Hi. Very nice blog. I\’ve been reading your other entries all day long..lol….

Latin America has contradictions difficult for the intellectual left to reconcile, its Christian faith, its patriarchical traditions, its hidden racism, its militaristic fetishism for starters. But given the reality on the ground in this moment in history, it is remarkable and fascinating to observe the adroit balancing act this charismatic leader has performed in comparison to other experiments in broad social change. (Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador) Be critical, of course, but do not let cynicism blind you to the possibility that this could be a deepening , popular movement unlike anything we have seen or attempted to analyze. Marc’s essay made it’s way to plenty of reactionary sites where it’s snarky tone is being emulated.

Right on. It bears pointing out what the sheep miss and that is that open civic society is nothing more than a tool of the counter-revolutionaries. What the revolution really needs is a dictatorship of the proletariat (or, rather, the vanguard ruling in our stead because the party knows best)… but maybe if we can silence the opposition we can get the masses to vote as we know they should and then we get to keep democracy after all. Yes. Yes, this is truly a masterstroke. Our glorious revolution is lucky to be lead by such men as Comrade Chavez. Viva Chavez! Up with the revolution! :raisedfist:

But So Cal weather? I like my four seasons, and not having to expend energy on AC all year round.

JCummings: Have you ever noticed the recurring pattern of your argumentation? Your primary and favorite device is one of comparison. Better to be Cuban than Haitian. Chavez is better than Bush. Lukashenko is bad but Olmert is worse. How totally irrelevant. People live where they live. They dont live inside mathematical formulas.

I wonder how you make it through the day there in oppressive Canada? The weather is much better here in So Cal, the food is much better in Mexico, unemployment insurance and health care are better in Sweden, child care in Denmark is far superpior than in Canuckland, Venezuela has a much more progressive government, and the Cuban educational systems beats the hell out of Saskatchewan. It must be pure, infernal oppression for you up there on the fringe of the NATO empire.

And so it’s obvious who’s yanking your chain, puppet.
Imperial stooge. Hack.

This whole piece is wretched, myopic middle-class tripe from top to bottom. Even when you make a point you’re wrong in your self-centered petit-bourgeois conclusions.

So I know it’s too much to demand that you take off those coke-bottle-bottomed, yellow-tinted goggles…

Also - the concept of “right” and “wrong” and “Rights” and “Wrongs” and all such dichotomizing, decontextualizing obscurantism do not do justice to such an issue.

I assume there’s no argument over whether Lukashenko has killed thousands of people his country occupies over the last six years.

No doubt you know the old saying about opinions.

This is for both you and cummings: two worngs don’t make a right.

Right, cuz a night’s High School-style hazing equals decades of slaughter and genocide.

And in the case of Israel, the victim who successfully fights back against ten bullies and teaches them a lesson becomes the bully, right?

Yeah I’m starting to get it, but I’ll just have to kill a few more brain cells before the new logic works for me. Got any more of that Koolaid?

Even if Olmert has the consent of a plurality of Jewish Israelis, his actions are far beyond anything that Lukashenko - no doubt a serious Stalinist thug- has ever done. This is not to say that Jewish Israelis don’t have more freedom have more freedoms (though not the freedom to non-religous weddings - and not the freedom to have any other denomination of Judaism besides Orthodox be entitled to being considered “Jewish”) - than Belarussians. That being said, Lukashenko is not occupying and destroying a society, uprooting people and killing people.

As per the rest of your comment, [BIG YAWN]

If you choose to align yourself with Chavez, fine. You have to reconcile with some intellectual consistency how you can praise him for his goals despite his open and willing association with some pretty horrific characters.

Throwing the ball in my court does not abjure you of that responsibility. Disabuse yourself of that notion.

Your comment rises to the intellectual level of a wingnut I once worked with. When he put a picture of himself shaking hands with G. Gordon Liddy, he made a point of showing it to me. When I asked him why he wanted a picture of himself with a convicted felon, his response was, “Nelson Mandela’s a convicted felon, too!”

It’s exactly like the argument the pro-war right makes when one criticizes the Bush administration for human rights abuses during the Iraq debacle and their response is what about what Saddam did?

Love the company you keep.

In the name of consistency, why aren’t there any photos of the Venezuelan opposition with Opus Dei, P2, the CIA and terorrists? Only a knave would fidn those thugs preferable to Chavez.

TI wonder if you, in the name of consistency, circulate photos of every other world leader with their unsavory allies…. Do you have one for Chirac? Do you regularly circulate photos of Blair and Olmert? Musharaff?

This guilt by association is such nonsense and clearly there to serve an agenda.

Just because one does not want to fall into the trap of outside investment does not mean that you contain yourself. It is also in the interest of Ven. to form an alliance with unaligned nations, to move above the UN influence. Instead of endearing yourself by being magnaminous, put some give and take into a growing profitable circle of influence.

To tame the capitalistic elite core of business interest you go toe to toe with them in the world market, you do not merely cover your own rear so you are not embrassed by some sort of future embargo - only real interest in real world markets can produce real wealth for a growing enfranchised population.