CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez on Sunday vowed to freeze oil exports to the United States and wage a "100-year war" if Washington ever tried to invade Venezuela.
The United States has repeatedly denied ever trying to overthrow Chavez, but the leftist leader has accused Washington of being behind a failed 2002 coup and of funding opposition groups now seeking a recall referendum on his presidency.
Chavez accused the United States of ousting former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and warned Washington not to "even think about trying something similar in Venezuela."
Venezuela "has enough allies on this continent to start a 100-year war," Chavez said during his weekly television show.
He added that "U.S. citizens could forget about ever getting Venezuelan oil" if the United States ever tried to invade the South American country.
Venezuela provides about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports but relations between the two countries are rocky over Chavez's friendship with Cuban President Fidel Castro, his criticism of U.S.-led negotiations for a free trade zone in the Americas and his opposition to the war in Iraq.
The United States was slow to condemn the 2002 coup, initially accusing Chavez of provoking his own downfall.
Chavez has increasingly railed against U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs as his opponents step up protests to demand the recall vote. Top U.S. officials have recently accused Chavez of becoming increasingly autocratic.
On Saturday, at least 500,000 Venezuelans marched in Caracas to protest the National Elections Council's decision last week that an opposition petition for the recall vote lacked enough valid signatures. Opponents turned in more than 3 million signatures December 19 but the council ruled only 1.8 million were valid. The council ordered more than 1 million citizens to confirm they signed and rejected more than 140,000 signatures outright.
Rioting over the decision killed eight people and hurt scores more. The violence subsided after the Organization of American States and the U.S.-based Carter Center pledged to help give citizens a fair chance to proved they signed.
Venezuela is deeply divided between those who fear Chavez is trying to impose Cuba-style socialism and those who say he has given an unprecedented political voice to the impoverished majority.
Chavez insists election officials have reason to believe the recall petition is fraud-ridden. He claims many signatures belong to dead people, minors and foreigners.
On Sunday, Chavez promised his government would investigate the deaths and injuries from last week's violence. Opposition leaders accuse National Guard troops of committing abuses while trying to keep rock-throwing protesters from blocking roads with burning tires. Chavez accuses his opponents of instigating chaos.
"The government is investigating all the acts of violence and especially those in which people died," Chavez said. "Violence only takes place when a group of the opposition leaders decide there will be violence."
WTF? Ok, I can understand Chavez creating an issue but damn. With Bush in the office and election coming, do you really want to smack the hornets nest with your dick?
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Shinova wrote:Venezuela? Pardon me but what's important about Venezuela?
Venezuela provides about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports
Meh, I guess that if all these shit holes go to hell and the US can't get its oil from anyone else we might be force to....Drill our Own Oil.......but I digress.....
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
venezuela. . . give me some cafeinne and I might manage to remember what continent thats on.
This day is Fantastic!
Myers Briggs: ENTJ
Political Compass: -3/-6 DOOMerWoW
"I really hate it when the guy you were pegging as Mr. Worst Case starts saying, "Oh, I was wrong, it's going to be much worse." " - Adrian Laguna
What else do people expect out of a Stalinist dictator wannabe?
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
WTF? Ok, I can understand Chavez creating an issue but damn. With Bush in the office and election coming, do you really want to smack the hornets nest with your dick?
Little Castro surprisingly has not been successful in bringing the More Abundant Life to Venezuela - the laws of economics are apparently not just a western conspiracy. Add to that the fact that Venezuela is becoming more authoritarian on a daily basis and the littlest Stalinist has got a serious public image problem. He's just tapping into anti-American sentiment, which is pretty high right now, to deal with it. It's not so different from Schroeder in Germany.
No huge international outcry, though, for obvious reasons.
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
He's a "Stalinist"? Evidence please? Or has the (deep breath) "South America is America's back yard and we'll aid, abet, and commit whatever crimes and prop up whatever (agreeable) dictators we like there and lube up the public for anal penetration with bullshit about commies at our doorstep if anyone raises a protest" (exhale) already gotten to everyone's brain ... again?
If Chavez genuinely thinks that the US made Aristide fall, he needs to lay down the crack pipe before he burns his lips any further.
The events that brought Aristide down were due to his own incompetence and corruption, not the 'debbil CIA' plotting against him.
As far as being a Stalinist goes, Chavez is a self-professed admirer of Fidel Castro and anyone who admires that swine is a Stalinist at heart.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
Knife wrote:
Meh, I guess that if all these shit holes go to hell and the US can't get its oil from anyone else we might be force to....Drill our Own Oil.......but I digress.....
Alaska? Has enough oil to provide a tiny fraction of US energy need (and a truly miniscule part of world oil production); extremely minor supposedly.
While neither approach will give U.S. consumers complete independence, new ANWR oil exploration would provide a less costly and decidedly more effective way to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil than government regulations designed to reduce consumption. The largest North American oil discovery in decades, reserves now located beneath Alaska's arctic tundra are estimated to be large enough to provide the equivalent of 30 years of Saudi crude; a sizeable amount considering that the U.S. now imports more oil from Saudi Arabia than any other country in the world.
If the government would just pull its head out of its overstuffed and overstretched anus, and actually crack the whip and force the automakers into line, we've got more than enough fuel to run the nation's entire road fleet sitting right here in the Midwest - Minnesota is one of the world's biggest producers of ethanol and biodiesel.
We've got fucking Saudi Arabia sitting right here, and we can keep producing plant-based fuel as long as the soil holds up.
"Carriers dispense fighters, which dispense assbeatings." - White Haven
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If only one rock and roll song echoes into tomorrow
There won't be anything to keep you from the distant morning glow.
I'm not a man. I just portrayed one for 15 years.
As far as being a Stalinist goes, Chavez is a self-professed admirer of Fidel Castro and anyone who admires that swine is a Stalinist at heart.
You get the lamest slothful generalisation of the day award. Can you even define Stalinism for me?
To my mind a 'Stalinist' is a nothing more than a tyrant of the left whose willing to use murder and police state tactics to maintain his absolute power.
Sounds like Fidel Castro to me. :p
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
Iceberg wrote:If the government would just pull its head out of its overstuffed and overstretched anus, and actually crack the whip and force the automakers into line, we've got more than enough fuel to run the nation's entire road fleet sitting right here in the Midwest - Minnesota is one of the world's biggest producers of ethanol and biodiesel.
We've got fucking Saudi Arabia sitting right here, and we can keep producing plant-based fuel as long as the soil holds up.
Ethanol is not the solution. Too inefficent and costly to produce.
<cynicism>The only reason ethanol is still produced as a fuel is because of the Corn Belt's influence in Congress and Iowa's 'first in the nation' Presidential caucuses.
</cynicism>
IHMO, Hydrogen is the solution once a cheap and efficent way to separate it from water is found.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
As far as being a Stalinist goes, Chavez is a self-professed admirer of Fidel Castro and anyone who admires that swine is a Stalinist at heart.
You get the lamest slothful generalisation of the day award. Can you even define Stalinism for me?
To my mind a 'Stalinist' is a nothing more than a tyrant of the left whose willing to use murder and police state tactics to maintain his absolute power.
Sounds like Fidel Castro to me. :p
I forgot to mention the cult of personality, which is something else the two men shared.
I didn't think to define 'Stalinism' in the initial post as the similarities between Castro and Stalin should be self-evident to anyone who knows anything about Cuba after 1959.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
Glocksman wrote:IHMO, Hydrogen is the solution once a cheap and efficent way to separate it from water is found.
Then there is the storage problem. We've got to find a way to store it at a high density to carry enough of it to be practical, but not in a form that is too heavy to be practical. This is a major problem.
"Show me an angel and I will paint you one." - Gustav Courbet
"Quetzalcoatl, plumed serpent of the Aztecs... you are a pussy." - Stephen Colbert
"Really, I'm jealous of how much smarter than me he is. I'm not an expert on anything and he's an expert on things he knows nothing about." - Me, concerning a bullshitter
Joe wrote:He's just tapping into anti-American sentiment, which is pretty high right now, to deal with it. It's not so different from Schroeder in Germany.
No huge international outcry, though, for obvious reasons.
Schröder wasn't Anti-American. He was decidedly Anti-War, which is a tad bit different.
And it was only a miniscule part of his re-election, to begin with.
Great Dolphin Conspiracy - Chatter box
"Implications: we have been intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown. Apart from the unknown, everything is obvious." ZORAC GALE Force Euro Wimp Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
WTF? Ok, I can understand Chavez creating an issue but damn. With Bush in the office and election coming, do you really want to smack the hornets nest with your dick?
