London Mayor 'Red Ken' Announces Oil Deal With Chavez

CNS News ^

[Sub-Driver]

London Mayor 'Red Ken' Announces Oil Deal With Chavez By Kevin McCandless CNSNews.com Correspondent February 20, 2007

London (CNSNews.com) - A deal signed in London Tuesday will secure a 20 percent discount on Venezuelan oil, in exchange for the capital city's assistance to Venezuelan cities in areas such as transport, tourism, town planning and environmental protection.

Announcing the agreement, London's left-wing mayor, Ken Livingstone, said the cheaper oil will enable London to offer a 50 percent discount on bus and tram travel to residents who are living on government assistance.

"It is a good deal for Venezuela," said Livingstone, a strong supporter of populist President Hugo Chavez . "That country has started on the road of using its oil riches not solely for a wealthy elite but for the benefit of the majority of its population."

The agreement was reportedly first discussed during a visit to London by Chavez last spring and negotiations continued throughout the year.

Livingstone and Chavez both have reputations as radical firebrands, with the United States government being a frequently target of their verbal attacks.

Although some observers note that Livingstone has edged somewhat towards the political center in recent years, he retains the nickname "Red Ken."

"For the mayor to develop a foreign policy of his own is a nonsense," a Conservative Party member on the Greater London Assembly -- the city's local government authority -- told the Financial Times.

[John Jorsett]

Brilliant. Chavez is threatening to nationalize food distribution because his policies are driving up prices, and meanwhile he's selling his country's one resource at discount rates. He must have gotten his economics education at the feet of Robert Mugabe.

[I see my hands]

"enable London to offer a 50 percent discount on bus and tram travel to residents who are living on government assistance"

Ah, the proper functioning of a free government is beautiful to behold.

[dead]

Most lunatic leftwing politicians envision the glory they'll feel when they get to don the Marxist boot and stomp on the masses. Ken Livingstone is one of the few who looks forward to being stomped. I think he has mother issues.

"Hold me Hugo. Hurt me, then hold me..."

[davisfh]

I can't see how this jerk is not going to do serious damage to the petroleum industry in his country and to the economy in general. Of course, when that happens, it will be someone else's fault.

[Quick or Dead]

Although some observers note that Livingstone has edged somewhat towards the political center in recent years, he retains the nickname "Red Ken."

The only way for Red Ken to move closer to the political center is that he has abandoned Communism in favor of Fascism.

[theBuckwheat]

Oil is fungible. Any below-market deals that are reached with Chavez will have the effect of lowering the world price for crude, even if only by a tiny bit or at the margins. Of course, Chavez only makes these offers in an effort to either buy influence (like Saddam did by handing out vouchers for below-market crude oil), or to enable those who support him to appear to be heroes to their constituents.

I would suggest that the kind of people who are attracted to these deals are the kind whose "support" can be purchased next month or next year by a better deal from some where else, or whose support evaporates the instant the deal expires. The left just loves the word "sustainable", but such oil-for-affection deals are not at all sustainable in the real world.

[keat]

He's actually behind the curve on this one, Robert Kennedy Jr's been running this seditious scam in the U.S. for a couple of Winters now.

[massgopguy]

Why would England need to do this? Are they not independent of foreign oil thanks to the North Sea?

[keat]

Class warfare - Chavez/Livingstone bring in oil below the "oppressive" price of North Sea oil and offer it to the poor.

Sorry, it was Joe Kennedy saving the poor on the east coast with low-priced heating oil. What a pr*ck.

See this.