CNN reports that Venezuelan wannabe dictator Hugo Chavez “told a crowd gathered in the center of Caracas that if the referendum was approved and the result was questioned — ‘if the ‘yes’ vote wins on Sunday and the Venezuelan oligarchy, playing the [U.S.] empire’s game, comes with their little stories of fraud’ — then he would order oil shipments to the United States halted Monday.”
In other words, if anyone dares to question the fairness of the elections - and lets be honest, Hugo will make sure that the result will be ‘yes’ no matter what Venezuelans think about it - Venezuela will stop exporting oil to the US which will not only hurt to the US, but the West as a whole (oil prices are likely to go up) ánd it will hurt the Venezuelan people who work in the oil industry.
Of course, Chavez could care less about the Venezuelan people.
That’s not all, of course, he also “threatened to take independent Venezuela television network Globovision off the air if it broadcast partial results during the voting.” And that’s only the start of it: “He also threatened to take action against international networks, accusing CNN in particular of overstating the strength of the opposition’s numbers.”
“If any international channel comes here to take part in an operation from the imperialist against Venezuela, your reporters will be thrown out of the country, they will not be able to work here. People at CNN, listen carefully: This is just a warning,” the grumpy little general said.
One wonders whether CNN will continue to report honestly about what’s happening in Venezuela or whether the American news network will appease this wannabe dictator and change its tune. Hopefully, honestly and journalistic integrity beat befriending Chavez at CNN.
All in all, “Venezuela accounts for up to 15 percent of U.S. crude imports.” The US is, by far, “Venezuela’s biggest oil customer and one of the few countries that can refine its low-quality crude.” In other words, Chavez would hurt his own people more than he would hurt the US if he would temporarily halt all exports to the US.
If an independent investigation could show that the US meddled with the elections then I think Chavez should hit them where it hurts, but since his pork and grandiose populist programs require US money it’s just a bunch of hot air.
It’s darn clever of him to once again prepare for a loophole should he lose - say the Skulls and Bones did something and impose martial law to secure his population from their wily schemes. Infantile, but clever.
Once again we have an example that without persistent actions to limit itself social democrats can’t be trusted.
“Once again we have an example that without persistent actions to limit itself social democrats can’t be trusted.”
… example showing that … themselves …
I learned a hard lesson when I was a child in the 3rd grade in Cuba. I had a stalker little weasle harrass me every day on the way home from school. Somtimes I had to buy him lunch to keep him from hitting me. One day, this bully pushed his luck and I also realized how much bigger than Him I was. When he followed me home, I waited for him to stalk me one more time, that was his last day I would take his insult. I punched him in the nose and gave him a bloody nose and went crying to his mother.
Analogy, the US being the big country that it is, with power to destroy or control anything it chooses, it chooses not to. Until one day, after threat after threat, the day has come to punch the bully in the nose. If he cuts off the oil, we will destroy their refineries causing two problems for him: 1) He loses the revenue he needs to buy loyalty from his lazy cronies. , 2) Deny him from selling the oil he would cut off to other countries such as China.
I guarantee you, he will go home crying to his Mother, Fidel and hopefully we can beat his mother up as well. Believe me, his chroniism is worst than any other Dictator or elected president in the world. His power is based on his ability to manipulate the banks in Venezuela. If the Venezuelans can keep him from controlling and wasting their treasure, then is time to break his check book.
After that, wait for anyother bully to come to the school yard. I guarantee you, no other kid will show their faces to challenge us.
BTW, I will guarantee you Iran will watch this action very closely and convert to Christianity like Kadafe did. This bullies need someone to call them on the carpet and what better than Venezuela that is close to us and is a war that we can win and will have the moral duty to take care of this matter once and for all.
“If he cuts off the oil, we will destroy their refineries”
Um, will he breach some kind of contract? If not, you can forget that kind of action. The US would rightly become a detested pariah.
“I guarantee you, he will go home crying to his Mother, Fidel and hopefully we can beat his mother up as well.”
That’s a very funny parapraxis right there.
The US should just make sure that Venezuela doesn’t earn any money whatsoever from it. This means no charity, no aid, no economic ties whatsoever.
That’s the kind of reaction you’ve got to give. Chavez won’t use force, the US shouldn’t do so either. Hit him where it hurts: in the wallet.
“Hopefully, honestly and journalistic integrity beat befriending Chavez at CNN.”
I wouldn’t hold my breath. Honesty and journalistic integrity certainly didn’t beat befriending Saddam Hussein.
And CNN did not exactly exhibit a lot of misgivings over that position, whining about how it was necessary to get access, so…..
Tap: yes, I agree. I left that out because I thought that most readers know that I’m not holding my breath.
Gus, part of Chavez’s weakness is that, like Iran, Venezuela doesn’t have significant refining capacity. So if they don’t ship out crude, they don’t have money to buy refined products (e.g. gasoline) for themselves. And virtually all of Venezuela’s crude gets shipped to the US for refining, because nobody else has much capacity to refine it. Catch 22 for Chavez — he’s joined at the hip to the US oil industry, no matter how much he hates (and tries to ignore) the fact.
Anyone familiar with oil economics knows that oil is the most fungible commodity of all. If the silly moron doesn’t ship it to Lake Charles or the LOOP, the stuff will go somewhere else.
The cretin actually doesn’t comprehend that Citgo will be the one to suffer if he carries out his foolish threat.
But he’s doing the mau-mauing that dogs yapping at heels of humans always do.
He’ll steal the election, Jimmy Carter will say it’s okay, and Fidel will say the US is out to kill fat Hugo, who reminds me somehow of Teddy Kennedy.
wj I have visited Venezuela’s one refinery, almost the largest in the world, at Palos just onshore from Aruba, whose smoke plume can be seen offshore. If that refinery goes down, the silly caudillo will have to drink his crude.
Oh, and if you ever visit Caracas, that smell is of emission levels higher [because it's in an enclosed valley] than any other place in the world, including LA back in the days of smog.
I like the story buy Gus. Daveinboca, is right too. Citgo is 100% owned by PDVSA and thus, Chavez. He intends to cut of the U.S. from oil after he gets his pipeline built, and his super tanker joint venture with China is complete. So let him bail on Citgo Monday. That would stop his cash flow. His one refinery can’t handle the loads of heavy sour crude. You can’t put that tar in a tanker. It has to be refined.
Cumunist thugs don’t understand engineering or free enterprise. They just know about brutal force and low brow propaganda promising riches to the poor and uneducated.