Danny Glover, bottom left.
And who could forget:
Posted on 03/02/2008 10:35:00 AM PST by MeanGreen2008
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is sending 10 battalions of troops to country's border with Colombia.
He's also ordered the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota closed and say all embassy personnel will be withdrawn from Colombia.
The announcements by Venezuela's leftist leader pushed relations with its neighbor to their tensest point of his 9-year presidency.
Chavez is also warning that Colombia could spark a war in South America, calling its U.S.-allied government "a terrorist state" and labeling President Alvaro Uribe (oo-REE'-bay) "a criminal."
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,” Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network’s “The 700 Club.”
“We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,” he continued. “It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166478,00.html
I’m not talking about an action by the U.S. which will result in the price hike. I’m talking about how the U.S. oil companies will use this incident as another excuse to raise the price of crude due to the “threat” being posed here (threat being anything they can use as a reason for padding their pockets).
And Venezuela’s economy is growing, not tanking. The economy is underpinned by the oil industry, and oil is becoming costlier and costlier.
This is almost like science in its predicatability. Socialist takes over, installs himself has President for life, nationalizes industries, food shortages arrive, then war. How many times do fools like Sean Penn need to see this happen to predict the outcome?
A waste of otherwise fine soldiers? C'mon... Chavez may be crazy, but he's not ~stupid~. :-)
It's interesting to ponder how his military would look upon this possible invading another country situation. Surely they know that we would come to Columbia's aid. Albeit on the quiet.
Danny Glover, bottom left.
And who could forget:
Does he have 10 tank battalions do you think? If so, I hope he bought them from Russia. *snicker*
Colombia is potentially the closest American ally in all of Latin America. While their neighbors have become more distant from the United States, Colombia is still a steadfast ally. At the least, Congress should approve the free trade deal with the country.
AN EMPTY REVOLUTION
THE UNFULFILLED PROMISES OF HUGO CHAVEZ
Foreign Affairs March/April 2008
By Francisco Rodriguez
Summary: Even critics of Hugo Chavez tend to concede that he has made helping the poor his top priority. But in fact, Chavez’s government has not done any more to fight poverty than past Venezuelan governments, and his much-heralded social programs have had little effect. A close look at the evidence reveals just how much Chavez’s “revolution” has hurt Venezuela’s economy — and that the poor are hurting most of all.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080301faessay87205/francisco-rodriguez/an-empty-revolution.html
Air Force 2 was in Aruba March 1-2 FWIW.
Source: Diaria newspaper, Aruba
Males fit for Military service for both countries
Columbia military - males age 18-49: 6,986,228
Venezuela military - males age 18-49: 4,907,947
Not sure who wins this one, but I think Chavez is blowing smoke as usual. If he invades, he’ll sure find out who his friends are/aren’t. I suspect Columbia will be very well equipped.
“I’m talking about how the U.S. oil companies will use this incident as another excuse to raise the price of crude....”
They most certainly will. They’re professionals when it comes to exaggerating the need to “compensate” for the “dangers” to the crude supply.
There could also be considerable danger for Chavez if he gets in a tangle with the Colombian military and loses a battle or two badly. His credibility and leadership would be severely damaged.
I’d spend no time trusting and ALL my time verifying anything this whack-job says. On the other hand, if he is trying to provoke something, and with Bush a lame duck, well, I get emails from friends in Venezuela all the time that says they are ready to help out.
My money would be on Columbia.. The only reason is that we would support that nation..
Sean Penn is very concerned for his buddy.
Please pray. There are students in Venezuela this week with Campus Crusade on a missions trip from Virginia Tech.
I rather doubt that Chavez has the ability to send a good chunk of his mobile troops to the border & keep them there, supplied. Still, initiating hostilities would increase the supply requirements several fold. So what could be up?
Consider that Chavez is very afraid of a coup. He puts the troops on the border to keep them outta Dodge.
Military spending as a % of GDP
Columbia 3.4%
Venezuela 1.2%
Hugo’s credibility and leadership needs to be severely damaged. That, and that ugly face of his.
So let’s see, we have a new president, hand-picked by Putin, in Russia. We’ve got Ahmadinejad making nice with Iraq. We’ve got a new leader in Cuba. Chavez making threats against a US ally. Al Quaeda. Hammas threatening Israel. What happens when all of them get together at one time? In an election year where two socialist/communist democrats are running and very popular?
Can anybody say stretched too thin?
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