Posted on 03/02/2006 6:29:17 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
VENEZUELA-Top Washington officials worry that Venezuela and Iran may be building more than economic bridges.They started with an agreement to build tractors, but Iran and Venezuela have quickly moved to oil, cement, homes, auto parts, shipbuilding and perhaps even nuclear energy.
The new friendship between the two deeply anti-American governments was further cemented last month as Iranian Parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel headed a delegation that visited Venezuela and drew expressions of support from populist President Hugo Chávez.
''It's a natural byproduct of their confrontation with the United States,'' said Armando Durán, a columnist and former Venezuelan foreign minister. ``Chávez looks for an alliance with those who confront the U.S.''
Iran is not the first or last openly anti-Western Middle Eastern government that has warm relations with Caracas. As an OPEC member, Chávez courted Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and last month endorsed the Palestinian government of Hamas, which Washington and Europe regard as a terrorist organization. But few countries are as embroiled in as serious an international controversy as Iran, accused of seeking nuclear weapons. Venezuela joined Cuba and Syria as the only countries to vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency last month against reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
ELECTION CREDIBILITY
Chávez's support for Tehran has proven to be a thorn in the side of those seeking to control Iran's nuclear program. And it strengthens his anti-American credentials at a time when he's gearing up for a reelection bid in December.
Speaking at a ceremony in which he unveiled the first 400 tractors produced by the Veniran Tractor plant in the southeastern state of Bolívar, Chávez chalked up his country's warm relations with Tehran as ``the product of multilateralism.''
Most commercial agreements are in their initial stages and include a cement factory, oil exploration in the Orinoco River belt, and housing for the poor. The two countries are also establishing a joint operation to build oil tankers and liquid natural gas tankers, and have created a $200 million fund for future social and economic projects.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
But it's clear that the relationship is meant to extend well beyond commercial ties. ''The visits that they've made; the declarations they've made. They talk of political commonalities and ideological conceptions that make them long-term allies,'' said María Teresa Romero, a professor of international relations at the Central University of Venezuela.
The Caracas-Tehran ties have been causing concern in Washington. Addressing the House International Relations Committee last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighted the Venezuela-Cuba-Iran relationship and described the two countries as Iran's ``sidekicks.''
Days earlier, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Venezuela is ``seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea.''
Not everyone sees the Caracas-Tehran ties as going beyond mutual political support and a bit of commerce. ''So far, it's a stage of exploration and posturing, and certainly could turn into something more serious. But it's very hard to predict right now,'' said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think-tank.
Chávez, who has expressed interest in obtaining a nuclear reactor from Argentina, is fostering what he calls a 21st Century socialist revolution. In concert with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, he is also trying to build a Latin American bloc that opposes U.S. trade policies in the region.
U.S. officials accuse Chávez of ruling with an increasingly authoritarian hand at home while financing hand-picked candidates in foreign elections; they describe current State Department policy as designed to contain his hemispheric ambitions.
Shifter cautioned that Chávez's relations with the likes of Iran will make it hard for any future State Department officials to argue for a more friendly approach to Chávez.
''This is going to make it much more difficult for those in State who have been advocating a more pragmatic relationship with Venezuela,'' he said.
Venezuela is ``seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea.''
''This is going to make it much more difficult for those in State who have been advocating a more pragmatic relationship with Venezuela,''
Those in State who want a cozier relationship with Venezuela should be carefully watched.
There are some American port terminals that Chavez may want to bid on.
Now what was that Monroe Doctrine all about anyway?
There is enough evil communist activity within our own hemisphere to keep us occupied for a century!
Teddy Roosevelt would have smacked Chavez around months ago...perhaps this is all Bush needs to revisit Gun Boat diplomacy in Central and South America.
There are only so many fronts to which we can assign troops. We are incapable of even patroling our own porous borders.
What IS that picture above the Joker card?
Same guy, but he's spelunking in the top one.
That ended with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
Russia is still behind all this. They have been using surrogates to fight the US since Korea in the early 1950s and have continued until today. Iran and Venezuela are just two more of them.
And this alliance is funded by Russia and China.
Venezuela PING!!!
this socialist goon needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later
Millions of socialists cross the border every month. Since we live in a representative democracy the demographic math is already a millstone around our neck. Chavez may be a baffoon but he knows latin americans are slowly taking over the US.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.