Venezuela the Rebel
Misleading news on Venezuela and Nigeria
about cutting their oil production when the other
OPEC countries have plans to do the same and,
unlike Venezuela, their plans were to do it secretively.
The cut is (a) Venezuela - 50, 000 b/d (b) Nigeria -
120,000b/d and (c) Saudi Arabia - 200,000 b/d
The media can be quite misleading....
Misleading news on Venezuela and Nigeria
about cutting their oil production when the other
OPEC countries have plans to do the same and,
unlike Venezuela, their plans were to do it secretively.
The cut is (a) Venezuela - 50, 000 b/d (b) Nigeria -
120,000b/d and (c) Saudi Arabia - 200,000 b/d
The media can be quite misleading....
posted by Editor at 8:11 AM
9 Comments:
I have no problems with the Venezuelan people. My problems are strictly with that madman Hugo Chavez. Who does he think he is... Fidel Castro? Hahahaha!! Hugo Chavez is donkey dung next to Fidel Castro.
Oh, and BTW, I do not respect Castro either. May he rot in hell for the suffering he has caused.
My advice to George W. Bush is to nationalize the assets of Citgo just as Evo Morales did in Bolivia. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
(:D) Best regards...
Mr. Hawkeye:
Read my response to Mr. Beerme, but here is something additional.
You claim Chavez is a madman? Why?
You claim Castro has caused suffering? Why?
I'll help just a bit. First, the media plays a role. Second, they're considered leftist. Third, they don't kiss ass to the US.
So Evo Morales has nationalized companies? Which ones?
If so, why is nationalizing wrong?
Because the media says it? Come on, let's start thinking for ourselves.
Chavez and Morales are both democratically elected. People had enough with rich elite corrupt governments that could careless about the country. At least these guys look out for the middle and lower classes, which account for almost 80-90% of most Latin American countries. (My stats may be a bit off, but you get the picture.)
How about if we had a US president that would give a damn about his own people and do as told by another country?
My point. Let's be fair here and start making well thought out judgments about Latin America.
Edu Cate,
I claim that Chavez is a madman because... only a madman would suggest that George W. Bush is "El Diablo" who leaves the smell of sulfur in the United Nations General Assembly (which no one else but Chavez seemed to smell).
I claim that Chavez is a madman because... he makes friends with other madmen like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Fidel Castro.
Ahmadinejad is a madman because he seeks nuclear weapons so he can "wipe Israel off the map".
Castro is a madman because he thinks the Cuban people want to live under dictatorship without freedom of speech.
I claim that Castro has caused suffering because of books and articles like the following...
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
Which companies has Evo Morales nationalized? Read the following... HERE and HERE.
Nationalizing is NOT wrong if you live in the country that is doing the nationalizing. However, if you are a foreign company that has invested billions of dollars in a country, and that country decides to nationalize YOUR INVESTMENT... well, that is WRONG!
So I am ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS when I say that Bush should nationalize Citgo which was purchased by Chavez. Bush should take it away from Chavez and give it to the American middle and lower classes. It is not wrong for me, because I live in the country that would do the nationalizing.
You say... How about if we had a US president that would give a damn about his own people and do as told by another country?
Well then, how about if we had a Latin American president that would do as told by another country? ...I mean, fair is fair. What's good for the U.S. is good for Latin America, eh?
By the way, President Bush was democratically elected just like Chavez and Morales... Two times, in fact!
And I will start making well thought out judgments about Latin America when Chavez, Morales and Castro start making well thought out judgments about the U.S.
(I'm not holding my breath)
(:D) Best regards...
Mr. Hawkeye:
One problem is misinformation and the other we stop thinking for ourselves.
According to your reasoning of madman - it seems we can apply it almost to anyone.
Again, I will give you some facts and hopefully we can draw a solid conclusion.
1. Repsol is the largest Spanish
investor in Bolivia's energy sector.
2. Repsol has invested 1,500,000,000 Euros ($1,200,000,000) in Bolivia
3. In 2005, Reposal Net Income = 3,120,000,000 Euros
4. In 2004, Repsoal Net Income = 2,414,000,000
5. In a respected Spanish Newspaper (1/4/06)they report the following:
- Bolivia has a rich terrain....having the second largest gas reserve in Latin America and abundant in petroleum. This is contrasted with 60% level of poverty and 35% of the population can't cover their basic nutritional needs.
-In the last 25 years, the government has advanced extreme liberalization policies...which have had a brutal impact on impoverished Boliviana.
- Repsol enjoys nearly 30% of market share since 2001. Repsol directors claim that for every $1 invested they recover $10.
Tell me what's fair here? If this is ok, then we should have allowed our friends from Enron to continue making money and play around with California's power.
Or let's forget about rural US America and stop subsidizing agriculture and while we're at it let's stop helping the steel industry.
The US has every right to have stopped Enron and to protect its people. Then why is it wrong that Bolivia or Venezuela do the same?
And you say the middle and poor classes of the US....you have no idea do you. The poor in the US have at least a car and a TV....in Bolivia they barely have enough to eat.
It is imperative that we educate ourselves about Latin America...because we're in a sad state of pure ignorance!
Latin America is in the state it is in because there is no:
1. Rule of law
2. Respect for Private Property
3. Free market
4. Educated electorate
5. Free Media
6. Free speech
Given these six items, these countries could compete in the world market and thrive, raising all of the populations out of poverty. Instead, you want to join the throng of starving, miserable communist third-worlders. How educated is that?
Of course the US is not perfect. As you mentioned, trade supports for agriculture are harmful to third world countries and to the US consumers. These subsidies exist because people are greedy. All people are greedy, not just Enron executives. Stealing from a multinational corporation is still stealing.
Our system works because it catches the greedy people (usually) and sets up safeguards to prevent it from happening. Communism assumes that the enlightened leaders are not greedy and that the people need to be educated out of their position of ignorance before they can become one of the enlightened leaders. When has that worked?
According to your reasoning of madman - it seems we can apply it almost to anyone.
OH, REALLY? Have you called someone "El Diablo" lately? Have you said that the smell of sulfur remains where that person was standing? I have not. None of my friends have.
Do you hang around with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? ...or with Fidel Castro? I don't. None of my friends do. I think only madmen hang around with those guys (but that's just me).
I don't know much about Repsol except that it is a large Spanish oil and gas company. I would be interested to see where you got your figures from. Also, I would be interested to know the name of the "respected Spanish Newspaper" you speak of. Perhaps it is respected by some, but not by others?
(:D) Regards...
And you say the middle and poor classes of the US....you have no idea do you. The poor in the US have at least a car and a TV....in Bolivia they barely have enough to eat.
Believe me, I DO know how poor many people are around the world. I have travelled. I am NOT ignorant. Please do not treat me like a child.
But if America is wealthy, it is not because we stole that wealth from others around the world (in spite of what many would like you to think). Americans are wealthy because they work hard and believe in free enterprise.
America has been blessed by God with many natural resources, but it is American ingenuity like that of George Washington Carver who found 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds more uses for soy beans and dozens of uses for things like sweet potatoes and pecan nuts.
G.W.Carver gave all the glory to God and he took very little money for his work... but his work gave thousands of people jobs.
After the Civil War, industrialism transformed America into an economic powerhouse. And most of that ecomonic growth was completely internal. America did not go to other countries to steal their wealth. America became prosperous because of industry, manufacturing and trade WITHIN the U.S.
America today is the ONLY superpower in the world. That makes some people jealous. That makes some people believe that America is a tyrant. That makes some people believe that America steals from other countries... Far from it. America gives more to the rest of the world in foreign aid and charity (through private donations) than ANY OTHER country in the world.
You may not like us, but then, I don't think you REALLY know us.
My point. Let's be fair here and start making well thought out judgments about the United States of America.
Mr. Beerme and Mr. Hawkeye:
Here's a fact. Thomas Jefferson was one of the greatest thinkers, politicians, philosophers, philanthropists....of our country.
I have high esteem for him and many of our founding fathers, but not because of this will I sacrifice fairness and objectivity. First, slavery helped a whole lot to push the US into the powerhouse it became. Think about it, free labor-for how many workers and for how long. On top of that, this country subjected a race to feel inferior and not intrude on the country's path.
"America did not go to other countries to steel their wealth"...how do you think the Panama Canal was built and what do you tell me about our "common-wealth" territories...i.e. Puerto Rico. Find out about the United Fruit Company in the early 1900's and of course the history of bullying we've done around the world.
There are some aspects of the US that are just admirable...and you're right our ingenuity and even more the freedom to express our ideas are great. But some of our success has been at the expense of repression and racism. It's been at the expense of many deaths (the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is unbelievable) and pushing our weight around the world because of our big and mighty weapons. We're losing touch with civility...this is not high school where the bully gets his way...you're right some distaste for the US maybe because of it's might....but also because we've created many injustices and we deny them.
To answer you're question about Repsol's numbers. See their website and look at their latest annual report. The “respected Spanish newspaper” is Cinco Dias...here's the link to their report:
http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/opinion/Repsol/Bolivia/matrimonio/conveniencia/cdscdi/20060401cdscdiopi_4/Tes/
One other point, do you notice how both of you have misinterpreted my objectivity and facts with being against the US. How did you draw this conclusion?
Look, I'm not out to attack a country or defend another...what I'm trying to achieve is that we remain objective about Latin America. Because, many of the unfounded judgments you have made are the same our policy makers make and will continue to make, and we're just creating more injustices in this region. And, from an American standpoint, we're alienating ourselves in the world....we're losing touch with the reality that is around us.
Mr. Beerme:
A black and white judgment.
1+1+1+1+1+1 = economic prosperity.
No 1+1+1+1+1+1 = 0 = Latin American "state"
The equation is missing some items, and some are actually closer to non existent, so instead of 1 it's probably .009 or .9.
Do you know that only 28% of our population has at least a Bachelor's Degree. We're not that educated given all our colleges and opportunities.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/004214.html
With this, I could make the statement we also have an uneducated electorate. How many of our kids in high school have the maturity to understand politics, especially when many of them are busy playing video games and dealing with the troubles of peer pressure.
Despite what you think, many literacy rates in Latin America are closer to 80 if not 90%. I've also traveled to a few countries in the region...and trust me many poor people are quite intelligent, and even though they lack the formal education, their well-tuned to the politics. What they lack is information more than formal education.
Failing or not to follow liberal economics is not the answer. In fact, many have and their not any better...read the blog about Repsol and Bolivia that I wrote in response to Mr. Hawkeye.
I agree some of the items you have listed are reasons, but why do they exist. They didn't suddenly appear because Chavez and Morales came around. These problems are rooted to the very beginnings of these countries. And have been exacerbated by a trail of elite rich governements that have been worried about pleasing the US rather than looking out for its people. The US is accostumed to get their way in Latin America...and leaders like Chavez and Morales come along and it's all chaos. Here's a question....how many times have Chavez and Morales been connected to attrocities or military repression like governments the US has been friends with....ie. Pinochet, Fugimori, Somosa...even Uribe Velez?
Apparently it's worse to nationalize an industry (by the way dealing with your own resources) or to call Bush " El Diablo" than to torture and kill hundreds or to have paramilitaries massacre towns and then get amenesty from their government.
Final thought, I don't claim to know much about political science but there is more than just capitalism vs communism. The only communist country in Latin America is Cuba....trust me none of these countries consider themselves communist. It's a Cold War mentally that was wrong then about Latin America and now we're definitely wrong.
Think different to the US = communist
This black and white mentality again shows how little we know....
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