Posted on 12/30/2010 7:37:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Well, well, well. Do we detect a hint of sulfur in Barack Obama’s reaction to Hugo Chavez today? President Obama has kicked the Venezuelan ambassador out of the US in retaliation for the rejection of Obama’s choice of ambassador to Venezuela:
Washington has revoked the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador to the US, the US state department has said.
The move comes amid a diplomatic dispute between the two countries over President Barack Obama’s choice of ambassador to Caracas, Larry Palmer. …
The US move in effect expels Venezuelan envoy Bernardo Alvarez Herrera.
Alvarez Herrera isn’t in the US at the moment, which means Obama effectively locked him out of the country. Venezuelan officials in Caracas confirmed the revocation on Twitter this morning. That leaves both countries without an official representative in the respective capitals.
Obama essentially called Chavez’ bluff with strictly reciprocal action. Chavez dared him to cut diplomatic ties altogether, but Obama didn’t go that far. Officially, diplomatic ties remain in place and both embassies remain in operation. If Chavez wants to cut diplomatic ties, he’ll have to do it himself.
Undoubtedly, Chavez will escalate his war of words against Obama and the US, but he’d better be careful. The US is the major consumer of Venezuelan oil, the only real source of income Chavez has. We can find our own oil — if Obama lets us — but Chavez may find it more difficult to unload his highly sulfuric crude elsewhere. The US has the best ability to refine it, and his new allies in Iran and Russia are net oil exporters, not importers. If Chavez manages to entirely kill the oil industry, which is the long-term direction he’s taking anyway, the shortages and poverty it will cause will eventually find him fleeing Venezuela for asylum in Tehran or Moscow, or perhaps on the wrong end of a military coup.
“Maybe the November elections might have somthing to do with this.”
You know they did!
Obama is doing some political posturing as a follow-up to his “bipartisan” tax compromise.
There is no political figure in the Western Hemisphere that is loved and admired more by Obama and his WH czars than Hugo Chavez.
Interest in re-election?
Regular dog and pony show; don’t fall for it.
Interest in re-election?
Regular dog and pony show; don’t fall for it.
No, but I did say “dog and pony show.”
I think that’s about the same, isn’t it?
Did you notice him doing that for any leader who 1)is a major oil producer or 2)we owe big money to?
I can’t think of any.
Not sure what’s funnier - the pissing match or the fact that Chavez uses Twitter.
But...but... I thought obama said Hugo was a GREAT guy! After all, didn’t Chavez give him his book that obama just cherished??
I’m so confused!!! ;-)
You mean like Russia's recent commitment to help Venezuela develop nuclear power?
And by the way which enemy of America is supplying Venezuela with missiles capable of reaching our southern-most states? I think that was IRAN, who also has an un-holy alliance with Russia, along with Venezuela.
So now that we have this new triangle of terror that some shlub like me was able to identify from his computer terminal using nothing more than a few google searches to connect those dots, when will the State Department get smart and order the Russian's to abandon their embassy here in the U.S. too?
I think a poster above got it exactly right when he made the statement referring to one socialist ax'ing another to get ahead (or something like that....)
DING! Winner!!!
It's called eliminating one's competition. Obama did it for his own nefarious purposes. Just keep watching, he'll out himself soon enough.
Call me when Zero stops the Iranian missiles from reaching Venezuela.
Unitl then, this is just kabuki theater performed by fellow travelers.
RE: I would like to see the internal documents from State on this.
Where is Julian Assange when you need him ? :)
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