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Advantage, Mr. Chávez
It's too easy for the Venezuelan caudillo to put the Obama administration on the defensive.
Monday, August 24, 2009
IN THE COURSE of the past month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been exposed as a supplier of advanced weapons to a terrorist group that seeks to overthrow Colombia's democratic government. In his own country, he has shut down 32 independent radio stations. His rubber-stamp National Assembly has passed laws to gerrymander districts in next year's parliamentary elections and eliminate the autonomy of universities. Mr. Chávez has pledged to purchase dozens of tanks from Russia, and he has scheduled a trip to Tehran next month to reinforce his support for beleaguered Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
So, naturally, Latin American leaders are planning a summit in Argentina this month to urgently confer about . . . an unremarkable U.S.-Colombian agreement for American forces to use a few Colombian military bases for counternarcotics and counterterrorism surveillance operations.
The bilateral deal has yet to be signed or officially unveiled, though negotiations on it were completed last week. Yet already it's perfectly clear that it would not bring about a significant increase in U.S. military operations in Latin America or pose a threat to anyone other than the drug traffickers and terrorists of the FARC movement -- the group that Mr. Chávez has been supporting in clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and the Organization of American States charter. U.S. planes and ships have been conducting surveillance missions in the region for years; U.S. personnel have been stationed in Colombia for nearly a decade. There would be no U.S. control over any of the bases in Colombia, and the operations would be limited to Colombian territory.
So why the hubbub among Latin leaders? In part, it stems from ingrained suspicion among leftists toward any American military initiative in the region. But mostly the controversy reflects another successful effort by Mr. Chávez to deflect attention from his own behavior while putting the Obama administration on the defensive. Ever since reports of the agreement began appearing in the Colombian media, the Venezuelan leader has been braying about the "winds of war" supposedly blowing through South America thanks to new "American bases," which he claims are intended for an invasion of his country.
It shouldn't be very hard to refute such nonsense, but the Obama administration's response was late and underpowered. Up until a meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Colombian foreign minister last week, there had been no concerted U.S. effort to explain the agreement. Nor has the administration tried to call attention to the genuine and serious hostile actions that Mr. Chávez has taken against his neighbors and the democratic opposition in his own country. Those should rightfully be the subject of urgent inter-American consultations. That they are not shows how far the administration is from mounting effective Latin American diplomacy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/23/AR2009...
By Simon on Aug 24, 2009, 10:45 in Politics & the war.
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davidyamiga says on Aug 24, 2009, 11:28: Azuno...do u think that if the US really wanted to, they would already have taken care of Chavez? The US does not need any bases in South America to take care of Chavez. Thing is, Chavez owes a LOT of money to his neighbors and he is covering up. Venezuela owes like 200 million to Colombia, Like 60 million to Ecuador. Several million to Brazil. He doesn't have the money to pay. Otra vez en casa...Cali! 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Aji1 says on Aug 24, 2009, 12:44: Obama is turning out to big on dreams, short on true leadership. I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! 0 funny, 1 helpful. |
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Simon says on Aug 24, 2009, 13:18: But if the Russians back up Chavez, it's not going to be as easy as you guys think. "Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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billyb says on Aug 24, 2009, 14:06: Russia wouldn't risk anything with the US to back up the chimp. For one thing, they only have a couple ships in shape to sail that far. "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man. 0 funny, 1 helpful. |
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seth.depenning says on Aug 24, 2009, 16:15: Indeed the United States should prioritize ending its dependence on foreign oil. It is a glaringly obvious strategic weakness that so much of our energy comes from foreign and frequently hostile nations. Importing large amounts of oil from the Middle East and Venezuela is simply absurd.
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utopiacowboy says on Aug 24, 2009, 20:41: I love the way Chavez used to fuck Bush in the ass and made him like it. Is there is a stupider people on the planet than Americans? They make their enemies rich and then whine about it. They make themselves debtors to their biggest enemy and whine about that too. They deserve to be slaves and maybe someday in the not too distant future, everyone will own one. Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult. 1 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Simon says on Aug 24, 2009, 20:45: "Russia wouldn't risk anything with the US to back up the chimp. For one thing, they only have a couple ships in shape to sail that far." "Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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poco says on Aug 24, 2009, 20:52: Quote: Is there is a stupider people on the planet than Americans? Colombian Chickens are crowing about the new President of the U.S. who will assure that From each according to their ability to each according to their need. 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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El Expatriado says on Aug 25, 2009, 02:30: US or anyone else really doesn't give a crap about these 3rd world Banana republics. Why should the care about Venezuela's oil when they have peaceful Alberta next door.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 25, 2009, 02:39: Venezuela owes like $200 million to Chevron, and they didn't eave and freeze thier bank accounts like Exxon did.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 25, 2009, 02:45: Machi, you obciously don't work in the oil industry or been to Africa. Things don't work that way, pretty-like. The Niger Delta now makes Medellin in the 1990s look like Disneyworld. Venezuela is a lot more stable than a lot of places.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 25, 2009, 02:47: If you were to Africa, you were wearing rose coloured glasses, and weren't in Nigeria, Algeria or Angola.
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gatogris says on Aug 25, 2009, 09:39: In 2007, on a net basis, the United States imported 58 percent of the oil it consumed. Of this, the single largest supplier was Canada, followed by Mexico. The US has purchased its oil from a variety of different sources as a way to discourage any efforts by foreign countries to destabilize markets for competitive advantage. The (short-term) major risk to the United States posed by reliance on oil is the economic costs of a major disruption in global oil supplies, but this risk is clearly offset by the cost any one country would face from losing the US as a consumer. There is no evidence that oil exporters have been able to use embargoes or threats of embargoes to achieve key political and foreign policy goals for 30 years. Oil revenues are irrelevant for terrorist groups' ability to launch attacks.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 26, 2009, 03:35: And, despite the Sierra club, green peace, and a bunch of other tree hugger groups protsting, they just approved th Alberta clipper pipeline- anothe 600,000 bopd to eventually replace Chavez's crude.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 26, 2009, 03:37: Chavez is a big talker on oil deals. All his dealngs with Russia has only resulted in exchange of paper bags and breif cases. Which is the real objective anyway.
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Simon says on Aug 26, 2009, 12:58: El Expatriado, "Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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El Expatriado says on Aug 27, 2009, 02:23: I am in PBH. Not a red neck, just stating the facts. Geo-political value of Latin America in the world scene is casi Ni-Papi.
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cali373 says on Aug 27, 2009, 08:54: The posts on this thread are ridiculous. The U.S. or Colombia is not going to attack Venezuela, just wait and see. And chavez will stay in power for a long time and the venezuelen economy would be the same with a right wing oligarc in power because that's the way it was when they had the oligarch in power. Smile if you are a thinker! 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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El Expatriado says on Aug 28, 2009, 04:10: Every year, Venezuelan Crude is being replaced bit by bit by Alberta Heavy Crude in the Texas Gulf and Mid-West. Venezuela isn't investing squat in thier oilfields. Thier conventional wells have a depletion rate of 10% per year. There are no tankers available to take Bitumen from Venezueal to China. The Chinese are getting tired of him and prefer Africa.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 28, 2009, 04:15: Don't kid yourself. Actually Chavez hasn't done any murdering or invading, because he doesn't have the power. If he had the powr of the US, the entire Western Hemispher would be forcibly living the Bolivarian Revolution.
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El Expatriado says on Aug 28, 2009, 04:16: You ae right though, nobody is going to attack nobody.
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