Ahmadinejad and Chavez are Bonding

In case any of you haven't figured out why all of Latin America is turning against us, Caroline Glick puts the continent in order.

Whereas in Turkey, the media failed only to report on the significance of the singular trend of Islamization of Turkish society, the media have consistently ignored the importance for Israel of three trends that made Latin America's embrace of the Palestinians against Israel eminently predictable.

Those trends are the rise of Hugo Chavez, the regional influence of the Venezuela-Iran alliance, and the cravenness of US foreign policy towards Latin America and the Middle East. When viewed as a whole they explain why Latin American states are lining up to support the Palestinians. More importantly, they tell us something about how Israel should be acting.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:29 AM

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2 Comments:

At 5:55 AM, Blogger MUSHI said...

sorry carl, i will have to desagree here...
being latin-american, and Argentinean specially, i can afirm you, that Argentina as most of latin american countries were always well, not anti israeli but close to that.

you just have to look for history books, and will find that Argentina, as Chile and Brazil gladly gave assylum to nazi criminals after WWII, watch how they voted in the U.N, watch how they acted in the international arena and you will see, that this is not an actual problem.

now, the thing is that with "Crazy" chavez and his contacts with Iran and hizballah, it's getting worse every day...

At 12:21 PM, Blogger mariagmartinc said...

Well, being venezuelan I think governments aren't people. Most venezuelans are quite foreign to the conflict, neither pro- nor anti-Israel, and any extreme position would feel wrong to them. When Chavez has openly called Israel a criminal state and called her government murderers, venezuelans haven't exactly stood up to applaud. Also, they're particularly unhappy about the alliance with Iran and Cuba and Russia and North Korea.

Things might be different in Argentina, or Uruguay, or Brazil, but I'd expect the people from countries who mostly vote right (and some that don't) to at least not support anti-Israel measures. From my experience, governments are anything but representative.

Is Venezuela Buying for Iran?

Israel has warned Russia that the S-300 anti-missile system that it plans to sell to Venezuela could yet end up in the hands of Iran.

“This is a real possibility, considering the close ties between Venezuela and Iran,” an Israeli official familiar with the deal said.

Other officials are less concerned by the system and claim that if and when the S-300 is delivered to Iran, Israel will be able to develop an electronic warfare system to neutralize it.

In general, Israel is concerned with the strengthening ties between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Chavez has visited Iran eight times, most recently last month when he signed a number of agreements aimed at increasing strategic ties between the countries.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

US Media Retains Delusions About Venezuela

Allies of President Hugo Chavez's won a strong majority in Venezuela's local elections on Sunday, winning 17 of 22 state governorships and 265 of 327 mayoral races. The opposition made important gains, capturing the Caracas mayor's office and two of the most populous states. Meanwhile Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Caracas on Monday to meet with Hugo Chavez, just one day after a Russian fleet docked in the Venezuelan port of La Guaira. The Russian navy will be conducting joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Carribean. The maneuvers are scheduled to begin on December first. In Caracas, Russian and Venezuelan officials signed a series of accords, including one pledging cooperation in nuclear energy for peaceful uses. The Real News Network spoke to Latin American Studies Professor Miguel Tinker Salas who says, the fact that the opposition was able to make modest gains means it's a victory for Venezuelan democracy, and the Venezuelan political process, and the maturity of the Venezuelan population who participated—over 65 percent in this regional election process.
Although the Chavez party won 55% of the vote, the US reports Venezuela is a one-party dictatorial system.
The Real News Network

Found in Bed with a Live Boy or a Dead Woman

Found in Bed with a Live Boy or a Dead Woman

This is the only way Barack Obama can lose to Mr Bush’s surrogate John McCain.

What can Mr Bush do to achieve a third term in office?

Bush and Uribe v. Chavez and Correa - by Stephen Lendman, opednews.com (excerpt)

Call it another salvo in Bush v. Chavez with Ecuador's Raphael Correa as a secondary target and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe as a proxy aggressor. The Ecuadorean incursion was no ordinary cross-border raid. It was a made in Washington affair that escalates a nine year attempt to remove the Venezuelan leader and return oligarchs in the country to power. It also threatens two regional leaders who know what they're up against in Uribe and Washington, "friendly" handshakes in the Dominican Republic notwithstanding. The situation is far from settled.

Jason Paz

Clarifying the US Incursion into Ecuador

The US=Colombian raid was an act of war. In violation of the UN Charter, it illustrates the Administration's zeal for yet another preemptive war.

Under NSPD 51 President Bush has the excuse to declare Martial Law and to suspend the 2008 elections. Stephen Lendman is one of the few who recognizes the dangers the incursion might bring.

If anyone has a more cogent explanation for the goings on, he or she has my complete attention.

Bush May Be Raising False Flag Op vs Venezuela

The neocons have two major problems with the Chavez regime in Venezuela. It is a democratically elected leftist government. The country distributes a sizable portion of its oil revenues to poor citizens.
The success of Venezuela puts the lie to the American propaganda effort. Nobody needs an invasion of US troops to establish to establish a democratic republic. American forces are ruinous to domestic tranquility and to economic development.
The people of the world know this and even elements within the brain washed US public begins to see the light. The Bush regime has no social redeeming value. They can only destroy liberty through hate mongering and fear. They build nothing. They burn everything they can't steal from the Global Village.
Still, the Administration enjoys a 19% public approval rating and its chosen candidate John McCain has support from over 45% of voters.They could lose the 2008 election, if they fail to rig the voting machines properly. It is against the New World Order mentality to give the other side anything approaching an even break.
They worked hard to ruin Constitutional guarantees with the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts. Why should they risk handing over these dictatorial powers to Hillary (or to John McCain for that matter)?
The NSPD 51 allows the President to assume dictatorial powers over all three branches of government indefinitely. The NSPD is deliberately vague in its specifications covered by top secret protocols. The officials, the mass media and the public have little knowledge of this project. The President can declare a disaster and establish Military Law. He can suspend elections and ensure himself a third term. Our first indication of this will be when the National Guard breaks down our doors to confiscate our weapons.
George Bush already has a handy excuse for this. He has cleared the invasion of Ecuador with the 'loyal' opposition. The right wing Columbian regime has entered Ecuador to kill FARC terrorists who had sheltered there. They found the dead leader's computer there. On the hard drive was the truncated message in which the Chavez camp was to give FARC $300 millions to buy the makings of a dirty atomic bomb.
Supposedly, this garbled message justifies an attack on the leftist Ecuadorian government Hillary and Barack agreeing.
For $300 millions anyone can purchase several atomic bombs or up to six of the suitcase variety. Available from Israel, Russia or the US State Department, they fit into golf bags for easy delivery. Only a poor fool would buy used uranium to make a bomb.
The UN Charter prohibits Columbia [or the US] from invading Ecuador. The UN should ask its member nations to defend Ecuadorian sovereignty.
Greg Palast, Ourfuture.org, offers a number of fine insights to this sorry event.

Hostage Ingrid Betancourt

Ingrid Betancourt

Mike Power, FirstPost.com

T he raid into Ecuador by Colombian troops to execute Raul Reyes, second-in-command of the Marxist guerilla army FARC, has sparked a diplomatic crisis that is making waves in and beyond South America.

The bold gesture by the Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, friend of Washington, has infuriated his Leftist neighbours Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who have both sent troops to their borders with Colombia.

It has also made a pawn out of the French-Colombian politician, Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage in the jungle by FARC for six years. Far from helping to free the 46–year-old woman, Uribe's raid looks to have spoiled any diplomatic chances of negotiating her release in the near future.

On top of this, there are the extraordinary claims from Colombia in the past 48 hours that they have found evidence on Paul Reyes's laptop that implicates Chavez as a sponsor of terrorism.

Oscar Naranjo, Colombia's chief of police, said documents found on the hard drive of Raul Reyes's computer showed that Chavez has paid $300m to FARC, and that the guerrillas were trying to buy 50kg of uranium to make a dirty bomb.

Naranjo claimed that another document - a letter from FARC leader Manuel Marulanda - offered Chavez support in the event of any US-led attack on Venezuela. The letter also mentioned that Chavez had offered FARC a consignment of weapons.

There is no denying that Chavez has some influence with FARC. It was his negotiations that prompted the release in January of six hostages, a feat President Uribe has been unable to achieve in two terms in office. But Chavez's deputy, Vice President Ramon Carrizalez, derided the Colombian police chief's claims about money and arms. "They can invent anything in order to try to remove themselves from this violation of Ecuadorian territory," he said.

In response, Colombia yesterday invited the UN and regional overseer, the Organisation of American States, to verify the files. Neither organisation has responded publicly so far.

Anecdotal evidence exists that suggests Venezuela has provided weapons, shelter and financial support to Colombia's rebel army; defectors have spoken of receiving co-operation from some members of the Venezuelan military. If the computer documents prove the rebels' connection with Chavez, it will give ammunition to those who have questioned his integrity and see him as little more than an opportunist thug, a Castro with fewer ideals and more money.

To thicken the plot, President Correa said on Monday that his ministers had indeed met with FARC commanders - but only to broker a release of high-profile hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, who was snatched in 2002 when she was campaigning for the presidency of Colombia. Correa said Uribe was aware of Ecuador's involvement in the efforts to free Betancourt, who is known to be in poor health, and that by sanctioning the raid into Ecuador to kill Reyes, Uribe had proved himself "a traitor".

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the death of Reyes was "bad news" because he had been France's contact in its efforts to free Betancourt, who is a French citizen. Not to be outdone, Hugo Chavez's government also said he had been close on several occasions to a deal to free Betancourt.

Of course, Betancourt's liberation would have been a major coup for either of Colombia's leftist neighbours. Some observers believe Uribe could not afford to let either Chavez or Correa succeed, whatever the consequences.

Others argue that the raid may have been worth any price to Uribe. He can now pull back from this surgical strike at the heart of the FARC, and reap the rewards of his boldest move yet as president. Opinion polls show 85 per cent of Colombians supported the raid.

Columbia: the Conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela

'Colombia: The Unsettling Conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela'

by Juliana Rincón Parra, Global Voices

Colombian bloggers are closely following the events unleashed by the Colombian army's incursion into Ecuadorian territory. Fear of war is palpable throughout the discussions on the legitimacy of the attack and its repercussions, the unveiling of computer files establishing nexus between the Ecuadorian and Venezuelan governments and the FARC and the knowledge of 50 KGs of Uranium that the FARC allegedly has.



equinoXio, a longstanding " independent, non partisan Online Digital Magazine" whose English version was recently launched February 3rd, has done a thorough job following the unfolding events in their Spanish version, with a few articles already being translated into English.



In their article "FARC number 2 has been killed in combat near Colombia-Ecuador border" they write:

Luis Édgar Devia Silva, aka Raúl Reyes, the number 2 commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has been killed by security forces, Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday morning.According to Mr Santos, "human sources and information verified by the State's intelligence" told Colombian authorities that guerrilla fighters from FARC's 48th front would meet with Reyes in Granada, a place near Colombia's border with Ecuador on Friday night. An joint operation of Colombia's Military Forces and National Police was held starting at 0:25 local time (5:25 UTC) on Saturday.



Colombian Air Force bombed a guerrilla camp, located 1.8 km from the border inside Ecuador, near Santa Rosa, from Colombia's air space. Guerrilla responded with shooting, killing one Colombian soldier, Carlos Hernández León. According to Santos, Raúl Reyes and Guillermo Enrique Torres, aka Julián Conrado, with other 15 guerrillas, were killed. Their corpses were recovered by Colombian authorities, after the camp was surrounded and Ecuadorian Armed Forces arrived there.

In equinoXio's other article, "Colombia will not send troops to borders to Ecuador and Venezuela" they inform about one of the important issues that has bloggers commenting on possible justifications for the incursion into Ecuador; the belief that they may be helping the FARC terrorists:

Around one hour later, Colombian National Police Director, general Óscar Naranjo, saidReyes, whose content, according to a preliminary report, shows ties between Quito and FARC, through Gustavo Larrea, Ecuador's Internal and External Security minister. The documents (PDF), letters written by Reyes and addressed to the FARC Secretariat, involve some alleged commitments by Ecuador with FARC, which had promised to deliver Correa Army corporal Pablo Emilio Moncayo, kidnapped in 1997, for Mr Correa to become another mediator between the terrorist group and the Colombian government. Ecuadorian officials have denied the claims.

For the moment, all of it is rhetoric and show. Yell at the empire, dress in red, call everyone a lackey, buy weaponry from Russia and trucks from Iran. But while Chávez was slathering himself in geopolitical rhetoric, Colombia was acting and bombing a guerrilla encampment outside its borders in the Israeli style.

Now this has stepped out of Risk strategy plays to real actions. Colombia -in Hugo's [Chavez] mind- is Israel and Venezuela, one can suppose- is something like Iran. And then what happens? Nothing for now.



Pala Labra [es] reflects an opinion echoed by other Colombian bloggers who believe that the political misunderstandings with Ecuador could be better dealt with if Hugo Chávez, Venezuela´s President, kept to the sidelines:

Truth of the matter is that I don't care much for socialism, I'm not pro Uribe, or anything. I'm of the school of thought that believes that everybody in the world could be right, as Fito says, "I don't belong to any -ism". But there are some things that certainly make me mad... yesterday I was listening to that guy [Chavez], only because my dad had the tv on, and I was imagining my neighbor Myriam completely shredding my family during assemby simply because she doesn´t agree that we should be eating cereal at breakfast, articulating a war while the other neighbors clap vigorously. As a matter of fact, Myriam doesn´t know what we eat at breakfast and it isn´t any of her business, at least not enough to make such a racket. I also know my example is extremely simple, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Just because in general, it really annoys me when people get into other people´s affairs with no invitation.

Mauricio Duque Arrubla [es] reads around the blogosphere to see what others have been saying about this conflict and wishes to clear things up a bit:

But it seems that for many foreigners, the problem in Colombia is if there is or isn´t a humanitarian agreement.

With all due respect to the hostages and their families, that is not the problem. There are many problems coming before the liberation of the hostages (the farc, the paramilitary groups, hunger, inequality, corruption). That doesn´t meen that we have to solve them in that order and that if we manage to get the hostages freed that would be even better news than this man´s death. [Raul Reyes, 2nd in command for the FARC]

But with concern I read that what many Europeans think is that with the dissappearance of this murderer, the agreement dissappears as well. ¿What about the rest? It doesn´t exist for them. And the bad guy always turns out to be the government, never the delinquents on the other end.



Sense of proportion has been completely lost.



PS. Even though the colombian government had reason enough to do what it did, it was wrongly done. The end doesn´t justify the means. But what happened was very good news, that I can´t deny. What seems to be coming can´t be too good, but we´ll have to see.



Víctor Solano [es] has taken to the task and built a timeline of the events that led to this conflict which has Colombians biting their nails. However, even more eye opening than the post itself, are the comments, where people are heatedly debating the timeline as well as the allegations of the 50 KG of Uranium that the FARC received aided by Venezuela. The source of this Uranium is one of the topics:



Camilo Andrés, copies political blogger Atrabilioso's 3 part report on the events on his blog [es] on his belief that the Uranium came from medical equipment theft:

Basically, the Uranium in the FARC´s hands came from radioactive materials used in medical equipment which during a misterious tide of thefts these power sources for clinical diagnoses were stolen a few years ago. The authorities, at the time, only managed to warn the general population regarding the health risks that being in contact with this element bring.

Carla Mariela [es] from Venezuela, provides another theory, that its source is Venezuela itself:

The note that most called my attention yesterday was that of the Uranium. I didn´t know about the medical equipment theft, but I did hear that for a few years now there have been land movements in the Venezuelan south in the area near Cerro Impacto. This mount has great concentrations of the mineral form of Uranium. Venezuela doesn´t export it officially and they officially don´t have the means to process it, but now this coincidence strikes me as quite serious.

On another comment, blogger Leonardo Benavides Gómez for Villa Noticias [es] tells that at the border with Venezuela at Villa del Rosario, cars with Colombian license plates are not being allowed to cross and that Venezuelan military personnel is patrolling the border. In his blog, he posts a picture of the military standing at their side of the Táchira river border.



In the political analysis blog Colombia Hoy [es], they have come to a conclusion: what originally seemed a plan to simply kill a terrorist leader became a means to unveil the political support the FARC has been receiving from other countries.

At a second glance, it becomes evident that the military operation had an ampler horizon. In fact, the destruction of the Reyes camp in Ecuadorian land sought to bring out into the light before the international community, first, the presence of the FARC in that country and second, to unveil the relations between the FARC and other governments in the region.

That was the strategic objective of the operation: to politically affect Chávez and Correa, and denounce their relation with the FARC.