Posted on 07/02/2006 2:18:49 PM PDT by wagglebee
BANJUL (Reuters) - Two of the world's most anti-American leaders, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended this weekend's Africa summit in Gambia to the consternation of Western diplomats.
Both lived up to their billing with Chavez railing against U.S. "hegemony" and Ahmadinejad blaming Western greed for "poverty, backwardness, regional conflicts, corruption, illicit drugs."
The role of West-baiting once fell at AU summits to Libya's colourful leader Muammar Gaddafi but he has now been welcomed into the Western fold and Libya is soon to be taken off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
So why were outsiders Chavez and Ahmadinejad invited?
The striking presence of such anti-Western figures, particularly the Iranian leader, raised eyebrows among the large number of foreign envoys observing the summit, diplomats said.
One non-aligned ambassador who asked not to be identified said the invitation to Chavez was more understandable than that to Ahmadinejad since Venezuela has AU observer status.
He said the Ahmadinejad invitation was apparently extended unilaterally by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, and provoked criticism from some countries in the 53-member AU.
But Western diplomats suggested the two invitations may also have been intended to underline Africa's breakaway from the influence of former colonial powers in Europe.
"At one time the links with Europe were still strong. But in the 21st century Africa wants to show that these links have finally been broken," one European ambassador said.
AFRICA NOT ANTI-WESTERN
Professor Shadrack Gutto, director of African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa, said the presence of Chavez and Ahmadinejad should not be seen as anti-Western.
"The AU is not suddenly turning against the West. These visits were not ideologically decided and there isn't necessarily an anti-Western aspect to it," he said.
But he added that it was easier for Africa to assert its independence from the West when meeting in the AU than as individual countries, many dependent on Western funding.
"It does indicate that collectively, as the 53 members of the AU, when they come together the West will not choose for them who they invite or who their friends are," he said.
"They are saying Africa can have a position that differs with that of the West."
Gutto suggested that whereas there were strong and logical reasons to invite Venezuela, Ahmadinejad had probably pushed for an invitation to lobby for African support in Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.
He said African countries were eager to hear about Chavez's policies toward Western oil companies.
"Chavez has taken quite a radical line with regard to claiming national sovereignty over natural resources and that resonates with a lot of African countries emerging as substantial producers," Gutto said.
He said African producers were anxious to ensure they maximised the benefits of their resources and were not being short-changed in contracts with Western oil companies.
In his speech to the summit on Saturday, Chavez urged Africa to seize greater control of its energy resources, describing the low royalties paid by some oil giants as robbery. Chavez has hiked taxes on U.S. oil companies, which he dubbed "Count Dracula."
Hey! What's this? It's ANOTHER invitation to the summit! Who's it addressed to... let's see... to Mr. Cruise Missile! Betcha can't wait to see the coolest guys in the world, Mr. Communi-zuela and Mr. Mahdi-in-the-well worshipper.
oh no!, all the might of africa arrayed against us!...but we've got the maxim gun
Someone should inform Cindy that her exclusion is entirely due because she's a white American.
See how she takes rejection by her buddies then.
She's a white American, woman, and these third world chauvanists all know for a fact that Americans and women are all too stupid to have opinions worth listening too, unless the woman is only repeating what the men tell her to say. So Cindy might as well stay home and wait for them to send her a memo with their consensus on the talking points.
Yeah...
Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or George Soros in attendance?
Backwardness? Thats rich.
And we were stupid and clueless for not blowing up the whole meeting, it seems tome.
What is rich is the adolescent attitudes expressed. Sounds like a belligerent 13 yr old. "I'll show you. You can't tell me what's good for me. I'll go in the porno shop and smoke pot."
Great news. Now Venezuela and Iran can send all the aid money needed to Africa. We're finally off the hook for the African dole.
Hopefully we haven't yet sent them the $60 million Bush promised in AIDs relief and we can tell Africa's leaders to just try to get it from their new buds.
As someone once said, they have one hand raised in a fist of defiance while the other one is outstretched for a handout.
Africa would benefit by another 500 years or so of colonialism. But who wants the job?
I bet that representatives of the Russian and Chinese governments will be there to give weapons away.
Sometimes I think that the worst thing ever to happen to most of the "developing" world was the end of colonialism.
Or Keller, Rather, Bader-Ginsberg, Maher, Maines, Chomsky, Kerry, Seeger, ...
"Sometimes I think that the worst thing ever to happen to most of the "developing" world was the end of colonialism."
For many of these countries, if not most, their "Golden Age" was the colonial years when they were ruled from some your-a-peon capital. Take Haiti, for instance, their decline can be traced directly from the expulsion of the french to present day. It's been a one way escalator down.
Bingo! Let Venezuela and Iran fund Africa. We've spent more than enough and have almost nothing to show for it.
How much do you think Iran will cough up for African 'AIDS education"?
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