← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 18729 | Posts: 13 | Started: 2005-06-20
2005-06-20 07:13 | User Profile
[url]http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/OpinionN...rticleID=169641[/url]
Hugo Chavez could spark a serious crisis
By John O'Sullivan, Special to Gulf News
Hereââ¬â¢s a quick quiz for foreign policy buffs: (1) Who was the first foreign leader United States President George W. Bush journeyed to meet on becoming president? (2) Which foreign country did Bush visit on his first trip abroad as president? And (3) what was the first major international agreement he signed?
The answers are (1) President Vicente Fox of Mexico at his ranch in Texas, shortly before visiting (2) Canada where he signed (3) the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA.) These choices were very far from accidental.
In those innocent days before 9/11, when geo-politics was passé and geo-economics all the rage, Bush entered office believing that his main foreign policy task would be to unite the western hemisphere economically and politically in a world of competing trade blocs.
Under US leadership the FTAA would gradually develop into an American version of the European Union resting on free trade, free capital movement and market-friendly capitalist reforms throughout the Americas.
Its political equivalent would be the promotion of democratic regimes throughout the Americas.
The resulting community of market democracies would increasingly lend the US diplomatic and even military support in its dealings with the rest of the world.
In return the US would pay what seemed a small price - namely, making immigration from Latin America much easier, legalising the mainly Mexican ââ¬Åillegalsââ¬Â already there, and reshaping American institutions and government along multicultural lines.
Yet when Bush laid the foundations for this pan-American conservatism, the omens looked good. Most of Latin America had governments bent on market reforms.
The whole of the sub-continent had democratically-elected governments with the sole exception of Cuba. And even in Cuba the dictator - the sole Latin leader opposing Bushââ¬â¢s new vision - was visibly ageing and lacking any obvious successor.
These favourable omens, however, were superficial. They ignored the historical record of political and financial instability in Latin American countries.
They did not take into account that, as V.S. Naipaul pointed out, the real political ideology of Latin America is mimicry - and that ââ¬Åneo-liberalismââ¬Â was just the latest fleeting imitation of US/European ideological models.
And they forgot that Latin American elites, oriented to Paris, Rome and Madrid more than to Washington, were easily tempted into anti-Americanism.
A rude awakening began with 9/11 and the Iraq crisis. No Latin country gave military assistance to the US at a time when Australia, the UK, Italy, Spain and other countries were fighting alongside the US in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Several Latin countries obstructed American diplomacy at the United Nations.
Further blows to this illusion have been fast and frequent.
Suspended negotiations
Overthrow
The sub-continent is returning to its traditional posture of suspicion and hostility towards the US. And because Bush is dismantling immigration controls as part of his pan-American conservative vision, its instability could be exported here.
All that has been lacking for a really serious crisis has been a leader like Castro and a unifying revolutionary ideology like Marxism to exploit and shape this instability. And both may now be available.
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, is the leading anti-American figure in Latin America who is also forging alliances with anti-American regimes from China to Iran.
He is a more effective opponent of the US than his close ally, Fidel Castro, because he sits on enormous oil revenues which grow daily with the price of oil.
Like Peron, he uses this windfall to buy a temporary domestic popularity through social spending on poorer Venezuelans. Like Castro he assists terrorist movements against pro-American regimes like the Colombian government.
And he is currently building up his military and purchasing weaponry on a large scale.
Yet he enjoys respectability and influence among other Latin American leaders from Castro to Argentinaââ¬â¢s Nestor Kirchner. He is the most active agent in such schemes as the South American Bank.
And he is rapidly creating a continent-wide leftist movement under the banner of the ââ¬ÅBolivarian Revolutionââ¬Â- a glamorous but not very coherent mish-mash of the revolutionary ideas of the 1960s, the semi-academic ââ¬Ådependencyââ¬Â theories of the 1970s, and the anti-globalisation attitudinising of the 1990s.
Chavezââ¬â¢s main political strength is that he was elected democratically; his main political weakness is that he is not governing democratically.
Rather, he is harrying political opponents like the pro-democracy NGO activist who is threatened with prison for accepting a $30,000 (Dh110,000) grant from Washingtonââ¬â¢s National Endowment for Democracy.
It is an open secret that the US motion calling for the OAS to monitor democracy in its members was aimed at Chavez.
But Latin America lined up with him against the US in rejecting it. The Bolivarian Revolution will merely ââ¬Åplough the seaââ¬Â, in the disillusioned words of Bolivar himself.
Still, it has a long way to go before it sinks. Bushââ¬â¢s pan-American conservatism has already drowned.
John Oââ¬â¢Sullivan, former adviser to Lady Thatcher and former editorial page editor of The New York Post, is editor-at-large of the National Review and a member of Benador Associates.
Interesting to see Johny O still fighting the good fight, although he sure seems to have dropped through the floor at NR, at least when I used to read it. Note he's making this Bush critique outside of NR - Okie
2005-06-20 13:08 | User Profile
Okie,
It appears to me that John O'Sullivan remains clueless. I don't see why National Review wouldn't run this.
2005-06-20 13:27 | User Profile
Good article. Interesting, and sad, how US foreign policy under Clinton and of course, George W Bush, have drove people in other countries to elect Marxist-Leftist leaders who ride the sea of popular hatred for US policies.
I can't help but chuckle in a sort of "I hear ya, bro" when I hear or read speeches by Hugo Chavez challenging US hegemony and double standards in Latin America. In a fair world, with a trustworthy and wise American government, a guy like Chavez would be plowing a field with his donkey somewhere in Venezuela. In our current world, the guy is el Presidente, or if you will, Hijo de Castro.
2005-06-20 13:39 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Okiereddust] The sub-continent is returning to its traditional posture of suspicion and hostility towards the US. And because Bush is dismantling immigration controls as part of his pan-American conservative vision, its instability could be exported here.
All that has been lacking for a really serious crisis has been a leader like Castro and a unifying revolutionary ideology like Marxism to exploit and shape this instability. And both may now be available. [/QUOTE]I think O'Sullivan is right on this point, but I wonder if his Neocon associates reading this piece will have even noticed it? I suspect the Treason Lobby will refuse to make the connection between, on the one hand, open borders and, on the other, instability, terrorism, and insurgency, until innocent Americans start dying in the streets from terrorist bombs. I'm really curious as to just what it will take to make Open Borders advocates sit up and take notice.
2005-06-20 16:52 | User Profile
South is South and North is North and the twain SHOULD never meet.
Why should Latin America let Washington dictates to them how to run their countries?
Washington is being "nice" to all Latin American countries in order to find a back door to Venezuelan oil and that will never happen.
The US were trying to use the same tactics that Herr Hiler used in Poland in order to declare war on Cuba.....you people should know what I am talkig about.
Also "REMEMBER THE MAINE" was the war cry of the US in order to declare war against Spain who at the time were in Cuba.
According to the US Spain blew up the Maine and as you know the explosion was caused by dust coal and from whitin the ship itself.
An American can never pretend to be a Latino no more than an African can pretend to be a white and I can see those "illegals" that you dislike so much as being the vanguard to the future army of the US.
You and I are little people who have no real info. as to what is going on but if you think of the world situation as a chess game then it will make better sense to you.
As you know the Jews makes plans not for the next two or ten years but for the next 100 and 200 years and because they are now behind the US government that's how the government is now operating.
2005-06-21 03:51 | User Profile
Ponce, just to make sure you understand how that was discovered.
[QUOTE] According to the US Spain blew up the Maine and as you know the explosion was caused by dust coal and from whitin the ship itself. [/QUOTE]An American Naval officer, Hyman Rickover, went to Havanna Harbor and led a thorough engineering investigation that showed the Maine blew out, not in. (It was published in the United States Naval Institute Proceedings. I read that report years ago.) From there, they came to some conclusions on what blew up. There are only so many things that can blow up with that kind of force.
The kicker is: Hyman Rickover was a Jew.
So, are you going to believe him or not? If not, then the Maine was blown up by the Spanish, and he was part of a cover up decades later.
How do those apples taste, my friend? :smile:
[QUOTE=Ponce]South is South and North is North and the twain SHOULD never meet.
Why should Latin America let Washington dictates to them how to run their countries?
Washington is being "nice" to all Latin American countries in order to find a back door to Venezuelan oil and that will never happen.
The US were trying to use the same tactics that Herr Hiler used in Poland in order to declare war on Cuba.....you people should know what I am talkig about.
Also "REMEMBER THE MAINE" was the war cry of the US in order to declare war against Spain who at the time were in Cuba.
According to the US Spain blew up the Maine and as you know the explosion was caused by dust coal and from whitin the ship itself.
An American can never pretend to be a Latino no more than an African can pretend to be a white and I can see those "illegals" that you dislike so much as being the vanguard to the future army of the US.
You and I are little people who have no real info. as to what is going on but if you think of the world situation as a chess game then it will make better sense to you.
As you know the Jews makes plans not for the next two or ten years but for the next 100 and 200 years and because they are now behind the US government that's how the government is now operating.[/QUOTE]
2005-06-21 06:25 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Stuka]I think O'Sullivan is right on this point, but I wonder if his Neocon associates reading this piece will have even noticed it? I suspect the Treason Lobby will refuse to make the connection between, on the one hand, open borders and, on the other, instability, terrorism, and insurgency, until innocent Americans start dying in the streets from terrorist bombs. I'm really curious as to just what it will take to make Open Borders advocates sit up and take notice.[/QUOTE] Well first they'll have to read it, since NR wouldn;t run it. I doubt if anyone important will see this piece anyway unless they're looking for it..
It must be some sort of trial balloon piece by O'Sullivan, for a possible way immigration retriction advocacy could reenter NR and the conservative mainstream.
2005-07-04 22:24 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Angeleyes].
The kicker is: Hyman Rickover was a Jew. :smile:[/QUOTE] Angel:
Excellent point, but I'd like to take it a bit further....
I served under "Rick" when I went Submarines....He was born a Jew, but was a Jew in name only. He had no tolerance for those Jews that treated their US Citizenship as a convenience. I remeber asking him about USS MAINE and he explained, in great detail, how the explosion happened as a result of the coal bunkers overheating and setting off MAINE's powder magazines.
BTW, His first wife was an Anglican/Episcopal, his second (a Navy Nurse) was a devout Roman Catholic.
It was rumored that he even converted to RC, but it was never really followed up.
Credit to "Rick", he stood up for the truth, not what was convenient or nice.
To him, the TRUTH was the be all, end all.
All the best!
2005-07-06 02:36 | User Profile
Hugo Chavez is a large man. He is on our side. The man speaks Truth. He performs it He makew it happen. and has the power to discern. The power to discern !!!!! I put my 10,000 into Las Cristina I know and I was there 6 years ago You alkl mak,e your big when I just work my magic Larger unit same unit you canadian i will come and haunt you because i live in slave america your land and oil is a joke that the UN will shut you off you have no ball I awaken come ask me to work on your land ? I will work it and it shall yield fruit. You do not understand. I can afford to buy 40k and I am looking at Maine and New H. I know how to support myself. This is just an outreach to me.
2005-07-08 00:07 | User Profile
Thanks for the anecdote. :biggrin: So, you have salt water in your veins, do you?
[QUOTE=formerfreeper]Angel:
Excellent point, but I'd like to take it a bit further....
I served under "Rick" when I went Submarines....He was born a Jew, but was a Jew in name only. He had no tolerance for those Jews that treated their US Citizenship as a convenience. I remeber asking him about USS MAINE and he explained, in great detail, how the explosion happened as a result of the coal bunkers overheating and setting off MAINE's powder magazines.
BTW, His first wife was an Anglican/Episcopal, his second (a Navy Nurse) was a devout Roman Catholic.
It was rumored that he even converted to RC, but it was never really followed up.
Credit to "Rick", he stood up for the truth, not what was convenient or nice.
To him, the TRUTH was the be all, end all.
All the best![/QUOTE]
2005-07-08 07:14 | User Profile
Chavez is a mestizo nationalist, and there's nothing wrong with that in Venezuela; indeed, its arguably commendable. If his ideas spark anti-White sentiments among Latin Americans, well, just one more reason to keep them out of the USA & Canada. If impoverished gringos were flooding a prosperous Mexico, Chavez would be advising Fox to keep them out; let's just take this unintended advice. The Whites of Latin America should either congregate in places with a heavy White population, such as Argentina or Uruguay, or decamp to North America or Europe. The days of their getting to lord it over their mestizo peasants is nearing an end, quite possibly, and I can't say I very much mind. Of course, if those same peasants harm any White women & children during their revolutionary fervor, well, that's why God made us clever enough to invent the machine gun and the cruise missile....
2005-07-08 08:33 | User Profile
[QUOTE=formerfreeper]Angel:
Excellent point, but I'd like to take it a bit further....
I served under "Rick" when I went Submarines....He was born a Jew, but was a Jew in name only. He had no tolerance for those Jews that treated their US Citizenship as a convenience. I remeber asking him about USS MAINE and he explained, in great detail, how the explosion happened as a result of the coal bunkers overheating and setting off MAINE's powder magazines.
BTW, His first wife was an Anglican/Episcopal, his second (a Navy Nurse) was a devout Roman Catholic.
It was rumored that he even converted to RC, but it was never really followed up.
Credit to "Rick", he stood up for the truth, not what was convenient or nice.
To him, the TRUTH was the be all, end all.
All the best![/QUOTE]The term heard more was "Hymie". I did not realize at the time the ethnic implications.
There were Rickoverphilies and Rickoverphobes in the Navy. John Lehman f course was one of the phobes - he tried to get Hymie out.
I think Rickover certainly still demonstrates an awful lot of quitessential jewish traits. His tremendous drive and accomplishment certainly are one aspect of the positive side. On the negative side was one thing he epitimized almost to a ridiculous degree - the charismatic, dictatorial leader setting up a cult of personality around himself. The way he divided the Navy into Rickoverphobes and philes sort of epitimized this.
2005-07-08 14:01 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kevin_O'Keeffe]Chavez is a mestizo nationalist, and there's nothing wrong with that in Venezuela; indeed, its arguably commendable. If his ideas spark anti-White sentiments among Latin Americans, well, just one more reason to keep them out of the USA & Canada. If impoverished gringos were flooding a prosperous Mexico, Chavez would be advising Fox to keep them out; let's just take this unintended advice. The Whites of Latin America should either congregate in places with a heavy White population, such as Argentina or Uruguay, or decamp to North America or Europe. The days of their getting to lord it over their mestizo peasants is nearing an end, quite possibly, and I can't say I very much mind. Of course, if those same peasants harm any White women & children during their revolutionary fervor, well, that's why God made us clever enough to invent the machine gun and the cruise missile....[/QUOTE]
Great post. Their land is their land, this land is our land. We need our own White nationalist Hugo Chavez here and now.
Side note: My wife went to Uruguay once years ago. She saw like 2 non-Whites the entire time and the buildings and pedestrian center of Montevideo looks like any European capital city.