This Is So Not Good

Yes those sanctions are working like a charm!

Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources[1], according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.

[...]


The situation that is unfolding in Venezuela has some resemblance to the Cuba crisis of 1962. At that time, Cuba was acting on behalf of the USSR; now Venezuela is acting on behalf of Iran. At present, the geopolitical situation is very different: the world is no longer ruled by two superpowers; new nations, often with questionable leaders and the ambition of acquiring global status, are appearing on the international scene. Their danger to the free world will be greater if the process of nuclear proliferation is not stopped. Among the nations that aspire to become world powers, Iran has certainly the best capabilities of posing a challenge to the West.


[...]


Nowadays, however, we do not see the same firmness from the present administration. On the contrary, we see a lax attitude, both in language and in deeds, that results in extending hands when our adversaries have no intention of shaking hands with us. Iran is soon going to have a nuclear weapon, and there are no signs that UN sanctions will in any way deter the Ayatollah's regime from completing its nuclear program. We know that Iran already has missiles that can carry an atomic warhead over Israel and over the Arabian Peninsula. Now we learn that Iran is planning to build a missile base close to the US borders. How longer do we have to wait before the Obama administration begins to understand threats?

Compare. . .

. . .and contrast.

More from The World Loves Us File: Russia to Base Bombers in Cuba and Venezuela

As the left continually pointed out during the election, once Obama was elected, the whole world would love us again. This appears to be true. Russia loves us so much they're moving their bombers to Cuba and Venezuela just to be closer to us. From Breitbart:

Russia could use bases for its strategic bombers on the doorstep of the United States in Cuba and Venezuela to underpin long-distance patrols in the region, a senior air force officer said Saturday.

"This is possible in Cuba," General Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of the Russian air force's strategic aviation staff, told the Interfax-AVN military news agency.

The comments were the latest signal that Moscow intends to project its military capability in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defence budget and hardware that experts consider in many respects outdated.

Zhikharev said Cuba had a several air bases equipped with the long runways needed by the heavy bombers and said the facilities there were "entirely acceptable" for use by the Russian aircraft during long-distance patrols.

"If the will of the two states is there, the political will, then we are prepared to fly there" to the bases in Cuba, the agency quoted Zhikharev as saying.

The general also said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered to let Russian strategic bombers use a military airfield on La Orchila island, a military base off the west coast of the country.

"Yes, there has been such a proposal from the Venezuelan president," Zhikharev said.

Ever see Red Dawn?

Chavez: "Obama Go Wipe Your Ass"

He's speaking in Spanish. I have no clue what he's rambling about, but I'm sure Sean Penn digs it. Scroll to 4:05 to hear him tell Obama "Obama vaya a lavarse ese palto," which translates to "Obama go wipe your ass!" This comes after four straight minutes of Chavez ripping the President and accusing him of being "the same as the previous administration.



h/t The ConservativeXpress

Hugo Comes Begging: Chavez Courting Western Oil Companies

It was jut a few years ago he nationalized his oil industry effectively kicking out western oil companies from Venezuela.

President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.

Until recently, Chávez had pushed foreign oil companies here into a corner by nationalizing their oil fields, raiding their offices with tax authorities and imposing a series of royalties increases.

But faced with the plunge in prices and a decline in domestic production, senior officials here have begun soliciting bids from some of the largest Western oil companies in recent weeks — including Chevron, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total of France — promising them access to some of the world's largest petroleum reserves, according to energy executives and industry consultants here.

Their willingness to even consider investing in Venezuela reflects the scarcity of projects open to foreign companies in other top oil nations, particularly in the Middle East.

But the shift also shows how the global financial crisis is hampering Chávez's ideological agenda and demanding his pragmatic side. At stake are no less than Venezuela's economic stability and the sustainability of his rule. With oil prices so low, the longstanding problems plaguing Petróleos de Venezuela, the national oil company that helps keep the country afloat, have become much harder to ignore.

Embracing the Western companies may be the only way to shore up Petróleos de Venezuela and the raft of social welfare programs, like health care and higher education for the poor, that have been made possible by oil proceeds and have helped bolster his popular support.

Uncle Hugo Threatens to Expel U.S. Diplomats

I'm not sure why we still have diplomats in Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he’s investigating whether representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas met with leaders of the political opposition, and said he may expel them from the country.

Chavez said he knows a group of opposition leaders recently flew to Puerto Rico to meet with “U.S. advisers” to discuss strategies to defeat the president’s proposal to eliminate his term limits in a referendum this year. Chavez said U.S. Embassy representatives may have been present.

“If I can confirm this, I’ll throw them out of the country,” Chavez said at ceremony in Caracas commemorating the launch of Venezuela’s first satellite.

The socialist Venezuelan leader expelled the U.S. ambassador in Caracas in September and has repeatedly accused President George W. Bush of supporting opposition groups in Venezuela. Venezuela is the fourth-biggest supplier of foreign crude oil to the U.S.

Turkey Holding Mysterious Iran/Venezuela Shipment

It's not a ship full of toys for tots.

Turkey was holding a suspicious shipment bound for Venezuela from Iran because it contained lab equipment capable of producing explosives, a customs official said Tuesday.

Suleyman Tosun, a customs official at the Mediterranean port of Mersin, said military experts were asked to examine the material, which was seized last month, and decide whether to let the shipment to go to Venezuela.

Authorities detected the equipment during a search of 22 containers labeled "tractor parts," Tosun said. They were brought to Mersin by trucks from neighboring Iran, he said. Turkey's Interior Ministry said an investigation was under way.

"Experts from Turkey's Atomic Institute determined there were no traces of radioactive material, but said the equipment was enough to set up an explosives lab," Tosun said. "We have asked the military to send experts to determine whether to resume the shipment."

Some barrels, labeled with "danger" signs, contained chemicals. Tosun said details were still unclear.

Chavez Says those Poor Americans Can Freeze for All I Care

Where's your God now Joe Kennedy?

Citgo Petroleum Corp., the U.S. refiner owned by the Venezuelan government, will suspend charitable contributions of home heating oil to poor U.S. households -- a sign that falling oil prices may hamstring Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whose administration has used an oil windfall to win voters' loyalty at home and allies abroad.

In a surprise announcement, former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II said Venezuela would stop deliveries to his Boston-based nonprofit, Citizens' Energy, which last winter received $100 million of fuel that was distributed throughout the Northeast. Mr. Kennedy said Citgo cited falling oil prices and the world economic crisis for forcing the company "to re-evaluate all of its social programs." Neither Citgo nor the Venezuelan government had any comment.

The move raises questions about whether Mr. Chavez can afford to continue his oil-fueled largess. Venezuela gives cut-priced fuel to many Latin American nations and sends some 100,000 barrels a day of oil and oil products to Cuba in exchange, in part, for the services of 30,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, dentists, and sports trainers. In 2007, Cuba valued total Venezuelan aid at $7.8 billion. Some analysts say Venezuela is now as big a donor to cash-strapped Cuba as the U.S.S.R. was back in the Cold War.

Chavez Loses Key Races

Not sure it matters what the election results are. The man controls the military and quite frankly, ain't right in the head. So, you know, he'll do whatever he wants.

Venezuelan opposition parties won races for mayor of Caracas and governor in at least three states, beating President Hugo Chavez’s candidates four years after his coalition took near total control of regional governments.

Chavez’s Venezuelan United Socialist Party, or PSUV, was upset by the opposition in Zulia and Miranda, the country’s two most populous states, and may lose two more states when final tallies are published, according to results announced by the National Elections Board. The president, whose candidates won 21 out of 23 state elections in 2004, still controls 17 governorships.

The opposition’s wins today are a blow to Chavez’s drive to centralize control of the oil-exporting country. While the president remains popular among poor voters, accelerating inflation, rising crime and a plunge in oil prices have caused voters to question his socialist political agenda.

Venezuela and Iran Team Up with Plan to Start a New Socialist University

The vanguard against a socialist America is quickly becoming my purpose on this planet. Know the world around you.

Venezuela and Iran plan to start a new university program in the South American country with a focus on teaching socialist principles.

Venezuela's government says it plans to establish the University of Civilizations under accords recently signed with Iran.

Deputy Minister for Academic Development Tibisay Hung says the program will begin in Caracas at the existing, tuition-free Bolivarian University.

Hung tells the state-run Bolivarian News Agency that the aim is to promote discussion of "21st century socialism." Venezuela announced the program on Monday.

President Hugo Chavez is promising to lead Venezuela toward socialism, and in recent years has built increasingly close ties with Iran.

CHAVEZ GETS THE BOOT

I would have thought this would have been done some time ago.

The U.S. State Department has ordered a dozen officials at the Venezuelan consulate in Houston to leave the country after the South American government moved its offices in the city before receiving permission.

The officials have until Sunday to leave the United States, a State Department official told the Houston Chronicle for its Saturday editions.

The newspaper reported that the consular office was locked on Friday and a notice taped in the window said it would remain closed until further notice for reasons "beyond our control." A similar notice was posted on the consulate Web site on Saturday.

CHAVEZ THREATENS TO INTERVENE IN BOLIVIA

Ain't this the same crazy cat that's always going on and on about the United States meddling in South America?

President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will not tolerate a movement for secession in Bolivia's eastern lowland states. Chavez says his government has not meddled in the domestic affairs of other Latin American nations, but would if Bolivian states now seeking greater autonomy from Bolivia's central government push for total independence.

He did not say Thursday what specifically Venezuela would do.

Bolivia's largest and richest state overwhelmingly backed a May 4 referendum seeking greater autonomy from the leftist government of President Evo Morales. Leaders insist they have no interest in full independence.

Chavez, a close Morales ally, accuses the U.S. of fomenting the state's autonomy movement, a charge U.S. officials deny.

Chavez is accusing the US of interfering in Bolivia? That's like the crazy pot calling the crazy kettle black. Chavez himself was busted last December for shipping weapons to Bolivia.

Hundreds of anti-Chavez protesters stoned a Venezuelan plane in Bolivia on December 6, 2007, forcing it to flee to an unknown location. The Bolivians suspected that the plane was carrying a load of weapons supplied by Chavez to his close ally and fellow Marxist Evo Morales of Bolivia.

And let's not forget Chavez ties to Columbian leftist rebels FARC. Those computer files (recently confirmed as authentic by Interpol) seized after the raid of the FARC military camp...

...indicate Venezuela appears to be making concrete offers to help arm the rebels, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles. The files suggest that Venezuela offered the FARC the use of one of its ports to receive arms shipments, and that Venezuela raised the prospect of drawing up a joint security plan with the FARC and sought basic training in guerrilla-warfare techniques.

So yeah, forgive us Hugo if we don't take your banter about meddling seriously. Stick to preaching to your "yes" men...

VOICES FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE: IS VENEZUELA BECOMING THE IRAN OF SOUTH AMERICA?

The Big Feed is proud to present the following blog from one of its Sister Networks, The Transatlantic Conservative.

March 3, 2008 - Is Venezuela Becoming the Iran of South America?

It seemed obvious, that rather sooner than later, the socialist governments of some South American Nations would mean trouble for the continent. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela and troublemaker extraordinaire finally found what he called a “causus bellis” (sic) with neighbouring Colombia. Colombia has been the United States’ only ally in the region for quite some time and has been struggling for years against attacks by the marxist-leninist terrorist group FARC. This weekend, Colombian troops crossed the border with Ecuador, killed the FARC leader Raul Reyes and found proof for the involvement of the Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior with the FARC terrorists.

That, in turn, mobilized fat Hugo and he is, like his socialist friends in Ecuador, putting troops on the border with Colombia, expulsing Colombian diplomats and talking publicly of war with the only government friendly to the US and Israel in the region. Even if you do not understand Spanish, you should watch the videos of fat Hugo impersonating a mafia don here and especially here.

Colombia's government has received support from Washington to fight the guerrillas - as the US, along with the EU, views FARC as a terrorist organisation.
Colombian troops have recently retaken control of areas previously held by rebel groups, but FARC retains a strong hold over Colombia's more remote regions.

Colombia's foreign minister said he regretted that troops had to cross the border, but said it had been necessary in the fight against terrorism.
"The Colombian government has never wanted to disrespect or violate the sovereignty or integrity of the sister republic of Ecuador," Fernando Araujo said.
A spokesman for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said that during the raid, troops had found documents that provided information that "[Ecuadorian President Correa] has a relationship and commitments with Farc",
Police commander Gen Oscar Naranjo said one document showed Reyes had met Ecuador's minister of internal security and that they discussed Mr Correa's "interest in making official relations with the FARC". Colombia's defense minister had described the death of Reyes as the "biggest blow so far" to Farc.

Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez said Venezuela's embassy in Bogota would close. He lamented the killing of Reyes - whom he called a "good revolutionary" - when he spoke on his show, "Alo, Presidente". Chavez described the strike as "a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated". He said Colombia had "invaded Ecuador, flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty". Chavez addressed his defense minister, asking him to "move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately" - a deployment likely to involve several thousand soldiers.

Posted by TC