Iran leader's Venezuela visit may irk US

[Say_What]

Deals, deals, and more deals.... China, Russia, India, Iran, various LatAm and Caribbean countries, who's next? :-)


<clips>

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - The presidents of Iran and Venezuela, two major oil producers pushing to
maintain high prices and at odds with U.S. global policies, meet this week for talks that could stoke tensions with
Washington.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, whose country U.S. President George W. Bush calls part of an "axis of
evil" and accuses of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, will make a three-day visit to Venezuela to begin on
Thursday.

Khatami will hold talks with President Hugo Chavez, whom Washington has criticized as a regional troublemaker
and who has called for a counterweight to U.S. international influence. The United States is a major buyer of
Venezuelan oil, but Chavez has been seeking alternative energy partners.

OPEC members Iran and Venezuela will sign deals in oil, gas, petrochemicals and shipping during Khatami's visit,
officials said.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5584834

[bemildred]

1. "May"? nt

[AP]

2. Aside: I heard Sy Hersh say that Iran was the UK's biggest trading partner

or one of their biggest trading partners.

Interesting, eh?

[Skidmore]

3. * and the neocons overplayed their hand. The next few decades

will be a time of revenge against this nation for his arrogance and the crimes of the neocon criminals.

[Say_What]

7. Yes. Where's PoodleBoy on Iran anyway--I don't follow much from

that part of the world.

:bounce:

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Tee hee. Iran sticks a big wet middle finger up Bush's ass.

Hope there's more of it.

:evilgrin:

[hippiechick]

5. They're calling dimson's bluff.

I love it. What's he gonna do, declare war on the rest of the planet ?

(Well, yeah, WE know he's delusional enough to try ... but if he does try ... methinks he'll be met with at least a little resistance this time.)

[Skidmore]

8. The Axis of Evil--* created it.

It didn't exist before. Now we have the ultimate manufactured crisis, from Bushco.

[Say_What]

6. Check that remark about *Chavez visiting North Korea*

Just to let readers know that the opposition is alive and well and being used to the US advantage, here's a bit of background on, Humberto Calderon Berti, who this article quotes as saying "All that's left is for him to visit North Korea,"

<clips>

Calderon Berti's role in the coup:

...By last Tuesday, April 9th, the ducks were all lined up. Forero, again, led the media charge when he wrote about the strange plans for a "labor" strike, supported by management and the national Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to shut down Venezuela's major cash cow industry - that of oil:

''This can only end with the president resigning,'' Humberto Calderon Berti, a former minister of energy and mines, told a throng of protesting executives from the oil company Petroleos de Venezuela in Caracas. ''All Venezuelans from all walks of life, from all social strata, from all the political and ideological sectors, must take part in the stoppage. This is about him or us. It is a choice between democracy or dictatorship.''

How many "protesting executives" makes a "throng"? It's going to take years to disassemble every slight-of-hand piece of rhetoric wielded by the mainstream media in trying to make The Revolt of the Spoiled Brats seem like a "popular uprising." (See the Q & A with Narco News by journalist Jules Siegel from our reports last weekend for details on the ingredients of the "astro-turf" that the inauthentic journalists tried to pass off as a grassroots rebellion.)

http://www.narconews.com/threedays.html

[Judi Lynn]

11. Anyone interested in the quality of objectivity within U.S. papers

as they educated us on Venezuelan events should read this article. It gives a close look at the New York Times, and Washington Post, and it's not good, which the DU'ers interested in learning more the coup found out.

I'm having to read it in fragments, but it's not an article to pass over. Thanks for the chance to read it.

[Say_What]

14. Great graphic!! LOL --ain't it the truth! Thanks for posting.

[Tempest]

9. Chavez just made a deal with India for oil

He made it clear the U.S. needed them more than Venezuela needs the U.S.

[murray hill farm]

10. Chavez...is not afraid of bush...

he makes that more clear every day...and every day it feels good to just see him take that stand...again and again.

[Cocoa]

12. what's the U.S. going to do about it?

try to overthrow Chavez?

threaten to invade Iran?

[Say_What]

13. Here's what PDVSA's Ramirez said in an interview today

<clips>

Aggression against Venezuela would lead to crude price rise: energy official

CARACAS, March 7 (Xinhuanet) -- An aggression against Venezuela by the United States could lead to an increase in the petroleum market to up to 100 dollars per barrel, warned Energy and Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez.

During an interview broadcasted Monday by State-owned television station VTV, Ramirez, who is also President of State-run petroleumcompany PDVSA, warned that a chaos in the petroleum market would occur should an abrupt aggression took place.

This is a situation that is being considered, and which should be considered as part of the US policy, which remains very aggressive in the Middle East, and which continues to threaten Venezuela, he added.

Ramirez said that an aggression against Venezuela, could place the oil market in a situation of chaos with a price of 100 dollarsper barrel and would be truly a catastrophe to the world economy.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/08/content_2665164.htm

[Judi Lynn]

15. Venezuela will be gaining an ally in Uruguay.....

Published: Sunday, March 06, 2005
Bylined to: Bob Chapman


Venezuela's PDVSA will supply oil to Uruguay under favorable financing terms

THE INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER editor Bob Chapman writes: Uruguay had its first socialist President take office. That makes six socialist leaders in Latin America. Tabare Vazquez has restored full diplomatic ties with Cuba. Vazquez is a 65-year-old cancer specialist. He joins Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Argentina's Nestor Kerchner, and Chile's Ricardo Lagos.

Uruguay was very prosperous but had a depression, which made the economy shrink 11%. That left 30% of Uruguayans below the poverty line.

The voters were particularly skeptical of free-market policies being touted by Washington as the remedy for the region's economic ills. South America adopted free-market reforms, opening their economics and privatizing state industries only to see their economies fall apart.

The gap between the poor and rich has widened, as the rich got richer. Vazquez' first act was to announce a US$100 million emergency social welfare plan guaranteeing basic health care and food for the poor.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias plans to sign three energy agreements with Uruguay's new president in Montevideo. He has already signed agreement with Argentina and Brazil towards the creation of a regional energy bloc known as Petrosur that would unify South America's state oil companies.
(snip/...)

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=26444

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gotta admire a leader who's making REAL progress for his country and working with other Latin American leaders to unite, combine their efforts in bringing Central and South America out of poverty. Amazing.