[Cincinatus' Wife]

If this threat is real, the Bush administration must react strongly to make certain that WMD's aren't finding their way into the Americas. Our intelligence services need to figure out what Chavez is doing with these weapons. And our diplomatic service needs to make it brutally clear to Spain that we will not tolerate further arming of Chavez's regime. As Admiral Dewey might have said, you may fire when ready, Condi.

Bump!

[livius]

Chavez is also trying to put conditions in place for his own little Reichstag fire. He is now accusing NATO of preparing for an attack on him. Here is a little bit, from the Spanish press:

...Chavez told José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, during the recent visit of the latter to see him [ZP has visited Chavez 4 times in less than a year, and arranged for Hugo to make a triumphal tour through Spain]. According to Chavez, the operation launched by the Atlantic Alliance is named Operation Balboa.

"They [NATO] even have the daily bombing runs calculated. It's quite an exercise: we have complained, and if this contiunes ...we're ready, because if this continues to happen..." said Chávez, who left the sentence unfinished.

While I don't doubt that there have always been plans to defend against an attack from Latin America (Cuba), I'm sure that nobody in NATO is planning on attaching VZ. However, this "attack" is taken as an article of faith in VZ now, and Chávez, aided by his bosom buddy ZP, is using this to whip up anti-American feeling and also to justify his weapons purchases and his establishment of a huge paramilitary ("self defense forces") in VZ. Once he feels he is strong enough, he is probably going to announce that VZ is being attacked by the US through one of the neighboring countries, such as Colombia, and use this to justify his own attack. He is definitely in expansionist mode and will take advantage of anything.