Dangerous anti-Americanism next door

Miami Herald ^ | October 4, 2001 | DAVID PAULIN

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What is Hugo Chavez up to?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Open your eyes - Cuba belongs on list-- The fact that Castro has harbored, and still harbors, individuals who have committed acts of terrorism in this country is irrelevant. Rep. Maxine Waters and others may romanticize them as " '60s radicals," but they committed despicable acts just the same.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Chavez Says Ties Make Venezuela, Cuba 'One Team'-- CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela and Cuba, united in ``one team'' by their growing cooperation ties, should spearhead an international campaign against free-market capitalism, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Islamic World Warns of Backlash, U.S. Forces Deploy-- Washington is trying to build a global coalition that would not only back retaliation for the worst single attack on U.S. soil but root out extremist networks, led by bin Laden's shadowy al Qaeda organization, by cutting off their financial lifelines.

Although several countries -- Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Libya among them -- were said to be harboring thousands of members of these shadowy networks, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington was broadening its investigations into their financial sources.

Facing an enemy operating in 60 countries, including in Europe and the United States, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said troops would not be engaged in a conventional war.

[Robert Drobot]

"Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said troops would not be engaged in a conventional war."

This doesn't mean more pizza deliveries does it?

[G.Mason]

It would seem there comes a time when the "house" is too old and rodent plagued to save.

In such cases it is common practice to "plow" it under and rebuild.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

His anti-American tirades became increasingly apparent as he consolidated his power, rewrote the constitution and even renamed the country Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, after South American independence hero Simón Bolívar.

I think pizza deliveries are out.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In such cases it is common practice to "plow" it under and rebuild.

Chavez is plowing over the last vestige of freedom in Venezuela.

[G.Mason]

OK......let me be more expicit......

Perhaps he should be removed?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

He definately isn't good for Venezuela or freedom.

[fishfoot]

Boycott Citgo (a Venezuelan oil company subsidiary)!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Better yet, drill and drill and drill in Alaska, Montana and the Gulf and dig in Utah, etc. etc. etc.

[Verax]

Not another case of us sucking up to the oil peddlers. How much more of this before we take the lead in replacing oil with hydrogen in our country?

[Dallas]

The jungles of Venezuela would present the same problems we faced in Vietnam..

Not a good thing....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Neither is a young version of Fidel Castro, seething with hatred for the United States.

[Alan Ford]

Even as oil prices have soared, filling Venezuela's coffers with billions of petrodollars, the country's economic fortunes have suffered. About 80 percent of 23 million Venezuelans remain impoverished, but Chávez has been spending inordinate time traveling abroad, undertaking trips to China, the Middle East, and Cuba. He plans to visit Argelia and several European countries on Oct. 8-24.

Little bit misleading, Chavez has been in power for 2 years while this endemic poverty in Venezuela has been rampant scince the late 80's thanks to the now (discredited) "democratic" 2 ruling parties who when they swapped power thought they inherited a licence to steal.

That the Venezualan poor (voters) got fed up with the status quo and voted in a charachter like Chavez should surprise nobody

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That the Venezualan poor (voters) got fed up with the status quo and voted in a charachter like Chavez should surprise nobody

What he's done since taking office has suprise everyone.

[BurkeanCyclist]

We need to do an Allende.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In Venezuela, its a dictatorship in the making--One satirical writer took a more sophisticated approach: He suggested that although Chavez irritates his opponents when he speaks, he creates even more anxiety when he keeps quiet. Silence from the presidential palace, he says, is like silence from the playpen: It makes every parent panic.

Venezuelan human rights activists are worried that while Chavez is not a dictator, he is slowly dismantling all the institutions that provide checks and balances of his ever-growing power and this, they say, is where the danger is. The United States has mostly ignored Chavez's behavior -- in spite of Venezuela being the third-largest oil provider to the United States -- because it rightly identified the pattern as nose-thumbing at the gringos. But it may become increasingly difficult for Washington to ignore him.

With this "thou shalt not criticize me" attitude, Chavez appears to be crossing the line between an erratic behavior and an authoritarian one.

[FreedomPoster]

Not another case of us sucking up to the oil peddlers. How much more of this before we take the lead in replacing oil with hydrogen in our country?

"Hydrogen" in this context is an energy transport technology, oil is both an energy source and transport technology. You cannot replace oil with hydrogen alone. You must have an energy source. Ignore the First Law of Thermodynamics at your peril.