a Renaissance," the Venezuelan leader told reporters.

Venezuela's Chavez drops in on Venice film festival VENICE, Italy (AFP) – Hugo Chavez stole the show at the Venice film festival Monday as he paid a surprise visit for the screening of veteran US director Oliver Stone's documentary on the Venezuelan president. The leftist leader was expected to walk down the red carpet at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) to attend the official screening of "South of the Border", a look at Chavez's role in the bottom-up change sweeping South America. Reports began to circulate last week that Chavez would make an appearance, which appeared increasingly likely when a...

TeleSUR, Venezuela From 15 hours ago. (Van) Jones, special advisor for Green Jobs and Environment Innovation of the White House, submitted his resignation early Sunday, as the product of a great scandal generated when ventilating himself in support of an organization that offered that ex-President George Bush was complicit in the attacks on September 11th. This is an adviser of the current president of the United States, Barack Obama, and that worked in the Council of Environmental Quality office, had to apologize already in public, after the existence was known a recording in which he made offensive signallings against...

U.S. author, dissident intellectual, and Professor of Linguistics at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology Noam Chomsky met for the first time with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas and analyzed hemispheric politics during a nationally televised forum on Monday. Chomsky is well known in Venezuela for his critiques of U.S. imperialism and support for the progressive political changes underway in Venezuela and other Latin American countries in recent years. President Chavez regularly references Chomsky in speeches and makes widely publicized recommendations of Chomsky's 2003 book, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. "Hegemony or survival; we opt for survival,"...

Chavez minister vows more Venezuela radio closings * Radio stations to be pulled after 34 closed in August * Critics say hits free speech, government says democratic * Anti-Chavez TV network in the spotlight over coup rumor CARACAS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela will pull the plug on 29 more radio stations, a top official in President Hugo Chavez's government said on Saturday, just weeks after dozens of other outlets were closed in a media clampdown. Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello closed 34 radio stations in July, saying the government was "democratizing" media ownership.....

A few hundred protesters rallied in downtown Miami on a soggy Friday as part of a worldwide effort calling for the removal of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. ``I want to do anything I can against the tyranny of Chávez,'' said Pablo Carrillo, 25, an economics student at Florida International University who came to South Florida two years ago for his studies. ``I'm here for solidarity for those who suffer in Venezuela.'' The afternoon protest at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami -- a longtime setting for rallies for overseas causes -- was part of a day of protests against...

CARACAS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela will pull the plug on 29 more radio stations, a top official in President Hugo Chavez's government said on Saturday, just weeks after dozens of other outlets were closed in a media clampdown. Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello closed 34 radio stations in July, saying the government was "democratizing" media ownership. Critics say the move limits freedom of expression and has taken critical voices off the airwaves.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Tens of thousands marched through Venezuela's capital on Saturday to protest what they call growing authoritarianism by President Hugo Chavez. A few thousand of the president's backers held a separate counter-rally to express support for the government's policies. Anti-Chavez protesters, many of them wearing white, filled the streets of Caracas, denouncing recent arrests of opposition members for alleged violence during protests and a new education law that critics fear could lead to indoctrination in schools. "It's very concerning because education is Venezuela's future," said 23-year-old engineering student Carlos Delgado, who also complained of soaring inflation and rampant...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez railed against the West on Saturday, pledging to deepen their ties and stand together against the United States and world powers the two perceive as imperialistic. Chavez is on an 11-day tour that has taken him to Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iran. The leftist Venezuelan leader is also to visit Belarus, Russia and Spain in the trip he has described as a bid to build a "multi-polar world" and counter U.S. influence. After landing in Tehran late Friday — his eighth visit to Iran so far — Chavez said Iran...

BOGOTA -- Opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held protests Friday against the leftist leader in cities across Latin America, in an effort coordinated through Twitter, Facebook and a Web site titled "No More Chavez!" They grasped banners and signs with images of Chavez in a straitjacket and wearing a red clown nose. "Chavez, the shame of Bolivia," read a banner in the Bolivian capital of La Paz. Police in Colombia estimated more than 5,000 marched in Bogota waving flags. Thousands also took to the streets in the capitals of Venezuela and Honduras. Some said they were protesting what they...

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DAMASCUS, Syria – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people. ... "Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters. In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East. "The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of...

Joe Kennedy’s business ties to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, through Citizens Energy Corp., will likely become a major issue if the former congressman decides to run for the Senate seat held until last week by his late uncle. Joe Kennedy yesterday hadn’t even made a decision on a run when he came under blistering attack by Republican gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos and a Mihos spokesman. “It should be an issue,” said Mihos of the nonprofit Citizens Energy’s acceptance of oil from Venezuela to help needy residents heat their homes. Mihos described Chavez as a “communist dictator and avowed enemy of...

Hugo Chávez ‘evil axis’ tour: Looking for love in all the wrong places? The Venezuelan leader gave Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi a warm hug yesterday during his 11-day tour to Russia, Belarus, Syria, Algeria, Libya, and Iran. By Matthew Clark | Staff writer 09.02.09 It’s like that old country song: “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places. Lookin’ for love.” (Or as Eddie Murphy would say in his classic SNL skit, “wookin pa nub.”) That’s what Venezuelan firebrand Hugo Chávez appears to be doing this week on an 11-day trip that trip takes him to Russia, Belarus, Syria, Algeria,...

1st Amendment: Mark Lloyd, a disciple of Saul Alinsky and fan of Hugo Chavez, wants to destroy talk radio and says free speech is a distraction. The new FCC diversity "czar" says Venezuela is an example we should follow.When Mark Lloyd was appointed July 29 as the chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission, a nation focused on ObamaCare and a deteriorating economy took little notice. But as angry constituents flood town hall meetings and call in to talk radio, a man dedicated to silencing them sits at the right hand of the president. They share a common hero...

There is no hiding the fact that last Saturday’s march in rejection of the new Education Bill has unsettled the regime’s nerves. In the span of one week, the regime has jailed 12 peaceful protesters, including tonight the jailing of the “Prefecto” of the Metropolitan District (The highest civil authority below the Mayor), as the Government continues searching for Oscar Perez, one of the organizers of last Saturday’s march, who will be charged for nothing more than…organizing it...And this is now state policy as clearly oulined and defined by the ineffable and fascist Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who threatened to jail...

Venezuelan authorities have arrested an opposition leader for alleged violence during a protest. Venezuela's state-run Bolivarian News Agency says a local court ordered the arrest of Caracas official Richard Blanco. Authorities detained Blanco for allegedly injuring a police officer during a demonstration a week ago, the agency said Saturday. The march was one of many protests over a new education law critics say could lead to political indoctrination in schools.

Venezuela's top prosecutor said Saturday that recent street protests were legally tantamount to "rebellion" against President Hugo Chavez's government and that demonstrators will now be charged. The dramatic move by Attorney General Luisa Ortega capped a week of huge street protests, mostly directed against a new education law that critics say is politically charged. "People who disturb order and the peace to create instability of institutions, to destabilize the government, or attack the democratic system, we are going to charge and try them," Ortega said in a statement, referring to the government of leftist-populist Chavez. William Ojeda, of the opposition...

Two big questions hang over President Obama's radical "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones. Is he still a communist? Is he a security threat? Many have assumed that Van Jones' committment to communism ended when the organization he helped to lead STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement) dissolved in 2002. Yet a 2004 treatise Reclaiming Revolution: History, Summation, and Lessons from the Work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement written and endorsed by a majority of former STORM members makes it clear that most ex STORMers are still committed to the revolutionary movement; From page 49. When...

Just the headline

Hassan Nemazee, a multimillionaire Iranian-American investment banker and top Democratic Party fundraiser, was arrested today by federal law enforcement authorities in New York City and charged with engaging in criminal fraud for his role in arranging a $74 million dollar loan from Citibank, Bloomberg reported. U.S. Attorney Prett Bharara in New York City and FBI investigators told Dow Jones Newswires the 59-year-old Namazee applied for the Citibank loans for Nemazee Capital Corp. by giving Citibank "numerous documents that purported to establish the existence of accounts in Nemazee's name at various financial institutions containing many hundreds of millions of dollars." According...