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Chavez Says Venezuela Needs Russia for Protection From U.S.
iht.com — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on Tuesday for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect the South American country from the United States.
jaybol- 152 diggs
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- jargonaut, on 07/22/2008, -4/+2Would have left a controversial comment before FISA . . .
- TRMarchesano, on 07/22/2008, -2/+6I think ole' Hugo better watch his own people before he worries about us...
- twistaspliff, on 07/22/2008, -4/+5Last time I checked Chavez had overwhelming support from the people of Venezuela. It's only US propaganda that says otherwise. Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that gas is $0.12/gallon in that country and they won't share it with the US.
- keltin, on 07/22/2008, -2/+7Chavez was defeated in his attempt to become a President for Life. That is not overwhelming support from the people, twist-in-your-pants.
With Russian power methods, though, he can become one and ignore the ballot box.
- zearle, on 07/22/2008, -2/+3Despite the mantras repeated in the American press, the proposed constitutional reforms were much more complex and profound than a supposed power grab on the part of Chávez. Apart from removing term limits on the presidency (meaning Chávez or anybody else would be allowed to run for election for more than two terms in office, like in France, Italy, or the case of FDR) Venezuelans voted on 68 other proposed changes to the Constitution with a sweeping set of consequences.
The work day would have been reduced from 8 to 6 hours, a social security fund would be set up for the roughly 40 percent of Venezuelans who work informally and thus don't receive benefits or vacations, and discrimination based on sexual orientation would have been banned. A series of types of public, community, and social property would have been established and promoted, use of urban space would be guaranteed to all residents and speculation would be banned. And the programs of socialism and "popular power" would have been cemented and enshrined in the constitution. Popular power in this case consists of the autonomous formation of small local communal councils, which are given a sizable share of government resources to use as they see fit and are recognized as the local and fundamental units of the government.
This particular program is unquestionably radically democratic. The communal councils would decide freely on local programs and governance and would even elect the management of government and community media.
But these changes are only a fraction of those which were the most discussed, and a smaller fraction of those which would profoundly alter the country. And Venezuelans were given a little over a month to decide whether or not to support the package, which was initiated by one man, the still overwhelmingly popular Chávez. He submitted 33 proposed reforms to the National Assembly (Congress) who added 36 more. And despite the fact that I know less than a handful of people that actually read the entire reform project, those of us that did read and analyze it had a very hard time making sense of what the actual effects on the country would be in many cases. It seems that Venezuelans were basically being asked to vote mostly on the fact that Chávez supported the reforms.- chubbybubba, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1This is not an insult but it is totally true... as I was midway through your second paragraph I totally fell asleep. (It's pretty late where I'm at and I admit I was pretty tired but wow!) talk about a cure for insomnia. Again, no disrespect. lol.
- repoulin, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2No Mr. Chavez, not to protect the South America - to protect Venezuela
- miasmata, on 07/23/2008, -0/+110 bucks says Chavez and Putin talked to each other in English.
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