Posted on 11/06/2005 12:51:29 PM PST by FairOpinion
BRASILIA (AFP) - US President George W. Bush ramped up his efforts to curb Venezuela and Cuba's clout in Latin America, accusing them of trying to "roll back" fragile democratic and free-market gains in the region.
Amid concerns in Washington that poverty may enhance the appeal of anti-US, economically populist messages, Bush said in a speech that "ensuring social justice for the Americas requires choosing between two competing visions."
"One offers a vision of hope. It is founded on representative government, integration into the world community, and a faith in the transformative power of freedom," he told student, diplomats and business leaders.
"The other seeks to roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people," he said.
He never named Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or Cuban leader Fidel Castro, White House aides tacitly acknowledged that they were the targets of what was the keynote speech of a five-day, three-country trip to the region.
Bush, making his first ever visit to Brazil, also celebrated US ties with the region's richest economy despite opposition here to his vision for a mammoth hemispheric free trade zone stretching from Canada to Chile.
After talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva, Bush bowed to his host's view that successful World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations have to precede new talks on creating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
"He has got to be convinced, just like the people of America must be convinced, that a trade arrangement in our hemisphere is good for jobs, is good for the quality of life," Bush conceded during a joint appearance.
Bush and Chavez stayed away from each other at a 34-nation Summit of the Americas in Argentina, where Venezuela and four other countries including Brazil blocked progress on the FTAA. Castro was not invited.
Brazil has said there is no point in doing so until after the so-called Doha Round of WTO talks, which have bogged down over agricultural subsidies -- the same chief obstacle in the Americas trade debate.
"The president said 'look, let's work together on Doha, and see how that goes, and we'll continue working on the free trade agreement of the Americas,'" said Bush, who was making his first visit to Brazil.
Lula, speaking through an interpreter, called US aid to its farmers "unjustified barriers to our bilateral trade" and that he and Bush had explored their differences "without surprises or confrontations."
In his speech, Bush said that the United States will eliminate US agricultural subsidies but can only do so if other large trading partners agree -- specifically the European Union, which has resisted.
At the same time, he pushed his vision of free trade as the best remedy for widespread poverty at a time when the region has swung leftward politically.
US officials have expressed concern about efforts by Chavez to use his country's vast oil wealth to promote an anti-US, populist agenda they fear could appeal to the millions trapped in poverty in the region.
Earlier, in a roundtable discussion with prominent Brazilians, Bush shrugged off the sometimes violent protests he attracted at the summit in Argentina, saying: "I expect there to be dissent. That's what freedom is all about."
Outside the residence where Bush and Lula met, some 200 protesters chanted "Fascist Bush, the real terrorist" and burned an effigy of the US president dressed in a shirt with a swastika.
Bush hoped to enlist Lula's help in pressuring the European Union to agree to deeper cuts in import duties on agricultural products ahead of critical December talks that may decide the Doha round's fate.
Bush and Lula had also been expected to discuss reform of the United Nations. Brazil, along with Japan, India and Germany, has sought permanent membership on the UN Security Council.
God, FairOpinion, I can only hope we are right.
I think I read somewhere that the Chinese would like to get hold of Panama and Cuba was holding discussions with them, so they can get more established in Cuba, but then I haven't read any more.
I am sure that a lot of nasties consider Panama a prize and we need to make sure that they don't get emboldened and think it's there for the taking.
I put China and Panama into google and some frightening stuff comes up.
Here is one that gives a reasonable summary, but you might try to do a search as well.
China company grabs power over Panama Canal
August 12, 1999
http://www.conservativeusa.org/panama-washtimes.htm
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott recently wrote to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen that a Chinese shipping company is gaining broad authority over the Panama Canal and could deny passage to U.S. ships.
"It appears that we have given away the farm without a shot being fired," the Mississippi Republican said in the Aug. 1 letter requesting Mr. Cohen's security assessment.
The focus of concern is Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd., a giant Hong Kong-based shipping firm with ties to China's leadership and its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Under circumstances the U.S. Embassy in Panama called unusual, the government in 1997 awarded Hutchinson a 25- to 50-year contract to run the two major ports on the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances.
FO, Sorry for my late reply.
The Chinese don’t worry me. They don’t physically exist. NewsMax kept/continues to do hysterical stories about the Chinese owning the Panama Canal. Not true. NewsMax feeds to the right wing hysteria as the New York Slime does to the leftwing folks. I refuse to read NewsMax articles. When they write about Panama, you have no idea how many outrageous errors and pure lies I find in their articles.
I know. I know. Rush Limbaugh thinks NewsMax is great. They are nothing more than liars and pimps. Little does Rush knows about this area of the world although he thinks he does. No slam on Rush. He just needs to get more educated.
“I am sure that a lot of nasties consider Panama a prize and we need to make sure that they don't get emboldened and think it's there for the taking. “
Don’t worry about this when you have nothing else to worry about. We are okay here and there are no Chinese around other than the usual. It was a fictitious story spread by NewsMax.
I appreciated everybody’s concerns. If I weren’t living here in Panama, I to would be sick out of my mind with worry.
Thank you again for your concern.
Everything is okay.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!
If it doesn't effect them directly, they don't take the time to do any "horizon thinking" --- it's only what's goin' on in their own back yard they understand.
Sad, but true.
--Good thing to know there are a few of us that see beyond the fence ;-)
I've got an Afghan neighbor. She liked John Kerry in the last election. She thought he was an honest man....GOD HELP US ALL.
She was out in front of her house, gardening, when I was precinct walking for the special election in CA in a couple of days. I was passing out door hangers to my list of houses, saw her. We'd talked before--trying to get her to see the light, so today, I remembered....my President doesn't back down, and neither do I....so, I walked up to her, complimented her on her garden, and said hi. During the course of the conversation, I found out she didn't know about the election. She asked me who was running. I said where we are this particular election is not about people, it's about issues this time. We talked about Prop 73 first. I said a girl can't get her ears pierced in CA without parental consent, but they want to get an abortion without it and Prop 73 stops that. She went off about how terrible abortions are--I don't fault her there. She acted as if America was all about letting people have abortions. (Definitely NO "horizon thinking" goin' on there!) Then, she started talking about Bush being so terrible for going to Argentina---I tried to explain it to her, but she would NOT hear of it. She just thinks Bush meddles in other people's business all the time. She doesn't think we should have gone to Iraq. I said what about all the horrible things Saddam and his sons were doing to their people? The rapes of the women by his sons. She stopped me short---"Muslim does not rape." I said, "Are you telling me you seriously don't believe Saddam's two sons raped any women?" She said no, and kept repeating that Muslims don't believe in that---and that it ONLY happens here in America. "Every night on TV there is something so bad that Americans have done to their own people. Muslims do not do this. If America wants to tell people what to do, they should take care of their own country first." I tried and tried to explain things to her --that only the bad stuff gets on TV, but to no avail. Then, I came home and realized that I've been approaching this all from the wrong direction. I'm going to ask her if I lived in her country, and was having a discussion with her as my neighbor, and all I said was negative things about her country, how would she like it? Then, I will promptly tell her that if it is so bad here....she can always go back to her dear Afghanistan. It's weird. I don't know why she is like this. She'll go off complaining about how terrible the Russians were, but then blames America for letting the Taliban in and not coming to rescue Afghanistan sooner. Sheesh...like all we have to do is run around preemptively attacking without cause. We were there because of 9/11, and in Iraq because of all the ignored resolutions--and Saddam was a terrorist with an address. I just can't believe she's so short sighted....which brings us back full circle to the article. Thanks again for posting it.
Sorry this is long - thanks for letting me vent. I love my country and she's making me angry---but I want to change her mind, not just go off in a huff and make no ground.
"If I weren’t living here in Panama, I to would be sick out of my mind with worry. "
===
Well, that's good to know. :)
She must be watching CNN.
When occasionally I watch CNN, just to get an idea what propaganda they are spreading, I always think, that if I only watched CNN and got all my news only from them, I would also have to conclude that the US is really a bad country. CNN is really that bad. They should rename themselves Al Jazeera West.
You got THAT right.
Hi Gat, nice to see you on board.
I'd have thought that the US head of state would never go anywhere unless he was invited by someone who really wanted the visit. The story I heard is that Torrijos wanted to talk to Bush about trade and narco-trafficing. IMHO what that would translate to is that if the US gives Panama big trade concessions, then Panama will give the US big new base leases.
Doesn't that have a nice familiar ring to it?
wonder if bush can renig on carters deal.
"thx mmmmkay we'll be takin dat back now"
Have to save this one for February 14th.
Brazil has more people and a higher GDP than the rest of South America combined. Bush needs Lula on board. If we have to get rid of our farm subsidies in order to woo him, cool. This is going to get interesting.
You are right about what Chavez and Castro have been working on jointly for years. The communists assumed they had far more "support" than in fact they had. Chavez barely kept his seat against his OWN population railing against him. A by-the-people "recall" election, it was. Chavez scraped by. And not without a great deal of anti-Chavez sentiment spilling into the common street.
It would behoove Chavez to have a "meeting" on an adult level with President Bush. Even his out counsel should be advising Chavez this way. That is, if Chavez intends at all, whatsoever, on having any play at the governance power seat in Venezuela. Nearby countries would have no problem moving Venezuelan oil, IMHO.
Put another way, c'mon Chavez, even Castro would have the brains and sense to do this. If Chavez Doesn't, Castro gets another "dry season".
I remember this. China, and the Panama Canal. It was HUGE news in CA.
Then there's the Phillipines. US is there to assist but under Philippian law, the US can not enter the Phillipines to assist in fighting the "axis of evil". This has caused problems, as China has periodically sought to intervene which the Phillipines has rightfully seen as an "intent" to invade.
What exactly can you say about China's involvement/activity with the Panama Canal?
I do not understand your saying there is nothing to be concerned about.
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