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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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No. Thanks. I agree, by the way. Worst donuts in the world, except for those Korean ones with the beans inside...  |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:13 am Post subject: |
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The points made above are quite astute. I would like to make a couple of points myself as an outside observer, looking at past history and past american reactions to events in this region.
I feel the worst thing that America could do is react in a hard fast manner, they may benefit by being more diplomatic, giving less fuel to the fire and still being able to contain the embers that spill out.
The past has shown how certain forces in the region have acted before and yet the issue still comes back, maybe there is another way to resolve the disparency in relations between the two without the US appearing heavy handed in thier response, especially at this time.
Its not to say, the current leaders will be the best for thier countries, but it may not be the US's best interest to make the issue a bigger more problematic one through heavy actions. Don't let the US be seen as the bogeyman, let them be the available helping hand in a velvet glove, they may still benefit in the long run, without giving cause for the leaders to use them anymore as an example of anti thier country than they already are. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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Chavez's latest moves...
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LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru has recalled its ambassador from Venezuela while accusing President Hugo Chavez of interfering in its internal affairs by warmly greeting Peru's nationalist presidential hopeful Ollanta Humala in Caracas.
"With relation to the declaration made (Tuesday) by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which constitutes interference in internal affairs of Peru, the government of Peru has recalled for consultation its ambassador Carlos Urrutia," Peru's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its Web page late on Wednesday.
Humala, a former army officer and political outsider who has recently surged in polls ahead of next April's presidential vote, made a surprise appearance Tuesday at a ceremony in which Chavez congratulated recently elected Bolivian President Evo Morales.
"It gives me great pleasure to greet Ollanta Humala," said Chavez, praising the Peruvian for becoming involved in "this battle that joins together nationalism."
Humala, who returned to Peru late on Wednesday, did not immediately comment on the ambassador's recall. A retired lieutenant colonel, Humala led a short-lived military uprising of 50 men against former President Alberto Fujimori a month before his 10-year government collapsed amid charges of corruption and human rights violations.
He and Chavez both have expressed deep admiration for Peru's 1968-1975 leftist military junta run by Gen. Juan Velasco, who led a failed agrarian reform, nationalized industries and forged close military ties with the Soviet Union.
Recent polls show Humala in a statistical dead heat with former Congresswoman Lourdes Flores, considered by many to be the front-runner. Flores ran for president in 2001 on a pro-business platform but was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Humala has repeatedly denied suggestions that he has accepted campaign funds from Chavez's government, something that would be illegal under Peru's election laws.
Another diplomatic spat broke out in November between Chavez's government and Mexico, with the two countries pulling ambassadors out of their respective capitals amid sharp differences on free trade and U.S. relations.
During the Summit of the Americas two months ago in Argentina, Mexican President Vicente Fox criticized Chavez for opposing the U.S. proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Chavez responded by calling Fox a "puppy" of the United States and by warning the Mexican leader: "Don't mess with me."
Mexico then demanded an apology, and Venezuela refused. Since then, however, both governments have expressed a willingness to restore full relations.
Analysts say Humala appears to have some of the same appeal as Chavez, both political outsiders who won wide support among the poor for pledging to protect the country from intrusive foreign interests.
After the October 2000 uprising against Fujimori, Humala returned to military service, taking advantage of a 2001 amnesty. He retired earlier this year.
The candidate's brother, Antauro Humala, a former army major, led 150 followers in the takeover of a police station in a remote Andean town in January, provoking a standoff in which four policemen and two of his supporters were killed. He is now imprisoned facing murder charges. |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/05/peru.ambassador.ap/index.html
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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday blasted a United States' block on a Spanish military deal with his government as "horrific imperialism" and an attack against his socialist revolution.
Washington said on Thursday it had refused an export license for Spain to sell 12 transport and maritime surveillance planes containing U.S. technology to Venezuela.
Chavez, who often accuses Washington of working to oust or kill him, has antagonized the U.S. government with his alliance with Cuba and his aggressive campaign to counter U.S. political and trade proposals in the region.
"What is this if not proof of the horrific imperialism Washington's government wants to impose on the world?" Chavez told the National Assembly in his state of the nation speech.
"A new attack against Venezuela is only just beginning, a new offensive against Venezuela, but Mr. Danger, you will smash against the forces of the truth and morality," he said in his usual reference to President Bush.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, last year negotiated deals to buy weapons and military equipment from Spain, Russia and Brazil in an effort to overhaul its armed forces and beef up border defenses.
U.S. officials, who portray former soldier Chavez as an authoritarian menace, say those military transactions could threaten the region's stability.
Spain said on Friday it planned to go ahead with the sale of planes to Venezuela, using substitute technology, after the United States blocked the deal for the EADS-CASA aircraft with U.S. components.
The aircraft are part of a $2 billion Spanish deal, signed in November, to supply Caracas with ships and planes. Venezuela has also purchased Russian military attack and transport helicopters and 100,000 rifles and wants to buy Brazilian military training planes.
The United States must authorize military transactions involving the transfer of U.S.-made hardware to third parties.
Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday his country saw signs the United States was trying to block the sale of the Brazilian-made military aircraft to Venezuela. |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/13/venezuela.chavez.spain.reut/index.html |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused a Roman Catholic cardinal Sunday of conspiring against him after the clergyman chastised the leftist leader for eroding democracy and abusing his power.
The exchange was the latest sign of tense relations between the country's Catholic church hierarchy and Chavez, an ally of Cuba who has vowed to introduce a socialist revolution to fight poverty in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
"This is part of a provocation, part of a conspiracy, there is nothing innocent about this. It is a plot to destabilize the country," Chavez said on his weekly Sunday broadcast.
"I demand the Catholic hierarchy distance themselves from this ... the least we can expect is for you to reject this man's comments," he said.
Tensions rose late Saturday inside a cathedral in Barquisimeto, a city about 205 miles west of Caracas, where Cardinal Rosario Castillo made his remarks during a Mass to mark the end of a holy procession attended by thousands.
Local television on Sunday showed military officers walking out of the ceremony, spectators jeering and others applauding as Venezuela's highest Catholic prelate lamented the country's "grave situation."
"A government democratically elected seven years ago has lost its democratic path and shows signs of dictatorship, where all powers are in the hands of one person who exercises them in an arbitrary and despotic way," Castillo said.
The Episcopal conference of Catholic bishops released a report last week challenging Chavez's claims to have bettered the lives of the poor and expressing concerns over the fragility of the country's democracy.
Chavez, who often brandishes a crucifix and evokes Christ when vowing to fight poverty, has clashed with Venezuela's Catholic leaders before, calling them a "cancer" and once branding Castillo a "coup-mongering bandit".
He has often accused his opponents of plotting to overthrow him since he survived a short-lived coup in 2002.
Venezuela, a predominantly Catholic country of nearly 27 million people, is sharply divided over Chavez's rule but he remains popular ahead of elections in December. His foes appear demoralized after boycotting recent congressional elections.
A former soldier elected in 1998, Chavez has spent billions of dollars in oil revenues on social, education and health programs his supporters say are helping to reverse years of neglect by previous governments.
But his critics say his seven years in power have failed to tackle poverty and chronic crime. They say Chavez has extended his control over independent institutions such as the courts and the electoral authority as he tightens his grip on power. |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/15/chavez.church.reut/index.html |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Bulldozers dug up a street in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Wednesday apparently preparing to block the view of an electronic billboard carrying U.S. messages that has angered President Fidel Castro.
Brigades of workers began the task on Tuesday night, hours after Castro and hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched past the mission to protest against the five-foot-high (1.5- meter) ticker that streams messages across the facade of the U.S. Interests Section.
U.S. diplomats said Cuba's communist authorities were building a concrete wall or screen to obstruct view of the ticker, which displays messages to the Cuban people, news headlines and quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Lech Walesa.
"It is very clear that the Cuban government is building a wall to cut off dialogue," a spokesperson for the Interests Section said.
Cuban officials said they were extending an open-air stage that has been the main venue for political rallies against the United States since 2000.
"We are expanding the Anti-Imperialist Stage," an official overseeing the work said as an excavator ripped up the asphalt. Another said flag masts would be erected on a new square.
The ticker across the 25 windows of the fifth floor of the Interests Section on Havana's Malecon waterfront is a new salvo in a decades-old propaganda war between Washington and Havana.
Tit-for-tat billboards
Last year Cuba set up billboards with pictures of abused Iraqi prisoners at the site in reply to a Christmas decoration displaying the number of dissidents jailed in a political crackdown.
On Tuesday, Castro called U.S. diplomats "cockroaches" and accused the government of President George W. Bush of seeking a new crisis between the United States and Cuba with "perfidious" provocations.
As Castro spoke from a podium, the U.S. ticker flashed "Conservatives win elections in Canada" and other news headlines in bright letters in full view of the marchers.
The headlines were followed by quotes from Lincoln, Gandhi and Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled Poland's communist government and helped bring about the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe.
The ticker began flashing messages on January 16 with "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up" from black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 speech.
U.S. diplomats said they wanted to break the "information blockade" or censorship of Cuba's state-run media.
Castro said Cuba would not accept the "perverse violation of its dignity and sovereignty" and warned of a firm, though peaceful, Cuban response.
Organizers said 1.4 million people took part in Tuesday's six-hour demonstration along the seafront.
The two governments, bitter enemies since Castro came to power in a 1959 revolution, do not have formal diplomatic relations. Interests offices were opened in each other's capital during the Carter administration. Washington has enforced sanctions against Cuba since 1962. |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/25/cuba.usa.reut/index.html |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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"It is very clear that the Cuban government is building a wall to cut off dialogue," a spokesperson for the Interests Section said.
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| Quote: |
As Castro spoke from a podium, the U.S. ticker flashed "Conservatives win elections in Canada" and other news headlines in bright letters in full view of the marchers.
The headlines were followed by quotes from Lincoln, Gandhi and Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled Poland's communist government and helped bring about the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe.
The ticker began flashing messages on January 16 with "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up" from black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 speech.
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Okay, I support the right of the US mission to display any sign it wants. However, it takes a certain dishonesty to refer to the MLK quote as "dialogue", when clearly in context it's meant as a call to the Cuban people to turf Castro from power. Are they expecting Castro to come up with a reasoned response to that, and then they can exchange ideas and maybe reach a mutual understanding? |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| Okay, I support the right of the US mission to display any sign it wants. However, it takes a certain dishonesty to refer to the MLK quote as "dialogue", when clearly in context it's meant as a call to the Cuban people to turf Castro from power. Are they expecting Castro to come up with a reasoned response to that, and then they can exchange ideas and maybe reach a mutual understanding? |
It's just pettiness. I can't understand how the U.S. govt insists on keeping Castro's antiAmericanism going. Washington's treatment of Havana has simply not been rational and is nearly impossible to comprehend. The exiles and their hysteria are one thing. But this is supposed to be an interests section, pretty much an embassy. What are they thinking?
I don't believe any diplomatic mission should engage in such overtly propagandistic activities. This is unprofessional and indefensible. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't believe any diplomatic mission should engage in such overtly propagandistic activities. |
Right. When I said I supported the right of the US to display the propaganda, I meant that Castro shouldn't be suppressing anyone's speech in Cuba. Mind you, am I correct in understanding that an actual embassy would be forbidden from doing this sort of thing?
Anyway, I agree, that kind of thing is just plain dumb. And I really wonder who they think it's appealing to. I'd wager that your average democracy activist in Cuba right now is NOT keen on being viewed as a Washington ally. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:33 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| ...am I correct in understanding that an actual embassy would be forbidden from doing this sort of thing? |
I do not know. It simply seems outrageously inappropriate to me, even if it isn't a full embassy.
Simply put, U.S.-Cuban relations post-1959 have never made sense to me at all. I'm referring to both parties here. It is childish. Sticking their tongues out at each other, etc. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:14 am Post subject: |
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Pushing a top crop, Bolivian president
gives Rice coca gift
Rice, Morales discuss drug initiatives in South American nation
Saturday, March 11, 2006; Posted: 8:31 p.m. EST (01:31 GMT)
Condoleezza Rice strums a coca-leaf covered charango given to her by Bolivian President Evo Morales.
VALPARAISO, Chile (AP) -- Cooperation against illegal drugs was one theme of a cordial first meeting between the top American diplomat and the flamboyant coca growers union boss who is now Bolivia's democratically elected president, but Bolivian leader Evo Morales used the session to send another message to Washington.
Morales gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a traditional Bolivian Indian musical instrument called a charango that resembles a ukulele and is usually made from animal hide.
This one, however, was covered with bright green coca leaves.
Coca is the raw material for cocaine but also has traditional uses in Bolivia, where the leaf is brewed as tea, chewed and incorporated into ceremonies.
The gift was a reminder that coca and coca farming are legal in Bolivia, South America's poorest nation.
Rice gamely strummed the instrument for a moment and posed with it for a Chilean television camera. U.S. officials were checking with Customs, but it's not clear whether Rice can legally bring the instrument into the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/03/11/coca.rice.ap/index.html
Last edited by igotthisguitar on Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:19 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: |
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The non-narcotic use of coca-leaves in the Andes is very old, and well understood by those involved in the drug war.
It's processed cocaine that is at issue.
Last edited by Gopher on Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Funny how Morale's poncho and bowler hat atire to show off chollo solidarity were a) brought in by jesuits for the natives to cover up (poncho) and b) adopted from the British bowler hat. The man is a douchebag, but his dependency on Lula should keep him more in check than El Gran General Chavez.
And the fact that any of these idiots was democraticaly elected doesn't mean anything. The majority of the people in Latin America are poor and ignorant and therefore will vote for whoever ralies with some promises of a better tomorrow and has charisma. I mean, they're lobbying for FUJIMORI to come back to Peru. So Chavez got a bunch of marginalized illiterate European-descent hating farmers to vote for him with the promise of social programs and the luck of being able to provide so for a short while because of oil. Hitler was pretty much democratically elected too...so was Bush...so was Schroder (ahem, Putin's lap dog)...so was Mussolini....so was Salvador Allende....so was Yasser Arafat....
What the hell does democracy prove??? That there is a majority of retarded sheep in the midst that respond well to propaganda. Wow. Great point then. |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:59 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
The non-narcotic use of coca-leaves in the Andes is very old, and well understood by those involved in the drug war.
It's processed cocaine that is at issue. And Morales has already reached agreement with the U.S. on this. |
word up on that one. everyone has coca tea in the andes, it's like coffee and its good to chew on when you wanna stay up for a while, but its kind of looked down on as a chollo thing to do. Contrary to what people say though, a lot of the refined coke stays where it was made. Its easier to get coke in Lima than robbed. And that's saying a lot. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:19 am Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| And two of them democratically elected. You're not going to blame the Bolivian and Venzualian people, like people blame 'stupid Americans' for electing Bush? |
How cute. I take it you have a soft spot for these caballeros? |
Well, he has a point. In a world where George Bush has been busy beating his chest advocating "freedom and democracy for the people" these last years, I presume Bush meant that would also include the freedom to democratically elect governments that don't like him either. |
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