Iran opens two new missile plants

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Why exactly does Ahmadinejad find it necessary to piss everyone off every week or so? Is it internal PR or what? Is it the fucking banty rooster syndrome? Is he just totally bonkers? For some reason I think he's far too intelligent to not realize he's painting a target on his chest.

Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi opened two new missile production plants on Saturday, just three days after Iran fired a rocket carrying live animals into space, state television reported.

Ya know my problem is I'm relatively sane (sort of). Which means I can't possibly think of all the manipulative reasons for anything political. Who is the audience? Is the audience the US, Iranians, Venezuela, the Supreme Leader, Israel? Is it saber rattling or serious? Is an action that appears military merely a ploy to get a favorable oil sale agreement? Is Ahmadinejad on drugs? Does he have extras? Does Ahmadinejad have a small penis? Is he really trying to provoke a war?

Why hasn't my head exploded?

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Note: Headline links to source.

Chavez warns of war with Colombia

Some variation of this story's been around a couple days now so I'm sure you've seen it.


That isn't the point of this post. Nope. The point is I wish heads of state would stop with the fucking use of the word "war" and labeling another country a "terrorist state".

Venezuela and Ecuador have ordered troops to their borders with Colombia, raising concerns of a broader conflict after Colombia killed a top rebel leader on
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday promised Venezuela would respond militarily if Colombia violates its border, where he ordered tanks as well as thousands of troops. He also ordered closed Venezuela's embassy in Bogota.

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, called for the troop deployment while also withdrawing his government's ambassador from Bogota and expelling Colombia's top diplomat.

"There is no justification," Correa said Sunday night, snubbing an earlier announcement from Colombia that it would apologize for the incursion by its military.

Chavez called the killing of rebel leader and spokesman Raul Reyes and 16 other rebels on Saturday an attack by a "terrorist state."

Columbia has already said it would apologize. That should be sufficient to my mind. But I guess that isn't enough for Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa.

ZOMG!!!1!! There are so many stupid people running countries right now.

Via Yahoo News.

Hugo Chávez narrowly loses referendum vote

I'm not sure what the Venezuelans were saying in the referendum vote. Were they voting against socialism? Were they voting against Hugo Chávez? Was it both? Or was it some of the other 67 amendments contained in the referendum? My gut feeling is it was a all of the above.

It is a democracy and denying Hugo Chávez the opportunity to hold office as long as he's re-elected doesn't make him president for life. Each seven years the people would have the opportunity to kick his ass out.

Venezuelan voters narrowly rejected a constitutional referendum that would have bolstered President Hugo Chavez's embrace of socialism and granted an indefinite extension of his eligibility to serve as president, the National Electoral Council reported early Monday.

About 51 percent of voters opposed the amendments, while approximately 49 percent were in favor of them.

"Don't feel sad. Don't feel burdened," Chavez told supporters immediately after the results were announced.

More than nine million of Venezuelan's 16 million eligible voters went to the polls Sunday.

President of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, said the process "shows the entire world that we are a democratic country."

Chavez, in what he called a talk "from my heart" acknowledging the results, thanked those who opposed his proposal, saying the election had proven that Venezuelan democracy is maturing.

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The most controversial amendment would do away with term limits, thereby allowing the 53-year-old former paratrooper, who has already served almost eight years in power, to hold it indefinitely as long as he is re-elected.

Well, at least Putin got his.

Vladimir Putin’s party won a crushing victory in Russia’s parliamentary elections, paving the way for the authoritarian leader to remain in control even after he steps down as president.

Coup D'Etat Rumblings In Venezuela

I'm just throwing this out there as one man's opinion. Hell, many of my posts are only my opinions, so this fits right in.

Just watch and see if this comes to pass.

The Bush administration tried and failed three prior times to oust Hugo Chavez since its first aborted two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through FOIA requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger uncovered top secret CIA documents of US involvement that included an intricate financing scheme involving the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of Democracy (NED), and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The documents also showed the White House, State Department and National Security Agency had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have approved it, and there's little doubt of CIA involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty business. What's worrying now is what went on then may be happening again in what looks like a prelude to a fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as events develop.

Via The Daily Scare.

You might find it interesting to go to this The Daily Scare post. Its titled: Are Conspiracy Theorists out of Their Gourds?

Hey, even The National Enquirer and Star get it right sometimes.

US and Venezuela in spat over RCTV

OMG!!!1!! I'm Venezuelan.

Rice says forcing station off air undemocratic but Venezuela accuses US of hypocrisy. [emphasis mine].

And don't forget many Venezuelans support Hugo Chávez.

Jesus H Christ with herpes. This post is so self-referential I should be shot.

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Thousands march to support Chavez's refusal to renew RCTV license

Just so you don't miss something very few are reporting. Yes huge groups turned out to protest the license non-renewal of the independent RCTV by Hugo Chávez, but hundreds of thousands have demonstrated in his support.

Supporters of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, have marched in support of his refusal to grant a licence to a opposition-aligned television station, a day after a rally demanding freedom of expression.

Hundreds of thousands gathered on Saturday dressed in red shirts and caps showing Chavez's slogan "democratising television and radio".

"Starting today, the [pro-government] counter-attack must be maintained across the country," Chavez told the crowd in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

For some reason I can't put my finger on, it seems Hugo Chávez knows more about what the majority of his people want than do Americans. Its just a feeling I have. Maybe its because he's there?

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Protesters face showdown with Chavez over closure of TV station

This is an update to my earlier post.

Angry Venezuelan protesters and journalists on Sunday headed for a showdown with the government of President Hugo Chavez, which is about to take over the country's largest private television station.

RCTV is set to end its broadcasts at midnight Sunday after the government refused to renew its license.

But employees have vowed to continued to occupy the studios overnight, possibly to hinder their handover to the government on Monday.

"A lot of us will sleep here in the station," said news director Manuel Gago.

"This is Venezuela, not Cuba!" chanted protesters rallying outside RCTV studios Saturday. "We have what it takes to fight!"

The rally was reminiscent of protests that led to Chavez's two-day ouster in a 2002 coup, for which he partly blames RCTV.

Chavez has not forgotten RCTV's cheerleading for that brief coup, and vowed soon after he was re-elected in late 2006 to close the station down.

I'm also curious why it seems today leaders feel the need to go beyond "strong" to "controlling". Its everywhere you look.

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Chávez Shutting Down Opposition TV Station

Of course Bush need not do such a thing because there is no opposition TV.

The elimination of the major televised opposition is clearly a boon for his [Chávez's] ability to control what citizens hear and see and therefore a means by which to influence what they think.

Bush just tells the MSM what the people should think and they regurgitate it.

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Fidel Castro health watch

Today he's on the mend: Chavez.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said that Cuba’s Fidel Castro has visibly improved, describing how the ailing Cuban leader has gained weight and is walking around and studying.

“A notable improvement,” Chavez said yesterday, describing Castro’s condition when the two met recently in Havana.

“He has gained several kilograms, and I think he is walking about more than me, analysing, studying,” Chavez said at a news conference in Caracas.

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