Dumb...and Dumber!
Posted on 10/15/2002 4:36:06 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
As the result of a coup d'état that we all seem to have missed, the United States is now a military dictatorship, ruled by the iron fist of Commandante George W. Bush. This is, of course, if we are to believe the hysterical ranting of Maureen Dowd, Robert Scheer, Jim McDermott, Ted Kennedy, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, and oh-so-many-others from the left's comedic motley crew. On the other hand, there are clear signs that we are losing much of what has made our constitutional republic the standard bearer for representative governments. The once independent judiciary has become a wholly owned subsidiary of liberal forces in the legislature, who are in turn comfortably in the hip pocket of leftist special interests that cloak themselves with the banner of "civil rights". Virtually the entire makeup of the federal court system is now structured to defend, at all costs, a "right to choose", which has never existed, was never enumerated, and was never intended.
But such is the nature of the democratic system. It is unavoidably imbued with the potential for self-destruction, not just gradually, but in a single sweeping motion. All that is necessary is a misguided electorate. And tragically Brazil is just weeks away from extinguishing its embryonic democracy and in doing so may radically alter the world's political dynamics and endanger the United States from within our own hemisphere.
With the air heavy with talk of terrorism, state sponsorship of terrorist organizations and the increasing availability of weapons of mass destruction, it seems odd that so little attention is being paid to the looming ascension of Luiz Inacio da Silva to the presidency of Brazil. His capture of 47 percent of the vote in the recent election, just short of the majority required by the constitution, has triggered a runoff scheduled for Oct. 27. But with his opponent, Jose Serra, only having received 23 percent in the first round, da Silva's 4th attempt at national power will likely be successful.
An honest evaluation of the consequences should cause those interested in the security of the United States to be concerned. The economic ramifications alone might be dire. With the anemic condition of the world's economy and the U.S. teetering on the edge of recession, a default by Brazil on its $260 billion in public debt could be catastrophic. Da Silva's populist platform, promising massive increases in government programs, makes default possible. His deep-seated anti-capitalist beliefs and overt hostility towards the United States make it probable. His Marxist inspired Workers' Party has long held that payment on foreign debt should be halted. Moreover da Silva has likened international lending institutions to terrorists and characterized the promotion of free trade by the U.S. as "annexation".
Anticipation of a da Silva victory has fueled a 40 percent drop in the value of Brazil's currency and a 35 percent drop in the Brazilian stock market, since the beginning of 2002, imperiling the billions invested in that economy by US companies. But the economic potentialities are inconsequential when considering the drastic changes that a da Silva presidency would bring to our strategic reality.
As a template for a national government, Mr. da Silva points to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, which is controlled by his Workers' party. Corrupt party bosses dominate the state's government, and its schools are used to indoctrinate children into the party's anti-American, Marxist philosophy. As a leadership model he looks to his friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Since coming to power, the former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez of the leftist Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement, has manipulated Venezuela's democratic institutions in order to facilitate his dictatorial rule. He has also supported communist revolutionaries and terrorist organizations throughout South America and embraced Iran, Iraq, China, Libya and other nations hostile to the United States. Under Chavez' rule, Venezuela has consolidated strategic and economic ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba, which is among seven nations listed by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. It is also believed that Cuban intelligence was responsible for returning Chavez to power after he was briefly deposed in a coup set in motion when 19 Venezuelans were killed at an opposition protest march.
There is likely a considerable Cuban intelligence effort ongoing to see to it that Luiz Inacio da Silva does indeed become the next president of Brazil. Da Silva's links to the Cuban dictator are well established. Along with Castro, he helped to create the Forum of Sao Paulo, which gathers representatives from communist, terrorist, and other revolutionary organizations annually to develop strategies against the United States and methods of securing power in their respective countries. Meetings draw emissaries from all points on the globe of varying philosophies, joined by their common hostility towards the U.S., and have included delegates from Saddam Hussein's Baathist Party.
Aligning Brazil, a nation of 180 million people with the world's eight-largest economy, would be a significant achievement. In addition to its economic influence and industrial capacity, the country's strategic location, bordering most South American countries, would increase immeasurably the ability to export revolution to the continent's weak democratic governments. Of greater concern to the U.S. should be Brazil's advanced weapons capability. Brazil has vast deposits of uranium and the foundations of their nuclear research date back to the 1930's. The military has developed several workable designs and may have constructed functioning weapons that were never tested. The nuclear weapons program officially ended in 1990, but the military was revealed as having covertly continued development.
That same year the Brazilian ballistic missile program allegedly ended. But their successful space program has continued to advance, often with Chinese assistance. Their Sonda IV and VLS launch vehicle, which has ICBM potential, can easily be converted to carry nuclear payloads. A victory by Luiz da Silva would end any doubt as he openly proclaimed his intention to build a Brazilian nuclear arsenal.
The growth of the Cuban-Venezuelan-Brazilian Axis could create massive problems for the U.S. That axis armed with nuclear weapons would radically alter the global power structure. A Castro-led, Marxist-inspired Latin America with a credible nuclear deterrence, allied with Communist China, Middle Eastern terror organizations and their sponsors, along with South American narco-terrorists would constitute a greater danger to the United States than the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War. The recklessness of the players, the wildly divergent objectives and the historic instability of the region would be a volatile mix.
However clear the threat, such potentialities create considerable policy challenges for U.S. leadership. The past year has demonstrated the difficulty in acting against even the most visible of world tyrants. Indeed, the "world community" and many of our domestic political figures have accepted nuclear proliferation as perhaps a needed counterbalance to American "imperialism". Although a small group of congressmen recently dispatched a letter to the Bush administration expressing their "grave concern" over a da Silva presidency, the Democrat Party remains largely under the control of those who espoused conciliation and unilateral disarmament as solutions to the standoff with the Soviets. Many considered Daniel Ortega a friend, publicly swoon over Fidel Castro and lobby on his behalf. It was the likes of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich who were their enemies.
A future need to tighten our borders to guard against an increased risk of infiltration will collide with the interests of politicos who benefit from legal and illegal immigration and those who pursue the increasingly powerful Latino vote (legal and illegal). U.S. action to derail the emerging threat from the south is improbable. Not only does the western media, which drives public opinion, not recognize the dangers, its operatives are reluctant to describe Luiz da Silva in terms harsher than "leftist" or "anti-capitalist". Not only is Castro not seen as the brutal dictator that he is, with a 40-year axe to grind, he is advertised as the friend of Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela, and a quaint relic of the Cuban Missile Crisis that media talking-heads clamor to interview.
Above all, the U.S. will be stymied by the reality that this peril is being ushered in by South American democracies. We are thereby trapped by our own populist philosophy. In what way might we intentionally undermine what may in fact be the will of South American voters? Dealing with it in the manner necessary to ensure our national security would require the reintroduction of antiquated power politics, which incorporates ideas of right and wrong from our own narrow perspective. It will require the ability to recognize that democracy can be corrupted by self-destructive political whims. It might also be helpful to remember that the democratic Weimar Republic once spawned Nazi Germany. And it will require these things very quickly.
He's right. We have to keep our eye on the ball here. Democracy is not freedom, freedom is freedom. Democracy that leads to freedom is to be supported, Democracy that leads to tyranny is to be opposed without any qualms. Because it is not the democracy we oppose, it is the tyranny.
And any government or nation that is hostile to us must be opposed, whether it is democratic or not.
And lastly, populism always leads to oligarchy. That is the lesson of Venezuela, and that is the lesson of most latin countries, for that matter.
I am not recommending we pick a fight with Brazil or anyone else. But we must be clear eyed about who we are dealing with, and must not flinch from doing whatever the situation requires in order to break up any hostile coalition that develops, especially if we begin to see Islamist or Chinese connections gathering to push us back.
May I respectfully say: pooh. Those gomers are going from incompetant to lunacy. They will destroy themselves. And those hordes of hungry goofballs cant really do a mass movement to north america - the Panama Canal is a tough swim. Seriously, socialists are alot like the hatians who have cut down the last remaining tree on the island to make charcoal. I'd say they are toast...but thats a bad mix of metaphors.
Can you say Democrat Party? The Democrats are the biggest threat to our freedom. If we can liberate ourselves from the internal leftists the external threats can be handled. They will eventually self destruct.
How important is the upcoming election and control of Congress? Can we say survival??
Brazil would soon be the 18th largest economy.
Interesting to see how Argentina would react.
Mr. Castro is Mr. Chávez's guide in the art of gently and gradually introducing authoritarian government to Venezuela. Mr. Chávez abolished the Senate and established a unicameral Parliament whose members support him. He has a new constitution, approved by a simple majority of voters in a referendum, that grants him considerable power.
To complicate matters and his relations with the United States, Mr. Chávez has been openly supporting leftist guerrilla movements in neighboring Colombia. The rebels control big swaths of Colombian territory, along with numerous coca plantations. Washington has already committed $1.3 billion, mainly in military aid, to the eradication of both guerrillas and coca plantations. This could foreshadow a big U.S. commitment in Colombia and an eventual conflict with Mr. Chávez that may interfere with the flow of oil north from Venezuela.***
Letter: Castro Made Soviets Worried***Weeks after the Soviet Union agreed to pull offensive missiles from Cuba in 1962, Nikita Khrushchev was worried that an "irrational" Fidel Castro would renew tensions with the United States, possibly even provoking a war, newly released documents show. Cuba "wants practically to drag us behind it with a leash, and wants to pull us into a war with America by its actions," Khrushchev said in a Nov. 16 letter to diplomatic aides in Cuba.***
Outide View: Castro on the Skids***In international capital markets, reputation is everything. So it was little surprise when Reuters reported on July 8 that, "Direct foreign investment in Cuba plummeted to $38.9 million in 2001 from $488 million the year before." And earlier in the year, despite Castro's tantrum, Russia closed its spy facility near Havana, which will cost the Cuban government $200 million per year in foregone rent payments. Castro's current creditors are far from happy with these circumstances, as many have not received payment on interest of principal credit since 1986. Without even counting Castro's debt to Russia, which he will not pay because he declares his debt is to a country that "no longer exists," Havana owes billions of dollars to western banks and former socialist countries.***
Cuba shuts sugar mills - workers hold 9th grade education - degree not any better *** Since many sugar workers have only a ninth-grade education, officials said the government is building new schools to allow them to receive a salary while studying for their high-school diplomas. Classes will include computer training, as well as vocational skills for the emerging industries, they said. Whether there will be jobs for everyone, and whether the restructuring of the sugar industry will suffice to ease Cuba's economic problems are both uncertain, said Antonio Jorge, a professor of economics at Florida International University.
Cuba imports about twice as much as it exports, and has high debt, including loans from Russia that have yet to be renegotiated, while European companies have suspended commercial credit for nonpayment, Jorge said. "Cuba's economy is at a very crucial moment," the professor said. "It doesn't possess the capability to keep on importing and that means major crisis." ***
THE CONGRESS AND SENATE'S SUPPORT OF CASTRO'S TERROR NETWORK*** World renown and highly respected American investigative journalist and author, Claire Sterling, who is considered one of the foremost experts on international terrorism, wrote in 1981 a definitive report on this theme in her book "The Terror Network, The Secret War on International terrorism." According to her: "All of the world's emerging terrorist bands in the 1970's were indebted to the Cubans and their Russian patrons for that honeycomb of camps around Havana. None could have started without rudimentary training, and those who didn't train in Cuba were trained by others who did." Twenty years later, the central and main head of the terrorism network is still the same diabolical tyrant, Fidel Castro. What Sterling wrote then, still applies and helps to understand the central role of Castro in today's terrorist explosion and his relationship with the "axis of evil." ***
Russian Expert: 'Strong Suspicions' of Cuban Bio Threat***Currently, thousands of Cuban scientists laboring at 38 institutes continue to refine products for treatment of cancers of the lung, head, neck, breast and ovaries, as well as chemo-therapeutics derived from snake venom, an epidermal growth factor, and a recombinant vaccine against ticks. Castro's ultimate propaganda message is that his country is selflessly working to provide affordable life-saving meds to an overlooked Third World still dying in droves from AIDS and even cholera. If all this is but a covering ruse to proliferate forbidden technologies to dangerous foes, it is that much more dangerous and sinister. Experts like Alibek, who have been to the dark side, are very skeptical of Cuba's intentions - despite all the window dressing.***
Defector sees Cuba in crisis***He said Raul Castro, 71, is less inclined toward one-man rule and would be more flexible in allowing reforms, but that he drinks too much and is not very healthy. Mr. Hidalgo said that Fidel Castro, who turned 76 last week, took better care of himself. Using intelligence culled from a Russian spy facility at Lourdes in Cuba, Mr. Hidalgo worked as part of a high-level Cuban delegation to Iraq in early 1991 that tried to convince Saddam Hussein that he could not win a war against the United States. "We told him he'd be defeated, and that would be a defeat for every revolutionary force in the world," said Mr. Hidalgo, who has met Saddam on several occasions. "He didn't listen. He was very rude. Saddam is a disgusting person."
Rumsfeld Bluntly Warns Russia Ties To Iraq Will Hurt It*** "What that tells people in business is that is not an environment that is hospitable for investment, that it is not a place that they want to invest....To the extent that the country is saying to world that they want to be known as close personal friends to Saddam Hussein, and Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il and those folks, it sends a signal that is harmful to them," Rumsfeld said. In another part of his remarks, Rumsfeld also included Libya in the list of states he was warning Russia not to do business with.***
Venezuela-Libya Ties Coming to the Surface ***However, Venezuelan sources with longtime ties to Rich said negotiations with Crown Resources ended last year when a due diligence investigation turned up "troubling indications" of links with suspected Russian mobsters. Rich, who fled to Switzerland to avoid tax-evasion charges and was pardoned by former President Bill Clinton in January 2001, may have feared running afoul of legal authorities in the United States and Europe if he closed a deal with the firm. If the allegations involving Crown Resources are accurate, it would indicate that high-level officials in the Chavez regime are involved not only in questionable loan and investment negotiations with the governments of Libya and Cuba, but also with a company alleged to have ties to some members of Russia's criminal underworld.***
Havana: Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused the Czech Republic of spying on his country in a blistering verbal attack. The Czech embassy in Havana was "a cave of spies" which had "spent 10 years spying," he said on Friday, during the final session of an international economists' meeting in Havana. His comments came as Cuba continued to hold two Czech officials, arrested in the central Cuban province of Ciego de Avila on January 12, 2001 after meeting pro-democracy dissidents.
Castro demanded that the Czech Republic offer an apology for the activities of former Czech Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik who were charged with acting against Cuba's security and inciting a rebellion. Cuban authorities have claimed the two detainees acted on behalf of American interests, gathering information and providing instructions to anti-communist dissidents. They could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Czech President Vaclav Havel has refused to apologise but Castro suggested such action would help solve the dispute between the two countries.
"Offer an apology to our country -- there must be an excuse," Castro said. "We are telling the truth and we have the proof."
U.S. officials have branded the accusations "ludicrous" and Havel and Prime Minister Milos Zeman said the country had no reason to apologise. "There have not been any credible charges nor any substantial evidence brought against our two citizens, so I see no reason why we should apologise in this matter," Zeman said earlier.
Czech Senate President Petr Pithart is currently in Cuba hoping to meet Castro to discuss the case. Pilip's wife, Lucie, who visited her husband in prison last week, said the two are in good spirits and good physical condition and are awaiting trial, expected within 60 days - "Castro accuses Czechs of spying," CNN, The Associated Press contributed to this report, Feb 3, 2001
Bump!
HAVANA (CNN) -- Two prominent Czech citizens who had been held on state security charges since January 12 were freed Monday after they admitted they broke Cuban law by meeting with dissidents.
Former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, 37, and former student leader Jan Bubenik, 32, went to Havana's airport, where they were to board a flight scheduled to depart late Monday for Madrid.
The two men were freed after they were taken to the Foreign Ministry, where they signed a statement saying they had unwittingly violated Cuban laws when they met with dissidents here in January, sources involved in the agreement told CNN.
In addition to apologizing to the Cuban people, they acknowledged having received money from Freedom House, a non-government organization in the United States that receives money from the U.S. government to help support the dissident movement in Cuba.
Serving as intermediaries for the Czech government, Anders Johnson, secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Juan Pablo Letelier, president of the group's human rights commission, brokered the deal after meeting with Cuban officials.
Letelier is the son of Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean ambassador to the United States who was killed in Washington in 1976 by a car bomb blamed on anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
Cuba had threatened to put Pilip and Bubenik on trial for subversion, prompting an international uproar.
Pilip, one of two Czech nationals arrested on January 12, will be put on trial as a pro-United States agent
In this story:
By Lucia Newman, CNN Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN)-- Czechs and Cubans once considered themselves brothers living on the same side of the ideological fence.
This week's announcement by the Cuban government that two Czech citizens arrested January 12 will be put on trial as pro-United States agents is proof of just how much has changed since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
In an icy-toned announcement, Cuba's Communist Party daily, "Granma", denounced former Czech finance Minister and current member of parliament Ivan Pilip, and former student leader and Czech pro-democracy foundation member Jan Bubenik, as "agents working for the Cuban-American Mafia in the United States."
The Czechs arrived in Cuba on January 8 on tourist visas and were arrested after meeting with Cuban government opponents in Ciego de Avila, about 185 miles southeast of Havana.
Accused of conspiring
The Cuban government says they were "conspiring against the revolution" and "have no right to impunity, whatever their position and rank."
Although the Cuban government has in the past denounced alleged "counter-revolutionary" activities by several visitors from former Socialist-bloc countries, this is the first time that any have been arrested to face trial.
Just what they will be charged with is still unclear. In Cuba those found guilty of crimes against the state regularly receive sentences ranging from five to 20 years in prison.
Despite protests from the Czech Republic's foreign ministry demanding the release of Pilip and Bubenik, Havana appears unmoved.
Cuba has not forgotten or forgiven
Cuban authorities have not forgotten nor forgiven the Czech Republic for co-sponsoring a joint resolution last year before the United Nations' Human Rights Commission, condemning Cuba for rights abuses.
In response, the Cuban government organized a massive protest march on April 18 in front of the Czech Embassy in Havana, where thousands of demonstrators shouted "down with the Czech lackeys of U.S. imperialism."
Cubans protested in front of the Czech Embassy in Havana on April 18, 2000, following the Czech sponsorship of a U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution critical of the Cuban record on human rights
This sort of reaction is normally reserved for protests against the United States. Recently, however, the attacks have broadened to include citizens of former Socialist countries such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, who are accused of co-operating with Washington in its efforts to undermine Cuba's Communist system.
Cuban authorities claim these "agents of U.S. interests" regularly shuttle money and subversive literature from the United States to Cuban dissidents. Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Human Rights and Reconciliation Commission, denies receiving any kind of assistance from the Czechs, adding the two men under arrest committed no crime.
The Cuban government's decision to arrest and try, rather than simply expel, the two Czechs indicates, that for Havana it is payback time, according to observers.
"The Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic, with its haughtiness, arrogance and stridence, has protested the arrests of these men employed by the Empire," said Granma.
"But their hysterical cries have no value, just as the Czech government gave no importance to its shameful role as an instrument of the United States in the infamous accusations against Cuba in the Human Rights Commission in Geneva."
A date for a hearing for the two Czech citizens has not been set
Castro runs a tight terror ship.
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