[MMike]

Go to hell!

In Venezuela -- one of the world's leading petroleum exporters -- gasoline costs as little as 12 cents a gallon thanks to government subsidies.

 

[goofy]

He's really trying to push bush's buttons good for him but imho the wrong way to do it, all it's going to do is isolate him even more from the rest of the world.

 

[Westy]

Gringos? What a racist.

 

[rockwool]

He's really trying to push bush's buttons good for him but imho the wrong way to do it, all it's going to do is isolate him even more from the rest of the world.

I don't know about that. It is the US wishes for sure, but he had a leading roll in effing FTAA over and started ALCA in stead, which is growing. The only LA countries that the US got their way was Peru and ofcourse Colombia ( ?) who both signed their own bilateral agreements.
The EU has no beef with him as far as I know.

About his remark, the US would never tolerate that any country put its nose in their biz the way they have done in Venezuelas; telling the world to isolate him because he purchases weapons and that way starts an arms race with his neighbours; telling the Venezuelan parliamentaries what to deside; and what not.

That means putting that countries democracy aside for the wishes of the Empire.


EDIT: They're also a member of Mercosur:

President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez said yesterday at the 31st Mercosur Summit in Río de Janeiro, Brazil, that its objective should be to profoundly change the organisation into one which truly develops the region and its people.

“We come, in the first place, to propose, to continue debating, approving agreements, spaces, timetables and projects to strengthen real integration, the integration of South America, to contribute to something that we consider absolutely necessary, the reformatting of Mercosur,” said Chávez.

He also said that Venezuela’s main proposal would be for a Mercosur Fund and a Southern Fund. The capital from these funds would be for the development of the region. He said that the real objective of these reforms would be to “decontaminate neo-liberalism from Mercosur.”

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2197

 

[JohnE]

"It's not up to me to judge any government,"
Why not? GW does, and he says you are bad. If you dont agree with Dubya, you are wrong. Wait, you have oil? A sh*tload? Hmmm...

 

[LordOpie]

Gringos? What a racist.

Is Gringos offensive?

 

[jimmydean]

Is Gringos offensive?

I thought that was Mexican for "cracker"?

 

[rockwool]

I thought that was Mexican for "cracker"?

Yup, your white asses are too high strung and go off all to easily. I don't know the etymology of gringo though..

 

[LordOpie]

Is cracker really all that offensive?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I like Saltines.

 

[rockwool]

Bush Orders More CIA Activity in Venezuela

Friday, Jan 19, 2007

By: Eva Golinger - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, January 19, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— During a briefing before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence, current CIA chief General Michael V. Hayden revealed President George W. Bush had requested his agency “pay more attention” to the activities of President Hugo Chávez and his government in Venezuela.

General Hayden’s commentaries were directed to the House Committee on Intelligence after outgoing Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte had addressed the congressional group. Negroponte, now sub-secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice, indicated to the committee that the United States was in a “good position in terms of intelligence” regarding Venezuela and Cuba, implying that the recently-created special CIA Mission Manager on Venezuela and Cuba, overseen by veteran intelligence officer Norman A. Bailey since November 2006, was active and functioning effectively.

Bailey, a Cold War operative and Reaganite, was an intelligence officer and specialist in Latin America for over two decades. The new CIA Mission in Venezuela and Cuba, officially created in August 2006 by Negroponte’s National Directorate of Intelligence, is designed to enhance U.S. intelligence operations, information gathering and analysis in the two countries. An August 16, 2006 press release by Negroponte’s office declared the new CIA mission was “critical today, as policymakers have increasingly focused on the challenges that Cuba and Venezuela pose to American foreign policy.”

During the January 18, 2007 intelligence briefing in the House of Representatives, Republican congressman Darrell Issa requested that Negroponte and CIA Director Hayden speak about how the United States is handling the “Chávez phenomenon” and whether or not the intelligence specialists could guarantee that Venezuela will not become a “serious threat in our own hemisphere.” Intelligence czar Negroponte responded that Venezuela “is probably the second country in the hemisphere where we have concentrated the majority of our intelligence and analysis efforts.” According to Negroponte’s comments, Cuba maintains its position as the “top” intelligence priority of the United States Government in this region.

Negroponte further remarked that US policymakers should be “worried about Mr. Chávez,” considering that “he has literally spent millions and millions of dollars to support his extremist ideas in various parts of the world…despite the fact that there is an enormous amount of poverty in his own country.”

Negroponte did not comment on how many millions upon millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars were being used to undermine Venezuela’s re-elected President, who won the most recent presidential elections in December 2006 with a landslide 63% of the vote and record low voter abstention rates (around 25%).

Through the congressionally-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the State Department’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. taxpayers pour more than $7 million of their dollars into funding Venezuela’s undemocratic and unpopular opposition movement each year.

Since 2001, almost 50 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars have been authorized by Congress and distributed through the NED and the USAID to fund a very unsuccessful coalition of anti-Chávez political parties, NGOs, private media groups, labor unions and business associations, to aid in their efforts to oust Venezuela’s democratically elected and majority supported government.

These U.S.-funded groups led a failed coup against Chávez in April 2002 and later used taxpayer dollars to try and force the Venezuelan president from office through a 64-day media war and business lockout that sabotaged the oil industry and the economy. Subsequently, the millions of U.S. dollars have been used to fund the opposition’s electoral and media campaigns to try and oust Chávez through elections, despite clear violations of both Venezuelan and U.S. laws that prohibit the foreign funding of political parties and campaigns.

This funding does not include the millions that have been authorized by the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, and the Pentagon to aid intelligence activities and covert action in Venezuela. Per CIA director Hayden’s revelation that under “President Bush’s instructions, we have increased our work in Venezuela,” it is clear the U.S. government views Venezuela as a major focus of attention and a threat to U.S. foreign policy in the region.

The recent elections in Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia indicate a growing trend towards a more socialist-cooperative oriented foreign and national policy in Latin America that follows Venezuela’s lead and a clear rejection of U.S. domination in the hemisphere.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2196

What has been going on in Cuba for all these years has now come to Venezuelas turn. That is why I defend the closed society of Cuba; no media wars; no oligarchic coups.

 

[rockwool]

Is cracker really all that offensive?

I don't know about how severe of an offence cracker is, I find it to be humurous description/observation, but my view of gringo is that it's a curse. Ask La Cleta and the other Mexicans we have here..

 

[jimmydean]

Is cracker really all that offensive?

I think it's funny, but some people get bent out of shape.

Growing up on the west side, I was called "guero", but is was more of a description than a slur. There were very few white boys on that side of town and I never took offense to it.

I guess i could have, but I was always out numbered.

 

[rockwool]

This says quite a lot of what Chavez has in mind for LA, and why the US considers him a "threat to the hemisphere".

Venezuela and Ecuador Sign Energy Agreements

Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007

By: Steven Mather - Venezuelanalysis.com

After signing the accords Chavez spoke of the progress he felt had been made towards his goal of an integrated South America. “Eight years ago when we began our first period of government, we were alone, we were like a foreign body, now we are the majority those that take the flag of the integration of our peoples,” he said.

There were also agreements regarding tourism, cooperation in what was defined as the popular economy, and in the creation of a Bank of the South (Banco Sur), which would help countries wean themselves from dependency on the International Monetary Fund. At an earlier opportunity Chavez has said that he would be willing to have Venezuela's Central Bank deposit 10% of its reserves in Banco Sur.
The Venezuelan government has signed economic agreements with many governments across the globe in a bid to plant the seeds of what Chavez calls a multipolar world. He hopes in this way to weaken the neoliberal ideology promoted by the government of the United States.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2194

As Peter Tosh would put it: "dangerous, hazard to your health"...

 

[JohnE]

"neoliberal ideology" ?
That is his best hope, is that Hilarity takes over. Another GOP stooge gets elected, he will lose his little oil empire...

 

[rockwool]

Chavez to State Dept: "I'm not anyone's enemy".

Iran and Venezuela Plan Anti-U.S. Imperialism Fund

Monday, Jan 15, 2007

By: Natalie Obiko Pearson - AP

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez confer during the Iranian's visit to Caracas.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- fiery anti-American leaders whose moves to extend their influence have alarmed Washington -- said Saturday they would help finance investment projects in other countries seeking to thwart U.S. domination.

The two countries had previously revealed plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but the leaders said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in friendly countries throughout the developing world.

"It will permit us to underpin investments ... above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke," Chavez said.

"This fund, my brother," the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, "will become a mechanism for liberation."

"Death to U.S. imperialism!" Chavez said.

Ahmadinejad, who is starting a tour of left-leaning countries in the region, called it a "very important" decision that would help promote "joint cooperation in third countries," especially in Latin America and Africa.

It was not clear if the leaders were referring to investment in infrastructure, social and energy projects -- areas that the two countries have focused on until now -- or other types of financing.

Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Chavez said Saturday that they had agreed to back a further oil production cut in the cartel to stem a recent fall in crude prices.

"We know today there is too much crude in the market," Chavez said. "We have agreed to join our forces within OPEC ... to support a production cut and save the price of oil."

OPEC reduced output by 1.2 million barrels a day in November, then announced an additional cut of 500,000 barrels a day, due to begin on Feb. 1. Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday that OPEC is discussing holding an emergency meeting later this month to reduce output by another 500,000 barrels a day. Venezuela and Iran have been leading price hawks within OPEC.

Ahmadinejad's visit Saturday -- his second to Venezuela in less than four months -- comes as he seeks to break international isolation over his country's nuclear program and possibly line up new allies in Latin America. He is also expected to visit Nicaragua and Ecuador, which both recently elected leftist governments.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been increasingly united by their deep-seated antagonism toward the Bush administration. Chavez has become a leading defender of Iran's nuclear ambitions, accusing the Washington of using the issue as a pretext to attack Tehran.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has called Chavez "the champion of the struggle against imperialism."

U.S. officials have accused Chavez -- a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro -- of authoritarian tendencies, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said recently in an annual review of global threats that Venezuela's democracy was at risk.

The U.S. also believes Iran is seeking to use its nuclear program to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its program is peaceful and geared toward the production of energy.

The increasingly close relationship between Chavez and Ahmadinejad has alarmed some Chavez critics, who accuse him of pursuing an alliance that does not serve Venezuela's interests and jeopardizes its ties with the United States, the country's top oil buyer. Venezuela is among the top five suppliers of crude to the U.S. market.

In a speech earlier Saturday, Chavez called for the U.S. government to accept "the new realities of Latin America," as he brushed aside restrictions that limit presidents to two consecutive terms. He vowed to stay in office beyond 2013, when his term expires, saying he would revise the constitution to get rid of presidential term limits.

But Chavez also said in his state of the nation address to government officials and legislators that he had personally expressed hope to a high-ranking U.S. official for better relations between their two countries.

Chavez said he spoke with Thomas Shannon, head of the U.S. State Department's Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, on the sidelines of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's inauguration earlier this week.

"We shook hands and I told him: 'I hope that everything improves,'" Chavez said. "I'm not anyone's enemy."

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2192

Furthering 3rd world independance to Africa aswell now. A true threat to the whole world.

 

[rockwool]

"neoliberal ideology" ?
That is his best hope, is that Hilarity takes over. Another GOP stooge gets elected, he will lose his little oil empire...

Who have anounced to run for the GOP yet?

 

[rockwool]

Hilarity

You find her laughable, a joke or something?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

You find her laughable, a joke or something?

Yes. As per her announcement, "I'm in. And I'm in to win."

Ok...thanks Coach Ditka.

 

[rockwool]

I don't know about that. It is the US wishes for sure, but he had a leading roll in effing FTAA over and started ALCA in stead, which is growing. The only LA countries that the US got their way was Peru and ofcourse Colombia ( ?) who both signed their own bilateral agreements.
The EU has no beef with him as far as I know.


EDIT: They're also a member of Mercosur.

Nicaragua Joins Venezuela in Regional Association and Cooperation Agreements

Friday, Jan 12, 2007

By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, January 12, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Nicaragua’s newly elected President Daniel Ortega signed 15 cooperation agreements with Venezuela and agreed to have his country join Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.” Venezuela also forgave Nicaragua’s debt to Venezuela.

Following his inauguration as President on Wednesday, Venezuela’s President Chavez traveled to Nicaragua, where he attended Daniel Ortega’s inauguration which took place on the same day as his own inauguration. Ortega received Chavez as a guest of honor, together with President Evo Morales of Bolivia.

In his first official act upon assuming the presidency, Ortega signed an agreement for Nicaragua to join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) yesterday, to which Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia already belong. The grouping was conceived by Venezuela as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and is supposed to base relations between countries on solidarity instead of free trade.

According to Ortega, ALBA is “based in solidarity, cooperation, complementarity, and mutual aid,” and aims to rescue “our identity, participatory democracy, and economic development with equity.”

Morales, stated that “ALBA has defeated ALCA [FTAA in its Spanish aconym].” Originally the Bush administration had hoped to have the FTAA in place throughout Latin America by 2005, but most countries refused to sign it and the U.S. abandoned it, signing instead bilateral free trade agreements with various countries, such as Colombia and Peru.

With his usual rhetorical flair, Chavez said, “We cannot give ourselves the luxury of a new historical defeat. No! This century must be the century of our America, of our liberation, of the definitive breaking of the chains of imperialism.” Chavez then added, “Death to imperialism!” and clarified that he meant the “moral and political” death of imperialism, not the physical. “We do not have plans to invade the United States. This has not been planned yet,” joked Chavez.

As one of the first agreements between Venezuela and Nicaragua, Chavez announced that Venezuela would forgive “without conditions” Nicaragua’s debt to Venezuela of about $31.3 million.

Another agreement includes a feasibility study of having Venezuela construct a refinery in Nicaragua, whose income would allow the Nicaraguan people “to liberate yourselves from the International Monetary Fund,” said Chavez. The refinery would have a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day.

Other bilateral agreements between Venezuela and Nicaragua include the supply of 10 million barrels of discounted oil per day and the donation of $10 million for social programs. The leaders also signed a letter of intent to study the construction of an aluminum factory, the creation of a food distribution network, and a contract for the purchase of Nicaraguan beans.

Venezuela is already sending 32 electricity generators to Nicaragua, to help the country overcome its chronic blackouts. The first of these generators was to arrive on the day of Ortega’s inauguration.

According to the news agency AFP, the agreements are valued at $600 million.

Following the signing of the ALBA and the bilateral agreements, Chavez went to Nicaragua’s National Engineering University, where he received an honorary doctorate.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2190

It is going to be interesting to watch the development of the economy of Nicaragua now that the hopefully won't have to fight Ollie North.

 

[rockwool]

Yes. As per her announcement, "I'm in. And I'm in to win."

Ok...thanks Coach Ditka.

Chicago Bulls Dream Team?

 

[LordOpie]

ABBA is very underrated.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

Is Gringos offensive?

not really.

 

[DRB]

What I find funny is that Chavez and Bush should be best of buddies because they really do believe in governing in the same way. Judges should do what the executive tells them to do, the Press should never disagree with or be independent of the government, fiscal policy aimed at long term distruction of their country and enactment of laws without Congressional consent.

Though I'm not sure why Chavez needs to bypass his Congress as much as Bush does, saying there is no opposition representation in the National Assembly.

Hell if they could take the best parts of the two countries in their minds it would produce the perfect government. A totaltarian state with the ability to project power anywhere it wished.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Chicago Bulls Dream Team?

Naw. Da Bears old coach.



And I was just being facetious, he never actually said that as far as I know...

 

[JohnE]

You find her laughable, a joke or something?

Yes. I find almost ALL of our politicians to be disgusting, reprehensible media whores who have never done an honest day of work in their lives. She (and Dubya) are one in the same. Rich, self serving autocrats whose sole purpose in life is to line their pockets with the hard earned wages of the proletariat, screwing as many of them as possible on the way. As my Father said once "Of course he is a crook, if he weren't, he would have a real job."

 

[Kihaji]

Anyone that bases their political power upon a non-renewable, easily replaceable resource is a friggin idiot.

As for all this Anti-Imperalism US/Anti-IMF fund crap, two things. First, the IMF is a UN thing, and as we all know the UN is irrelevant and has been since day 1. And 2, the IMF wouldnt have had to exist in the first place if the countries that are planning to do this crap now would have taken care of their backyards in the first damn place.

 

[rockwool]

Yes. I find almost ALL of our politicians to be disgusting, reprehensible media whores who have never done an honest day of work in their lives. She (and Dubya) are one in the same. Rich, self serving autocrats whose sole purpose in life is to line their pockets with the hard earned wages of the proletariat, screwing as many of them as possible on the way. As my Father said once "Of course he is a crook, if he weren't, he would have a real job."

Holy Hammer and Sickle JohnE, your speaking in revolutionary tounge!

 

[rockwool]

Anyone that bases their political power upon a non-renewable, easily replaceable resource is a friggin idiot.

As for all this Anti-Imperalism US/Anti-IMF fund crap, two things. First, the IMF is a UN thing, and as we all know the UN is irrelevant and has been since day 1. And 2, the IMF wouldnt have had to exist in the first place if the countries that are planning to do this crap now would have taken care of their backyards in the first damn place.

It might be a UN thing (dunno actually oster_oops: ) but it is run in a way that is not to the benefit of the 3rd world. Judging from their complaints, that is..

Haven't these countries been objects of colonial powers, and there fore had a lot of wealth sucked out of the country with nothing to say about it?

 

[Kihaji]

It might be a UN thing (dunno actually oster_oops: ) but it is run in a way that is not to the benefit of the 3rd world. Judging from their complaints, that is..

This just in, bankers like to make money...

Haven't these countries been objects of colonial[READ BRITTISH] powers, and there fore had a lot of wealth sucked out of the country with nothing to say about it?

Fixed, and that's because Brittain has spent the last few hundred years taking these countries natural resources and not building infrastructure. Then when set loose they think they can compete in a global market with people who can barely read.

 

[rockwool]

This just in, bankers like to make money...



Fixed, and that's because Brittain has spent the last few hundred years taking these countries natural resources and not building infrastructure. Then when set loose they think they can compete in a global market with people who can barely read.

Äähmmmm, let me clear my throat, haven't the US owned practicly all of it hemisphere with a few small exeptions in the Carribian?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Äähmmmm, let me clear my throat, haven't the US owned practicly all of it hemisphere with a few small exeptions in the Carribian?

The main export out of the US Virgin Islands ain't virgins.....that's for sure! However hard Britain tried to fvck up Hong Kong, it failed....

irate2: irate2:

 

[Changleen]

Fixed, and that's because Brittain has spent the last few hundred years taking these countries natural resources and not building infrastructure. Then when set loose they think they can compete in a global market with people who can barely read.

Yup, Britain never built any infrastructure. Anywhere. Idiot.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

Yup, Britain never built any infrastructure. Anywhere. Idiot.

lim (x->colony ID day year) f(x)= UK stole/UK spend infraestructure= 0

 

[Changleen]

lim (x->colony ID day year) f(x)= UK stole/UK spend infraestructure= 0

irate2:

 

[Kihaji]

Äähmmmm, let me clear my throat, haven't the US owned practicly all of it hemisphere with a few small exeptions in the Carribian?

Um, no. US Colonies

Yup, Britain never built any infrastructure. Anywhere. Idiot.

Tell that to all the countries that England basically bankrupt by taking all their resources, then left them with nothing. I'm sure places like Jamaica, Uganda, Nigeria, Zanzibar... the list goes on, would beg to differ with your opinion.

 

[Changleen]

Tell that to all the countries that England basically bankrupt by taking all their resources, then left them with nothing. I'm sure places like Jamaica, Uganda, Nigeria, Zanzibar... the list goes on, would beg to differ with your opinion.

Jamaica exports: Just over $2 billion a year, 25% to the US, mainly consisting of: alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, clothes and mineral fuels.

Uganda exports:$1 billion a year, mainly coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; and gold.

Nigeria exports: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, and steel.

You should really learn to use your brain before you press the little buttons.

 

[JRogers]

Jamaica exports: Just over $2 billion a year, 25% to the US, mainly consisting of: alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, clothes and mineral fuels.

Uganda exports:$1 billion a year, mainly coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; and gold.

Nigeria exports: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, and steel.

You should really learn to use your brain before you press the little buttons.

Uganda exports a whole BILLION dollars?! WOW! When they double that number, they'll be right in the running with Swaziland. Of course, they have more than 28 million more people than Swaziland (which has a bit over a million people), but who's counting?


Okay, since I don't think that Kihaji meant literally that these countries have NOTHING to export, I think we should put these numbers in perspective. A billion dollars is nothing. I probably export a billion dollars a year myself by accident.

 

[Changleen]

Uganda exports a whole BILLION dollars?! WOW! When they double that number, they'll be right in the running with Swaziland. Of course, they have more than 28 million more people than Swaziland (which has a bit over a million people), but who's counting?

The IMF and world bank are a different issue, and uh:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3517441.stm

18 years civil wars are greeeat for the economy. Doesn't the phrase 'Ugandan genocide' ring any bells either?
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/uganda.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1605066.htm

Okay, since I don't think that Kihaji meant literally that these countries have NOTHING to export..

He said: "by taking all their resources, then left them with nothing." He should learn to speak betta if that's not what he meant.

 

[Kihaji]

He said: "by taking all their resources, then left them with nothing." He should learn to speak betta if that's not what he meant.

Comprehension is 9/10ths of reading. I actually said "Fixed, and that's because Brittain has spent the last few hundred years taking these countries natural resources and not building infrastructure."

You know, pesky things like schools, hospitals, communication, water, roads, airports...

They have been building those since they gained freedom, but it is taking a large portion of their GNP just to bring them up to last century.

But I forgot, in your eyes any country outside of the US would never harm another country.