Reply #52: I agree with you about the leftist democracy revolution in South America

[Peace Patriot]

(and quickly spreading to Central America), and I would like to hear more about your assessment of it, especially since you have lived in the countries you mention. But I think your fear of Venezuela's new freedom in forming alliances is unfounded, and that the context in which Chavez is working (the South American context) is very important to understand. For instance, Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, recently said that the U.S. 4th Fleet is a threat to Brazil's new oil fields on their Atlantic coast. And it was Brazil--not Venezuela--that recently proposed a South American common defense, in conjunction with the newly formed South American "Common Market" (UNASUR). Brazil! South American leaders in general are very worried about Bushwhack intentions in South America and the Caribbean. And they have this Bushwhack supported and funded fascist rioting in Bolivia, last week, to make them even more concerned. Ecuador's president has said it's a three-country Bushwhack strategy, to instigate fascist insurrections and split off the oil rich provinces of these countries, into fascist mini-states that will then permit our global corporate predators to regain control of the oil and other resources. You will notice that South America's leaders convened a meeting of UNASUR--not the OAS--to deal with the Bolivian crisis. The U.S. (Bush) is not a member of UNASUR. And they thus achieved unity on a plan of action, which they would not likely have done at the OAS, with the Bushwhacks obstructing.

It is in this CONTEXT that Chavez/Venezuela invited Russia to naval maneuvers in the Caribbean. He is responsible for protecting UNASUR's northern flank--until they can get a common defense in place (something that the Colombian military--funded by the Bushwhacks, to the tune of $6 BILLION--is trying to slow down). Chavez is also responsible for protecting Zulia--Venezuela's oil rich province on the Caribbean--and preventing any hostile moves by the Bushwhacks, using the local fascist cabal, Colombian forces and the 4th Fleet. If the Bushwhacks were able to get control of Zulia's oil (--and it is in fact more vulnerable than the eastern provinces of land-locked Bolivia), they could blackmail the entire Caribbean/Central American region with it, and try to create a leftist-free zone in this region, as a buffer against the coming powerhouse of South America's Common Market. It would mean starving out Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador (about to elect a leftist government), possibly Guatemala--any "uppity" leftist country in the region into social justice and Latin American self-determination--and, of course, Cuba, which is getting low-cost oil from Venezuela in exchange for doctors. It would gravely threaten ALBA (the Bolivarian trade group), and cripple Venezuela and its social programs.

The Venezuela/Russia naval maneuvers are a warning off--a defensive move--and it really needs to be understood as a warning off issued by virtually the entire continent of South America. Chavez is not doing anything like this without consulting the other leaders. That is how they are now working. It is a critical new component of their strength as a region--unity, cooperation among leaders and peoples--and it is why they are likely going to win this remarkable, peaceful, democratic, social justice revolution. They are in it together. Leaders like Lula da Silva and the Kirchners in Argentina have made this very clear. They support Chavez. They have his back. They support Morales and have his back. They support all of the Boliviarian leaders. They know very well that these leaders are democrats with a small d, and good for South America. And, believe me, Russia would not be doing naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean without the agreement of most of the leaders in South America.

As for Russia's intentions--I'm sure they are glad to stick it to Bush any way they can. But the situation is vastly different now, than it was back in the Cuban Missile Crisis days. Russia is dealing with an increasingly unified, increasingly democratic South America, with also increasing assertion of sovereignty by almost all Latin American countries. They cannot--and won't try--to bully anybody (like the Bushwhacks have done). And they are just one of many countries that Venezuela--and other South American countries--are newly opening trade with. Brazil and Venezuela just put up the money to build a road from the Atlantic coast of Brazil, through Bolivia, all the way to the Pacific coast of Chile (another leftist government), which has newly granted sea access to Bolivia. This will become a super-highway of trade across the 'bottom' of the world--from Africa to Asia. Russia wants a trade position in the new South American "Common Market." They want it to thrive. They want to be part of it. The U.S. could be, too--if we had a government with any common sense--rather than one that knows only one foreign policy--mass murder and mass theft. Russia is no threat to us or to Latin America. It is our government that is the threat. It is our government that is our enemy and everyone else's. It is our government that slaughtered a hundred thousand innocent people, in one night of "shock and awe" bombing, to get their oil. It is our traitorous government that is right now selling us into permanent bankruptcy, in the most staggering theft in human history. That should be our major concern--not a few Russian boats warning the fuckers off of Venezuela's oil coast.