Venezuela’s Chavez offers supports to Syrian leader amid protests, blames US for unrest

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed support for Syria’s president on Saturday, calling him a “humanist” and a “brother” facing a wave of violent protests backed by the United States and its allies.

Chavez’s support for President Bashar Assad follows his defense of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who is fighting rebels backed by international airstrikes.

Venezuela’s socialist leader accused Washington of fomenting the protests in Syria as a pretext for Libya-style airstrikes.

“Now some supposed political protest movements have begun (in Syria), a few deaths ... and now they are accusing the president of killing his people and later the Yankees will come to bomb the people to save them,” Chavez said in a televised speech.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/venezuelas_chavez_offers_supports_to_syrian_leader_amid_protests_blames_us_for_unrest/2011/03/26/AFFCkteB_story.html?wprss=rss_world

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Yet another bad translation, I'm sure

There seem to be so many of those about, especially when it comes to Chavez's words.

[SPedigrees]

4. +1 nt

[bhikkhu]

10. I couldn't find it in a quick look over spanish sources...

but recently he's been on the wrong end of the Gadhafi argument, so it may be translated just fine. My overall sentiment is that power corrupts, term limits are a good idea, and that after too much time at the helm one's judgment starts to go.

[davidinalameda]

2. Hugo sure likes his dictators

[L. Coyote]

3. He has firsthand experience being replaced by one, albeit the people restored him

and saved Venezuela's democracy from Bush and the wingnuts.

[joshcryer]

9. What's strange is that when the US had deals with dictators...

...it was lambasted on these very forums.

Chavez has deals? Meh, who cares, sink to the bottom, slowly sink to the bottom.

[RedCloud]

44. He deals with our plutocratic dictators every day.

[davidinalameda]

28. and yet

his best allies are mostly if not all dictatorships

I guess he didn't learn much from his experience

and how democratic is it to have what basically amounts to dictatorial powers to deal with natural disasters when the main disaster he was mostly concerned with was the fact that the opposition gained seats in the congress

but you keep on apologizing for him

I'm sure he appreciates it

[RedCloud]

43. You are NOT supposed to remember that! Just corporations running things.

[joshcryer]

5. Wow.

[StarsInHerHair]

6. looks like he jumped off a cliff

NT

[onehandle]

7. Chavez has seen his future and does not approve. nt

[joshcryer]

8. Venezuela to set up joint funds with Libya and Syria

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?ID=192809&R=R1">Venezuela to set up joint funds with Libya and Syria
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government is creating a $1 billion joint fund with Libya to pay for projects that the two countries will pursue together.

Chavez announced the investment fund along with a similar $100 million joint fund with Syria as he reviewed the results of his latest seven-nation tour in a marathon speech Monday night.

He did not give details of how the funds would be spent but noted that pending projects with Syria range from helping build an oil refinery to setting up a plant for processing olive oil, both in the Middle Eastern country.

Chavez rebuffed criticism by political opponents who argue he is pursuing wasteful giveaways and misguided projects among the 69 accords signed during his trip in areas from oil to nuclear energy.

Note: ignore the website source, it is from the Associated Press. Only source I could find not behind a paywall.

[jzodda]

11. How can some of you people here at DU still support this guy?

In light of whats been going on? I am very curious.

[joshcryer]

12. I only see one instance of it in this thread.

Otherwise it is generally seen as "realpolitk."

[davidinalameda]

13. the usual apologists aren't commenting

maybe they've seen the light or their checks from him haven't cleared for the month

[L. Coyote]

15. Beacuse we know history and know who can be trusted.

Because we have lived in Latin America and experienced first-hand what US foreign policy really is
Because we have been on the ground where progressives and liberals are thrown out of airplanes.

[Psephos]

34. What exactly does that have to do with Chavez calling Assad a humanist and brother?

Nothing.

Stay on topic for once and tell us whether you think Chavez deserves praise or criticism for supporting his humanist brother in Syria.

[bemildred]

18. Nobody is perfect, I support Obama too, and he has done hardly anything good. nt

[RedCloud]

45. Hopefully you have enough experience to know why the unnecessary saber rattling

[FLPanhandle]

14. Chavez blames the US

:rofl:

A little helpful hint for you Chavez, the boogeyman approach only works if you don't over use it.

The boy is a broken record.

[L. Coyote]

16. And, he is probably right. He was when the US was involved in overthrowing him and democracy.

Anyone who thinks the US is not involved in the Middle East is incredibly blind.

[FLPanhandle]

17. Ahhh, the big, bad, all powerful USA argument

So ego centric.

Just a little reality for you. The US isn't that influential. All those folks protesting in the Middle East aren't doing this because of the USA.

[L. Coyote]

24. You might want to read a little history, and that's not the covert stuff. I.e. Shah of Iran

Have you any idea of how many governments have been overthrown and/or installed by the USA, Britain, etc?

Are you saying the US is not involved in the Middle East? Think Iraq, for example!!!

[FLPanhandle]

25. You might want to get a little perspective

Do you think the uprisings in the Middle East are caused by the USA? Of course not. They are happening regardless of what the US government wants or doesn't want and the US government is powerless to stop them or start them.

I know that comes as a shock to those who think the US is the all powerful behind the scenes player in every damn thing that happens of the planet.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[L. Coyote]

32. Thanks for answering your own easy question with the obvious answer.

I'm not into argumentation, just saying the USA is involved in Middle East wars, overt and secret, and even has kill squads roaming the world. Do you think there is nothing covert going on, no one getting paid for political unrest and destabalizing governments the USA opposes? Do you think no national political leaders have been killed?

The world is not all black and all white, and your form of argumentation is illogical. You cannot decide I think something extreme, counter it, and say I'm wrong when all that is wrong is your fralse supposition about my thinking.

[FLPanhandle]

41. Answer it yourself then.

Is the US government the primary cause for the popular uprisings & protests in the Middle East?

[joshcryer]

42. Only in Syria and Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Bahrain are all geniune.

Duh.

[cali]

37. anyone who thinks it's that simple is

incredibly blind. there's no excuse for calling Assad a humanist. He's not. that's bullshit.

[bemildred]

19. I find this more likely than in the case of Libya (US support for "destabilization").

Though the Syrian regime is old, corrupt, and undemocratic in the same way as Egypt before the revolution, and thus entirely capable of getting in trouble on its own.

I am starting to think that Chavez lacks a good grip on international affairs outside Latin America.

[COLGATE4]

20. Poor Hugo. Still just a One-trick Pony. Desperate for international

attention, even if he gets it by calling some of the lowest bottom-feeders 'brother'. Maybe he can whip up another copy of Bolivar's sword for Assad.

[No Elephants]

21. Most unfortunate.

[BenzoDia]

22. Where is the best place to get in-depth info on Chavez?

Everything I've read has been from U.S. media outlets, which I'm not necessarily knocking. But, I'd like to read opinions from Venezuelans and their neighbors (preferable unbiased and not politically motivated info).

[Spider Jerusalem]

46. You won't get an unbiased, not-politically motivated opinion from a Venezuelan

[ChangoLoa]

23. Chavez on Syria and al-Assad

Video from Telesur, in Spanish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3pl2QmlW5Y&feature=related

[rollin74]

27. sometimes I think Hugo can't really mean the stupid shit...

he says

he's an attention whore who likes to keep his name in the headlines with asinine statements on a regular basis.
He can't seriously be supporting Assad and Gadhafi. Can he?

[COLGATE4]

29. I don't believe he means it for a second - he's a sly, cunning little

failed golpista who will say anything that strikes him at a given moment. Right now he's desperately hanging on to his would be 'brothers in arms', the great liberators Khadaffi, Assad and Ortega. He's a true believer that all publicity is good publicity, which is why he keeps mouthing these idiotic statements.

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. See reply #8's link - that was Oct last year

He supported them then, I don't see why he wouldn't now.

[joshcryer]

33. That billion bucks was never accounted for, either.

I personally think that Chavez gave his two buddies dictator money to play with.

[Rage for Order]

31. Quick! Bring up something negative the US has done to distract from this inconvenient topic!

Being a dictator-wannabe means having to side with some very unsavory characters. :rofl:

Love is in the air

[robcon]

35. "Blames U.S. for unrest"

That's a knee-jerk by Chavez.

[Runework]

36. Tinpot Demagogues vs New World Corporate Order

which do you choose?

[Hannah Bell]

39. same difference.

[Hannah Bell]

38. "fomenting the protests in Syria as a pretext for Libya-style airstrikes."

wouldn't be the first time.

[joshcryer]

40. What makes Syrians very different from Tunisians or Egyptians or Yemens?

[Catherina]

47. Lol. Like he's wrong or something about the perverted colonial powers.

“The supposedly peaceful movements have already begun, and then there will be some deaths and they’ll be accusing the Syrian president of killing his people. Later, the Yankees come and want to bomb the people in order to save them, imagine that,” said President Chavez.

“What shameless cynicism! It’s a new strategy they’ve invented, to generate violent armed conflicts and spill blood in a country in order to then bomb it and intervene and take ownership of its natural resources and convert it into a colony,” Chavez said.

...

Venezuela supports the African Union’s proposal for a plan for peaceful mediation, Maduro said. “The empire desperately bombs the Libyan people every night. They want to destroy Libya before arriving at a peace accord,” he said.

“All of the world is seeing are lessons that we are learning about the way the former colonial powers desperately act when presented with an opportunity. They speak of democracy and human rights, but until yesterday they flattered Gaddafi, they were really courting the oil,” Maduro said.

...

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6096

Y'all just keep yapping about human rights ok? When we barely have them in the US, the number one prison planet on this earth.

[L. Coyote]

49. Meanwhile, Qatar recognises Libyan rebels after oil deal

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132814450241767.html

Just like our psychic predicted :rofl:

[Catherina]

50. Did you notice too that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are suddenly the bestest of friends?

As'ad AbuKhalil nailed it 3 weeks ago when he wrote that Qatar's Al Jazeera had officially joined the counterrevolution.

That prediction didn't even need a crystal ball.

Bridges, bridges, red hot bridges for sale!

[nalnn]

48. Meanwhile

Assad blames 'fundamentalists' and not the U.S.

[center rising]

51. Fuck Chavez!!!!!