Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Cox & Forkum: Belly Up

CNN: Venezuela to nationalize ‘absolutely all’ energy sector.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Saturday the country’s entire energy sector had to be nationalized, reinforcing his socialist revolution and possibly giving himself more targets for state take-over.But he said he would permit foreign firms to hold minority stakes in energy deals.

The anti-U.S. leader, in power since 1999, this week announced he would nationalize power utilities and the country’s biggest telecommunications firm, confirming his status as the catalyst of Latin America’s swing to the left.

“We have decided to nationalize the whole Venezuelan energy and electricity sector, all of it, absolutely all,” Chávez said in his annual state of the nation address to parliament, potentially opening up more projects for state acquisition in the No. 4 crude exporter to the United States.

The president was reinaugurated this week for a term that runs through 2013.

Chávez has already pursued oil and gas projects and power utilities but on Saturday left no leeway for a private company to hold a majority in operations anywhere in the energy sphere.

What will be targeted?
It was not immediately clear whether his pronouncement on nationalizing the whole sector was a precursor to moves against specific projects or companies.

Venezuela will have to judge how closely private firms must be connected to the country’s oilfields, refineries, pipelines, gasoline stations and coal mines to count as targets for nationalization.

Huge oil service companies such as Halliburton and Schlumberger operate in Venezuela but Chávez gave no indication whether deals involving such businesses were now in his sights.

Hugo Chavez Watch: Iran and Venezuela Plan to Fund Projects – To Thwart United States Domination

AP: Iran and Venezuela plan anti-U.S. fund

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — fiery anti-American leaders whose moves to extend their influence have alarmed Washington — said Saturday they would help finance investment projects in other countries seeking to thwart U.S. domination.

The two countries had previously revealed plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but the leaders said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in friendly countries throughout the developing world.
“It will permit us to underpin investments … above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke,” Chavez said.

“This fund, my brother,” the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, “will become a mechanism for liberation.”

“Death to U.S. imperialism!” Chavez said.

Solution:

USA Energy Independence

---

Technorati Tags: Cox&Forkum, HugoChavez, Venezuela, Iran

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Iran ‘s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez stand at attention outside Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007.

AP: Iran and Venezuela plan anti-U.S. fund

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — fiery anti-American leaders whose moves to extend their influence have alarmed Washington — said Saturday they would help finance investment projects in other countries seeking to thwart U.S. domination.

The two countries had previously revealed plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but the leaders said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in friendly countries throughout the developing world.
“It will permit us to underpin investments … above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke,” Chavez said.

“This fund, my brother,” the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, “will become a mechanism for liberation.”

“Death to U.S. imperialism!” Chavez said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez(L) welcomes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas. Iran and Venezuela called for new OPEC oil production cuts to support plunging crude prices.

Ahmadinejad, who is starting a tour of left-leaning countries in the region, called it a “very important” decision that would help promote “joint cooperation in third countries,” especially in Latin America and Africa.
It was not clear if the leaders were referring to investment in infrastructure, social and energy projects — areas that the two countries have focused on until now — or other types of financing.

Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Chavez said Saturday that they had agreed to back a further oil production cut in the cartel to stem a recent fall in crude prices.
“We know today there is too much crude in the market,” Chavez said. “We have agreed to join our forces within OPEC … to support a production cut and save the price of oil.”

Isn’t it clear as to how the United States should proceed?

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

The United States must use its technology to free itself from the OIL YOKE attempting to be imposed by totalitarian dictators like Hugh Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Solutions:

Drill in ANWR and further develop American oil reserves – cutting dependence on Venezuela and Middle East oil

Develop more nuclear power plants

Use technology to develop alternative fuels and electric power for automobiles, trucks and trains.

But, the United States needs to start today…….

Stay tuned……..

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(C-L) is received by Venezuelan Vice President Jorge Rodriguez(C-R) upon his arrival to Simon Bolivar international airport in Caracas. Ahmadinejad, seeking support among Washington’s critics, arrived for talks with his ideological “brother” President Hugo Chavez in a decidedly anti-US Latin American tour.

Previous:

Michael Ramirez on Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chávez Attacks Bush as a “Genocidal” Leader

Hugo Chavez Watch: 7-Eleven Dropping Venezuela’s CITGO

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chavez – Bush Has Given Order to Kill Me

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chavez Calls President Bush “THE DEVIL” During United Nations Speech

9/11 Conspiracy Theory Watch: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela Says 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Bear Examination

---

Technorati Tags: HugoChavez, MahmoudAhmadinejad, Venezuela, Iran

CNN: Chavez says he’s ready to transform Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez says nothing can stop him from swiftly transforming Venezuela into a socialist state, and he faces few obstacles now that a crushing re-election win has given him free rein to pursue more radical changes.

His first big move — to nationalize “strategic” power and telecommunications companies — heralds a series of planned “revolutionary laws” that remain vaguely defined. But with oil profits booming and his popularity high, Chavez appears to be in step with a majority of Venezuelans even as spooked investors dumped shares in the affected companies.

“Everything the man is doing is good,” said Orlando Vera, a 63-year-old window washer, on Tuesday, adding that his economic situation has improved under Chavez. As for nationalization, Vera said it makes sense for companies that serve the public interest.

Chavez, an admirer of Fidel Castro, says he is crafting a new sort of “21st Century Socialism.” Critics say it is starting to look like old-fashioned totalitarianism by a leader obsessed with power.

“Fatherland, socialism or death — I take the oath,” Chavez said.

A Fidel Castro Communist style dictator in the making.

A fearless leader with life tenure?

Nationalization, laws by decree, elimination of elections – Where have we heard this before?

---

Technorati Tags: MichaelRamirez, HugoChavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during a meeting with the foreign media at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. Chavez said that Democrats made strong gains in U.S. congressional elections thanks to a ‘reprisal vote’ against U.S. President George W. Bush . The picture in the background is the Venezuelan liberator Simon Bolivar.

Venezuela’s president continued his criticism of President Bush after the pro-Chávez legislature declared that the 9/11 attacks were `self-inflicted.’

Miami Herald: Chávez attacks Bush as a ‘genocidal’ leader

When Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chávez called President Bush ”the devil” in a U.N. speech in September, many thought his ”anti-imperialist” rhetoric had reached rock bottom.

But fresh depths have since been plumbed. The Venezuelan government, to judge from recent events, officially regards Bush as a genocidal Nazi who arranged the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to justify aggression against other nations.

In a speech Tuesday, Chávez criticized the decision of an Iraqi court to sentence former dictator Saddam Hussein to the death penalty. ”If sentencing is to be done,” Chávez said, “the first one to be given the most severe sentence this planet has to offer should be the president of the United States, if we’re talking about genocidal presidents.”

NUTTER, NUTTER, NUTTER

His comments, which were fairly typical of his recent attacks on Bush, came shortly after the publication of a resolution by Venezuela’s legislative National Assembly describing the 9/11 attacks as ”self-inflicted” and after an exhibition at the Foreign Ministry building in Caracas in which Bush was portrayed as a Nazi storm trooper.

The resolution, which appeared in the official government gazette in mid-October, primarily criticized Washington’s decision to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out.

But in its fourth paragraph, it calls on the U.S. Congress to “demand that the government of President Bush explain the self-inflicted attack on the World Trade Center and its victims, the supposed aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon and the links between the bin Laden family and the Bush family.”

The resolution, drafted by the deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Carlos Escarrá, was passed unanimously by the 167-member assembly, all of them Chávez supporters after an opposition boycott of elections last December.

Both Chávez and Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro have referred several times in the past to suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the Bush administration, and have called for an inquiry.

But this appears to be the first time that the term ”self-inflicted attack” has been used without qualification.

Asked how the legislature had reached that conclusion, Escarrá said that ”evidence and testimonies” had emerged in the United States and that ”for the rest of the world, there is no longer any question” that 9/11 was not an al Qaeda attack.

About the time the lawmakers were approving the resolution, an exhibition called ”Truths About the Empire” was on display in the foyer of the Foreign Ministry. It included a photo montage showing Bush dressed in the uniform of the German SS.

Flap wonders if John Conyers will pick up on this………

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a South American map during a meeting with the foreign media at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006.

Previous:

Hugo Chavez Watch: 7-Eleven Dropping Venezuela’s CITGO

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chavez – Bush Has Given Order to Kill Me

Hugo Chavez Watch: Chavez Calls President Bush “THE DEVIL” During United Nations Speech

9/11 Conspiracy Theory Watch: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela Says 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Bear Examination

---

Technorati Tags:HugoChavez, Venezuela