Latin America's oil rebels rebuff EU

[Eugene]

Latin America's oil rebels rebuff EU

· Venezuela and Bolivia use summit to hail 'new era'
· Blair urges responsible approach to energy stocks

Duncan Campbell and agencies
Saturday May 13, 2006
The Guardian

The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Latin America's most outspoken leaders,
yesterday rebuffed demands by the European Union and other leaders at a summit
in Vienna to temper their policies on foreign investment and energy, declaring
that a new political era had arrived.

Tony Blair, who attended the summit of European Union, Latin American and
Caribbean countries, called for a "responsible approach" to the debate.

"Neo-liberalism has begun its decline and has come to an end," the Venezuelan
president, Hugo Chávez, said at the gathering of nearly 60 heads of state, according
to Reuters. "Now a new era has begun in Latin America. Some call it populism, trying
to disfigure our beauty. But it is the ... voice of the people that is being heard."

<snip>

"What countries do in their energy policy when they are energy producers like Bolivia
and Venezuela matters enormously to all of us," Mr Blair said yesterday's. "My only
plea is that people exercise the power they have got in this regard responsibly
for the whole of the international community ... people are worried about energy
supply in the future."

<snip>

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1773943,00.html

[cliss]

1. The world is changing

to a new paradigm. It's called the "Era of the Suppliers". Up till now, the End Users have called the shots; they dictated policy and the oil countries had little choice but to follow the rules.

In the new era, the energy suppliers call the shots. This new development is directly related to the price of oil. the more oil goes up in price, the more power the suppliers get.

It's no coincidence that suddenly, Iran is refusing to be cowed. Look at Venezuela, and now Bolivia.

The world power is shifting away from the users, to the suppliers. Even Tony Blair recognizes this. Look at this quote: "My only
plea is that people exercise the power they have got in this regard responsibly." Note: PLEA.

[bemildred]

2. It's good to hear Tony whining like this.

The arrogant bloviating about "foreign investors" was getting really annoying.
I have seen signs that the bullies running US foreign policy have blinked too, lately, but it's hard to be quite sure yet.