Venezuela Hands Chavez Power to Rule by Decree

From the Reuters article by Frank Jack Daniel:

"Venezuela's parliament gave President Hugo Chavez decree powers for 18 months on Friday, outraging opposition parties that accused him of turning South America's biggest oil producer into a dictatorship.

"The move consolidated the firebrand socialist leader's hold on power after nearly 12 years in office, and raised the prospect of a fresh wave of nationalizations as the former paratrooper seeks to entrench his self-styled 'revolution.'

"Chavez had asked for the fast-track powers for one year, saying he needed them to deal with a national emergency caused by floods that drove nearly 140,000 people from their homes.
But the Assembly, which is dominated by loyalists from his Socialist Party, decided to extend them for a year and a half.

"That means the president can rule by decree until mid-2012, and can keep opposition parties out of the legislative process until his re-election campaign is well under way for Venezuela's next presidential vote in December of that year.

[...]

"The 'Enabling Law,' which means the president can issue decrees across a wide range of areas including housing, land, finances and security, has been denounced as autocratic by his political rivals as well as by the U.S. State Department.

"A freshly united opposition coalition won about half the popular vote at a parliamentary election in September to take 40 percent of the seats in the next Assembly -- where they had hoped to put a check on the president's powers.

"Chavez's latest move raised concern about whether he would accept defeat if the 2012 election does not go his way. Polls show his traditionally high ratings have slipped, with the nation split down the middle in September elections."

Well, isn't that nice? The opposition had hoped to put a check on Chavez's power and he and his cronies responded by giving himself dictatorial powers for 18 months. Such nonsense. And oh, I'm sure if Chavez was defeated in an election he'd step right down. He wouldn't allege voter fraud interfering with the mandate of the people or anything...

German Daily Claims Iran Plans to Place Medium Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach U.S.

According to Hudson New York (via Drudge) the German daily Die Welt (site is in German) Venezuela and Iran have cut a deal in which Iranian medium range, ground-to-ground missiles would be placed in Venezuela. The military base would be manned jointly by Iranian officers, members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Venezuelan officers.

From the Hudson New York piece by Anna Mahjar-Barducci:

"Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources, 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.

"At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defence capability to protect NATO's populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran's counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United States's soft underbelly.

"According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an 'emergency'. In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for 'national needs' – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers

"Venezuela has also become the country through which Iran intends to bypass UN sanctions. Following a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, for example, Russia decided not to sell five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defence systems to Iran. These weapons, along with a number of other weapons, were part of a deal, signed in 2007, worth $800 million. Now that these weapons cannot be delivered to Iran, Russia is looking for new customers; according to the Russian press agency Novosti, it found one: Venezuela.

[...]

"If Iran, therefore, cannot get the S-300 missiles directly from Russia, it can still have them through its proxy, Venezuela, and deploy them against its staunchest enemy, the U.S..

"But that is not all. According to Reuters, Iran has developed a version of the Russian S-300 missile and will test-fire it soon, as declared by the official news agency IRNA, two months after Moscow cancelled the delivery to comply with United Nations sanctions. Iran, in fact, has its own capabilities for constructing missiles that could carry atomic warheads. According to a study recently released by the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, Iran is presently aiming to perfect the already existing solid-fuel, medium-range missile that can carry a nuke to hit regional targets, such as Israel. If a missile base can be opened in Venezuela, many US cities will be able to be reached from there even with short-medium range missiles."

Hey, but don't worry... Remember Obama declared (right here in Oregon) that Iran and Venezuela are tiny countries that could never harm us? (video here)

After all, Obama said "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. [...] "Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance."

Well, I know I feel better knowing of Obama's assessment of the situation back in 2008. So hey, this isn't a serious threat to the US, because Obama said it wasn't.

Russia Helping Venezuela Go Nuclear

From the Reuters article by Guy Faulconbridge:

"Russia agreed on Friday to build Venezuela's first nuclear power station after talks between Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Hugo Chavez in the Kremlin.

"Russian nuclear agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro signed a deal on 'the construction and use of an atomic power station on the territory of Venezuela,' after the talks.

[...]

"Medvedev hinted that Chavez's foe, the United States, might not like the deal, but said that it was peaceful.

"'A deal in the atomic sphere has just been signed. I already know that it will make someone shudder. The president (of Venezuela) told me that there will states who will have different types of emotions about this,' Medvedev said.

"'I would like to underline that our intentions are clean and open: we want our partner the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to have the full range of energy choices, to have energy independence,' he said."

Gee, this sounds an awful lot like what Iran has been saying as they developed their nuclear capabilities. Coincidence?

But don't worry, anyone. Remember that back on 5/19/2008 in Oregon, Obama declared that "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. [...] If Iran [and presumably Venezuela] ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn’t stand a chance."

Well, I feel better knowing that Obama thinks that way about Venezuela and Iran, etc., and that the he's confident that the U.S. can absorb a terrorist attack.

Let us all breathe a deep sigh of relief.

Chavez and Gaddafi Labor to Redefine Terrorism in More Acceptable Terms

Apparently Venezuela's President-for-life Hugo Chavez and Muammar Gaddafi are trying to redefine terrorism.

From Benedict Mander at the Financial Times (Via Drudge Report): "Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi have joined forces to urge the world to redefine 'terrorism'.

"After a summit last weekend for African and South American leaders on the Venezuelan island of Margarita, the two leaders signed a document rejecting attempts to link terrorism to 'the legitimate struggle of the people for liberty and self-determination'.

"While emphasising the importance of attacking terrorism 'in all its forms, including state terrorism', the controversial duo called for an international conference to establish a new definition for the concept of terrorism."

I'm sure all the free world will breathe a sigh of relief, now that two people so intimately associated with terrorism are on the job. But where do the Gaddafi/Chavez dream team believe "real" terrorism lies?

"The two leaders – who have both come under attack from the US and others for allegedly supporting terrorism – also pushed for wholesale reform of the United Nations Security Council, which Mr Gaddafi referred to as the 'Terror Council' at the UN General Assembly last week.

"Mr Chávez, who denies accusations of backing the Colombian Marxist guerrilla group FARC, generated unease during the summit when one of his ministers said that Iran was helping Venezuela in the detection and testing of uranium deposits in remote areas near the Brazilian border. Another minister subsequently denied that this was the case, stating that Venezuela was only working with Russia to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"Calling for an 'anti-imperialist' front across Africa and Latin America, Mr Gaddafi and Mr Chávez also proposed the establishment of a South Atlantic Treaty Organization to rival Nato. They also mooted the creation of a bank spanning the two continents, following the recent inauguration of South America’s Bank of the South with start-up capital of $7bn that is to be increased to $20bn.

"'We are changing history, we are standing up to imperialism, to the bourgeoisie and backwardness, to 500 years of colonialism that has assaulted our people,' said Mr Chávez [emphasis mine]."

Ah ha! So, real terrorism comes from the UN Security Council, and imperialism, and the bourgeoisie's backwardness and colonialism. Got it.

So really, terrorism doesn't exactly exist-- at least not in the way we think of. I mean sure, terrorism is traditionally thought of as violence targeting civilian populations to bring about political change through fear, threats of further violence and coercion, but actually it's just a manifestation of violent class struggle. And the real terrorists are those who oppress the struggling masses with their backward bourgeois colonialism and such. Hmm. Where have I heard that before?

"Mr Chávez earlier also singled out Zimbabwe’s leader, Robert Mugabe, for praise during the summit meeting over the weekend. 'I wish to give our moral, spiritual and political support to Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe,' Mr Chávez said. 'They seek to make Mugabe pay for being anti-colonialist.'"

Ah yes... that final shout out to the brutal thug Mugabe. Classy.