How DARE he?
BTW thanks to TMV for the link...
But - I must admit to reading up on this with a quiet smile of satisfaction on my face.
It has nothing to do with Chavez' policies or threats to nationalise Exxon (not a good idea in my book). Nothing to do with communism. Nothing to do with the almost certainty of the US blogiverse response. Irrespective of the outcome - and I don't think it will do Venezuela any good - at least Chavez is following his own star.
No, I smile quietly that here is another politician who is prepared, has the balls to stick it to the US. David Lange did it with NZ's anti-nuclear legislation. Auntie Helen did it by refusing to follow John Poodle's charge into Iraq. The Japanese have done it by (in theory at least) refusing the US permission to have nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. Some of the European nations did it when they refused to back Bush's gun-boat diplomacy threats against Hussein.
No, it is like I said. It takes balls to stand for what you believe in. I can respect GWB even for saying what he thought and following his own cause. It took courage to go against the tide of international opinion. Doesn't make him right, any more than Chavez' action this time is "right"...
It does no good to sit and pontificate on whether Chavez is right or wrong. That is not the point. History will resolve that question in good time. Chavez deserves a quiet clap for saying what he thinks in a world where genuflexion is generally the first international response.
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4 comments:
Perhaps you should pick a different example. I for one cannont condone the manner which was used to confiscate privately operated oil by Chavez and then ignore the fact that without the technology provided he would be president of a country living in the stone age. No, find a better example if you wish to flip the bird at the US.
Perhaps you should look at bit more at Hugo Chavez before you decide to side with him. My guess is, that with the sole exception of him disliking the U.S. you would find him quite abhorant.
I for one take great comfort that the likes of Hugo Chavez hates my country, indeed when his kind of person finds my nation to be admirable it is then that I worry.
"Like"?
No, it is more in the nature of admiration for the school runt giving the bully-boy a hard time, irrespective of the consequences.
As a radical individualist who's given to thumbing his nose at Washington, I really can't argue against the point that somebody else has the right to do it. Not convincingly, anyway.
I don't like Chavez either, but I'm not going to back a war against him. Certainly not one started by the guys who say we need to "wean ourselves from foreign oil."
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