Posted on 01/22/2010 5:11:24 PM PST by Kaslin
Americas: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gone off the deep end again, claiming the U.S. engineered the Haiti earthquake. It's a laughable malevolence, of course. But given the spectacular U.S. aid effort, it's also a threat.
Right now, the dictator's No. 1 foreign policy aim is to discredit the U.S. aid effort in Haiti. Shortly after Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake, Chavez, trying to whip up paranoia, accused America of seeking a "military occupation" there.
When that didn't work and U.S. aircraft carriers and hospital ships steamed in to rescue ravaged Port-au-Prince, Chavez told Spanish newspaper ABC that the earthquake was the product of a "tectonic weapon" launched by the U.S. Navy in a test-run for the U.S.' ultimate target: Iran.
As lunatic as it sounds, the Venezuelan dictator knows what he's doing: Haitians are vulnerable now and seeking to make sense of the catastrophe. Chavez's words try to tap into an existing Caribbean cultural undercurrent of paranoia about CIA influence to discredit U.S. help. That's important to Chavez because U.S. aid is building vast reservoirs of goodwill in Haiti and beyond and it will come at the expense of his own.
For Chavez, the U.S. aid contrasts sharply with his own promises to Haiti he never delivered on. The sight of U.S. troops delivering aid swiftly exposes him as a blowhard who runs his mouth and breaks his word.
Domestically, it's even worse for him: Venezuelans still remember that during 1999's mudslide disaster on their Vargas coast President Clinton launched a disaster response similar to the one seen in Haiti, but Chavez turned away the U.S. aircraft carrier and rescuers as they were halfway there.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
He just wishes he had an earthquake weapon like Carl Rove.
... waiting for the Obama apology ...
I say we just go over there and kick his ass. He’s nothing more than a pimple on the world’s ass anyway. I’m sick of his crap.
If he wants a fight then he should put up or shut up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.