El discurso orwelliano soberano

Chávez llego a Argentina porque mas nadie lo quiere recibir.  De hecho, ni en Argentina lo quieren recibir porque el que lo esperaba en el aeropuerto no fue la Presidenta, no fue el canciller, no fue un ministro, no fue un vice-ministro, fue el jefe de protocolo de la cancillería que se la tuvo que calar.

Allí Chavez llega y dice: "Nosotros seguiremos enviando para acá petróleo para garantizar la soberanía energética de Argentina" y agrega que comprará "miles de tractores, sembradoras y cosechadoras, que ya están construyéndose", allá, no aquí en Venezuela. Ademas va a pasar por el supermercado a comprarse 600 mil toneladas de alimentos de los cuales quien sabe cuantos se irán a pudrir.

Dos naciones soberanas en verdad, una que depende del padrote para su gasolina y otra que depende del chulo para poder comer. ¡Ni Orwell podía inventar una soberanía tan brava!

From Kabul to Tripoli, It is the same war

Tonight I am in Caracas and watching the news with my old Dad.  TVE of Spain translates live the Obama speech about why the US had to get into the Libya potential mess.  I am trying to explain him that Republicans are unfairly attacking Obama, and that many in the US think that two wars are enough.  My Dad easily and convincingly dismiss the whole thing with a handful of words: "They shouldn't.  It is the same war".

That everyday "coup d'état": two this week in Venezuela

François Mitterand was a long time opponent of Charles de Gaulle, to the point of writing a book which title was "Le coup d'état permanent", the continuous coup.  He reproached de Gaulle his strong presidential style to the point of equating it to a a rule issue of a coup.  In France with a long tradition of unstable parliamentary government the accusation did ring, but that did not stop Mitterrand, once elected president in 1981 to rule as much or more as an "imperial presidency", US style.

When all is said and done it was rather amusing and somewhat ridiculous because the separation of powers in France had been achieved long ago and was too anchored to be easily corrupted, even for some one with the stature of de Gaulle.  And this did not stop de Gaulle to resign after he lost a referendum that he sponsored.  In Venezuela on the other hand, a president asks for a major referendum, loses it, and goes on applying the failed referendum anyway, through a system that can be justifiably called a "permanent coup" and military at that.  The constitutional violations of the regime, of a Constitution that it wrote itself 11 years ago, cannot be counted anymore.  Every day new violations, based on previous violations, become the law of the land.  This week we got two more for the list.

Are self starving students managing to expose the inner workings of the regime?

Self starve, wreck an Imperial McDonald!

Self starvation is becoming increasingly popular these days in Venezuela, and I do not mean to be facetious.  I did write a few weeks ago that I was perturbed about that audacious game of starving oneself to death as a protest form in front of a regime that has so little value for human life (in English and in Spanish).  There is a mix of lots of individual courage, some recklessness and a tad of showmanship involved; but these students are dealing with the biggest showman that Venezuela politics ever have had, someone that does not take easily to be outperformed, and someone with the violence behind him to exact revenge when time comes.

And yet it worked: the first hunger strike by students in front of the OAS forced the government to recognize that there were bona fide political prisoners in Venezuela and that the judicial system was there to serve the interests of Chavez.  There was not even a pretense to consult the High Court before releasing some of the prisoners.  Even if the freedom of political prisoners is not complete, even if the judicial system remains genuflected in front of Chavez from now on there is no need to accuse the regime of such evils: they have been proven, they are an established fact.

Watery lies leave yours truly discombobulated as to Mars invaded by alien capitalists...

[UPDATED] Back at the ranch after a week end obsessing about Libya I must put up with Chavez starting the week with two, TWO, noon cadenas.  The one that just ended deserves reporting.

First, in what Chavez announces as a grand gesture to solve the water problems of Caracas, he started giving away a few plastic containers to some homes.  Fine, you might say, but he also announces that his objective is that a water truck shall come every week for deliveries.  In other words Chavez is describing us the future rationing of water because now, even if his un-waterlogged plan were to work, a family will need to learn to live, laundry and all, with 1,500 liters of water a week,  That is less than 400 gallons a week, toilet, laundry, drinking, cooking, moping, showering, etc.....  Divide that by, say, 6 and each family member has less than 80 gallons a week for all their needs.  And imagine the fleet of trucks required to deliver 400 gallons per home per week, in a country where inefficiency, corruption and incompetence are the norm. There you have it, official rationing of water, even as he announces the completion, some day soon, I swear, no kidding now, trust me this time, you´ll see of a new aqueduct system that was scheduled to be done 10 years ago.  Why the delay?  Do not hold your breath waiting for the explanation, rationing is so much more a socialist approach to life!

Water trucks and scarves........

At any rate yours truly found particularly offensive that Jacqueline Farias, the Caracas gauleiter, attended the inauguration of plastic tubs in popular areas with an obscene and useless scarf of expensive nature, showing that she does not have laundry problems.  What is it with Chavez cachifas that they all love to wear scarves as expensive as possible?

But since you have been very good readers I left the best for the end: Chavez speculation on how capitalism and imperialism ended civilization on Mars!  I kid you know, watch the video below.



My translation below from sec 16  to sec 32:

Unexpected collateral damage from Libya (in Russia)

Changing world orders sometimes can have amusing side effects.  Putin earlier today repeated the Qaddafi words assimilating the UN resolution to the Crusades.  Well, HIS president, Medvedev was not amused and said that choice of words was "unacceptable".

See, that is why in autocracies they only chose family to succeed them or share power with them.  When there is no blood link one never knows when the youngster may start speaking up!

This is going to be fun as other such "incidents" are sure to happen here and there.....

That Libyan double standard and other half truths

Since Amr Moussa, maybe thinking about his eventual election as next president of Egypt, went on record dissociating himself of the attacks on Qaddafi bases, you can find many articles that go as far as mentioning the double standards of the West.  Indeed, if Sarkozy is bombing Libya why is Obama not bombing Bahrain or Yemen?