According to a press release by US Southern Command, on March 27, 2006; a US Navy Carrier Strike Group, will deploy from the US east coast to the Caribbean Sea from early April to late May 2006. It will consist of four ships, with 60 fighter planes, and 6,500 troops.
The stated reasons are; "enhancing military-to-military relationships with regional partner nations, improving operational readiness, and fostering good will." By "fostering good will" what is meant is sending a strong message to Venezuela and Cuba. The commander of the US Southcom General Bantz Craddock, has on many occasions attacked Venezuela. Two weeks ago to the US Senate, he called Venezuela, "a destabilizing force".
The US is bogged down in Iraq, and has no immediate plans to invade Venezuela, it certainly is on the table for future plans.
SEE: In Defense of Marxism
RENEGADE EYE
Can someone please explain what the hell is the US' problem with Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteYOu know the old sayings, walk small but carry a large air carrier/destroyer. It seems like Bush just wants to conquer the earth, and anyone who disagrees with him he wants to attack. Ever wonder if he would have the same plans if the soldiers were named Bush?
ReplyDeleteQ: What is the US' problem w/ Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteA: HUGE MASSIVE oil supply and a leader who refuses to be dictated to from BushCo.
Dammit to hell... and here I was hoping to someday be able to sneak into Cuba for a look-see and now these sons of bitches plan on rendering it destroyed like every other thing they touch... aren't the clusterfucks they have created in Iraq, Afghanistan, and America enough for them already??
Can someone please explain what the hell is the US' problem with Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteThey elected a mentally-unstable leader who is spewing atrocious obsenities at another not-so-bright leader who has his finger at a button that could launch thousands of nuclear weapons...
If somebody was hurling obsenities at me, and I could shut him up by pressing a single button, I wouldn't hesitate very long. Fortunately for Venezuelans (so far) Dubya is way more patient than myself...
Can someone please explain what the hell is the US' problem with Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteHere is a comic that explains it well:
http://www.bendib.com/newones/2004/august/large/Aristide%20and%20Chavez.jpg
Simply put, they have elected a leader who represents the interests of the working class, as opposed to the ruling class who control all the means of production. And so far, all attempts to remove him have failed. Plus he's got oil!
What's the big deal? Maybe the USA naval fleet for the South Atlantic should call off their readiness excercise because it might "look like a provocation" towards Cuba and Venezuela? Combined, these two nations have the military assets of the state of Rhode Island. I dont think if invasion were on the table that exercises would even be necessary. Chavez, the new windbag of the oppressed masses, is but a noisy annoyance. Once these same oppressed masses see that he cannot improve their lot any better than his precursers, he will be strung up Mussolini-style lickety-split.
ReplyDeleteWhat you think of Chavez, is beside the point. A democratically elected leader, is being militarily threatened. The issue is defending Venezuela against imperialism attack.
ReplyDeleteRoman: If Chavez is attacked from within, it would be because they are moving to a real revolution, not just proclaimations of socialism, or nationalizing industries that are given up by capitalists. The right in that country are isolated clowns. They chickened out against even running candidates.
Fontaine: Because the commander of the US Southcom General Bantz Craddock has gone before the senate attacking Venezuela, only recently. Do you think military to military exercises includes Cuba and Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteIt's not a matter of immediate military threat, it's potential future threats.
Can someone please explain what the hell is the US' problem with Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's anything to do with the working class in Venezuela. The US is paranoid about all the south american left wing governments that keep getting voted in recently. Venezuela is abviosuly the most serious for them as they have some muscle (oil revenue).
The US government is trying to look like it is doing something abroad to llok like it has a 'mission' at home...it's the only way it can get any sort of moral authority with Americans. That's what the 'war on terror' is about, at the end of the day.
but don;t worry about invasions. Even when Allende was in a similar position bin 1973 they didn't invade the place - they sent the CIA in.
Pat Robertson wants us to violate the 6th commandment and murder Hugo Chavez.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't a threat to anybody; it is simply SOCOM doing what it does. It is about maintaining power. I could go on for hours, but several months ago I blogged about my feelings on Chavez. I haven't recovered my energy from that, so I'm going to quit here.
ReplyDeleteChavez is a problem, like Arbenz was a problem and the Sandinistas were a problem and Allende was a problem. They do/did leftist things, like use the wealth created by the working class to improve the education, health and welfare of these producers, thereby depriving the bourgeoisie of some of their luxury. On top of that, they were elected by the people.
ReplyDeleteHistory shows that these sneaky leftists have been stopped before. Arbenz was forced from office and a bloody dictatorship was installed. Allende was killed in a conservative military coup. The Sandinistas were defeated in a long war of attrition and finally an election fought by Reagan's "freedom fighters" and their polytrickster reps. Things are back to "normal" now in Nicaragua--the poor are getting poorer and the rich are going in the other direction.
Chavez would be a fool if he didn't learn something from history. Being wary is not being paranoid or silly.
The magnificant BBC now tell me that the US has problems with: Peru, Bolivia, Brasil, Venezuala - well Latin America as a whole really!
ReplyDeletebah, the US has problems with anyone left of Margaret Thatcher
ReplyDeleteMark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic
ReplyDeleteand Policy Research writes:
IT WAS YET ANOTHER public relations coup for
Venezuela: Vila Isabel, the samba club sponsored
mainly by the Venezuelan government, won the parade
competition in Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval last week. A
float with a giant likeness of Simon Bolivar, combined
with thousands of ornately costumed participants
parading down the avenue, trumpeted the winning theme:
Latin American unity.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just last
month called for "a united front" against Venezuela,
continuing a long-term policy of trying to isolate the
country. But Washington has been spitting into the
wind. Venezuela's influence in the hemisphere has
continued to rise while the U.S. has succeeded only in
isolating itself more than at any time in at least
half a century. It might be worth asking why.
First, Venezuela is a democracy — despite the best
efforts of the Bush team to use President Hugo
Chavez's close relations with Cuba's Fidel Castro as
evidence to the contrary. Its elections are
transparent and have been certified by observers from
the Organization of American States, the Carter Center
and the European Union. Freedom of speech, of the
press, of assembly and of association prevail, at
least as compared with the rest of the hemisphere.
In fact, most of the media remains controlled by the
opposition, which attacks the government endlessly on
all the major TV channels. It is the most vigorous and
partisan opposition media in the hemisphere, one that
has not been censored under Chavez.
Like all of Latin America, Venezuela has governance
problems: a weak state, limited rule of law,
corruption and incompetent government. But no
reputable human rights organization has alleged that
Venezuela under Chavez has deteriorated with regard to
civil liberties, human rights or democracy, as
compared with prior governments. Nor does the country
compare unfavorably on these criteria with its
neighbors in the region. In Peru, the government has
shut down opposition TV stations; in Colombia, union
organizers are murdered with impunity.
[...]
full at --
www.latimes.com/news/opinion