Sunday, January 27, 2008

The British still like us at least...Right?


In a summit of South American leaders, president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez spoke to other leaders about creating a military alliance against the "imperial" United States.
There has always been tension between Chavez and the U.S, who think Chavez is just an ally of Castro and supporter of left wing ideals. While Chavez thinks the U.S is a threat to the central America. Part of the alliance include Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
It is bothersome to think that other countries feel like they have to create a military alliance in order to make sure that their countries are safe from the U.S. Is the fact that Venezuela is one of the top oil rich countries in the world have anything to do with the alliance? Does that make Chavez really paranoid or is there a little truth to his opinion?
People are very divided when speaking of Chavez, not only the views of people who live in Venezuela, but all over the world. So how does one get to the bottom of the controversy and find that facts? Unfortunately, with each side having a strong opinion about the other it is difficult to sift through the "facts" to find the truth behind this animosity.

3 comments:

pssst.. said...

Chavez is crazy, right? It does depend on the side you are on. There are people in both the US and Venezuela that think Chavez is a great leader, and there are people in both countries that think Chavez is a maniacal dictator.

It really comes down to whose interests you have at heart. If you were an oil tycoon in the US, then you would certainly tend to think that Chavez is ruining Central America as he is trying to restrict all outside access to the oil in his country. If you are a prideful Venezuelan who is enjoying some of the new found attention the country is getting and who respects Chavez's ability to stand up to a country that is largely considered a bully around the world, then you would likely tend to think that Chavez is great for Venezuela and the world.

This argument can be made for any group of people in any situation. Let us take suicide terrorism for instance. I am not saying that I support the killing of innocent people that occurs during suicide bombing attacks. What I am saying, is that if you are a citizen of a country like Lebanon, and you felt that the US was taking advantage of your country in the early 1980s, and you wanted to see your country emerge from the shadow of the US, then you perhaps might not have a problem with the terrorist attacks carried out by Hezbollah against the US Embassy in Lebanon in 1983. This is because it resulted in the eventual withdrawal of the US from Lebanon. If you were a family member of one of the victims of the attack, then your views of the bombing would obviously be very different.

Anonymous said...

I think that it's unfortunate that Chavez has been successful in creating alliances against the United States. There is no doubt in my mind that these alliances have everything to do with the fact that Venezuela is a top oil provider. Chavez has tactfully, taken care of other countries' debts in exchange for there support.
It's surprising to see how much support Chavez has been able to gain in the last year. It will be interesting to see just how many of his goals he will be able to accomplish. Hopefully, not many!

Ian Morales said...

Chavez is a Chomsky reading, Castro supporting, Communist wack job. His power lies in the oil. If you ask me, he ought to be thanking the Middle Eastern terrorists for saving his ass. If it wasn't for Iraq, the Bush administration would surely have found a reason to go after Chavez instead.