I figured Chavez would open his big mouth sooner or later again...

[Archae]

Just saw a news article about how Hugo Chavez has expressed his opinion about the Nobel prize going to that Chinese dissident.

Chavez has allied himself with the Chinese government on this.

He describes the Nobel committee as "Western lackeys."

What does Chavez have to do before even his fan club here at DU finally stops supporting him?

[Yeahyeah]

1. Glad ouir govt hasn't allied with the Chinese govt.

How many Venezuelan jobs has Chavez sent off to China?

[HughMoran]

2. .

(is it national strawman day?)

[frylock]

16. did you buy stock in this image?

or did someone learn a new word.

[sabrina 1]

5. Lol!

Funny how when you point a finger at someone else, at least three are always pointing at YOU. But when it comes to the Chavez haters, hypocrisy rules.

Point very well made. Thank you!

[EFerrari]

9. They make his point perfectly without even tryng every time. n/t

[Vidar]

3. Chavez blew it on this one, but he's still better than any of our mainstream leaders.

[regnaD kciN]

4. No, he isn't...

Sometimes, a gesture so outrageous is enough to cancel out whatever good someone may have done before, because it reveals their character clearly in ways what came before hadn't. Right now, Chavez has shown himself to the world as someone who believes in utter authoritarianism and the moral right of a state to crush even the most peaceful voices of dissent against it. Defending Chavez, from this point on, is like supporting Mussolini because he made the trains run on time.

:puke:

[sabrina 1]

6. So, is supporting the U.S. government after

they illegally invaded a ME country, killed over a million of its citizens, tortured, incarcerated and maimed countless others, like 'supporting Mussolini because he made the trains run on time'?

[ConsAreLiars]

7. This is politics.

Some, many, regard those who control the US State and its weaponry as the most lethal and evil among the powers that be. They, the lessers, try to form friendship rings.

They share one fact, one undeniable reality in common. The monsters which control the US gov't and economy, the Corporations, are far more powerful, more ruthless, and as evil as any seen in history, and re3sistance is not yet futile,

(edit to add missing letter)

[EFerrari]

8. Imagine how much more outraged you would be if he armed China

to the tune of millions of dollars and called it his best friend as the Obama government did with Colombia, despite the fact that the biggest mass grave on the continent was recently found there, filled under the butcher government of this gentleman.




In August, 2010 Tribune Magazine reported that an international delegation made up of politicians, lawyers and labor unionists led by the UK-based Justice for Colombia NGO visited the site to take part in a public hearing. According to Justice for Colombia, locals provided reports and evidence of extrajudicial killings by the Colombian military. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe rejected the delegation's presence and accused its members of slandering the Colombian Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Macarena,_Colombia

And how did the Obama State Department respond?

U.S. Certifies Colombia on Human Rights, Clears Aid Transfer
By Janine Zacharia - September 11, 2009 12:56 EDT

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The State Department cleared the transfer of aid to Colombia’s military forces after certifying to Congress that the government and military are meeting criteria related to human rights and paramilitary groups.

“There is no question that improvement must be made in certain areas; however, the Colombian government has made significant efforts to increase the security of its people and to promote respect for human rights by its armed forces and has thereby met the certification criteria,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement today. The certification was made Sept. 8.

The U.S. “remains concerned” about extrajudicial killings and “will continue to push for improvements in Colombia’s human rights situation,” Kelly said.

Colombia is a key U.S. ally in battling drug trafficking. Last month the U.S. and Colombia reached an accord that facilitates U.S. access to three Colombian air force bases.

The certification allows the State Department to release about $32.1 million in withheld funds, said Sara Mangiaracina, a spokeswoman in the State Department’s Western Hemisphere bureau.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=asVKhxVIvmS4

And just so no one will be confused, here's the (same) story for 2010:

Colombia respects human rights: US

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11861-colombia-respects-human-rights-us.html

It's interesting because Chavez made his comments in the context of calling out the right wing in his country for their hypocrisy. He said they condemned China but said nothing when the United States committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hypocrisy? We all know how Chavez likes to shoot off his mouth. :sarcasm:

[sabrina 1]

10. But Colombia is our friend!!

What's a mass grave or two when you have a puppet government doing your bidding and ready to fight some proxy wars for you with a neighboring oil-producing country?

It will go right over the heads of the Chavez haters. They won't see the words 'mass grave'.

That $4 million dollars spent on anti-Chavez propaganda by the U.S. is working very well even on Democratic boards.

[EFerrari]

11. Yep. But had Chavez armed Colombia or upped military aid to Peru

the same week as the government's last slaughter of indigenous or had he called the murdering, kidnapping, raping and torturing coup in Honduras a restoration of "democratic order" as our government did, then he would have been Hitler, too, for sure.

It's not really worth mentioning when we do it. In fact, today someone here told me that in sending millions of dollars to the right wing opposition in Latin America, the State Department was "protecting young democracies".

LOL

[sabrina 1]

12. Unbelievable. 'sending millions of dollars to the right wing

opposition in Laten America, the State Department is protecting young democracies.' I don't even want to know who said that.

Is it our educational system that causes this blindness to our history or is it a kind of nationalism that refuses to acknowledge it because when we do it's okay? I know in Europe you don't find this kind of ignorance, assuming it is ignorance. Nor this insane nationalism, maybe because they still remember how dangerous it is.

This country should love the Chavez Government and should be helping to build that country up. I don't get it. I do know that whenever I hear one of our politicians talk about 'bringing democracy' to these countries, I shudder as I'm sure they do also.

[EFerrari]

13. Part of it is just a corporate media strategy.

Make the progressive leaders look crazy and underreport everything else.

[era veteran]

14. Hugo needs no help in crazy

Lackey is such a code word.

[RC]

15. Apparently you skipped over posts 10, 11 & 12.

[sabrina 1]

17. Lol, as predicted, in post #10

[sufrommich]

19. Which have absolutely nothing to do with Chavez cheering on

China's jailing of political dissidents.

[EFerrari]

21. Could you find that quote for me? I don't find one.

Chavez defends China's sovereignty and independence but I don't see any statement cheering on the jailing of political dissidents. He's defending the right of a sovereign nation to conduct its own affairs which is a rational position for a Latin American leader to take after hundreds of years of US (often violent) interference.

[rucky]

18. Link?

[and-justice-for-all]

20. I really do not care about his opinion on the Nobel...nt

:shrug:

[deaniac21]

22. I quit liking him the moment I discovered single malts.

[JVS]

26. LOL.

[EFerrari]

27. LOL

[harun]

23. Vive Chavez !!!!

BTW, you don't know jack sh*t about Chavez or the dissident. Go back to watching Fox News.

[devilgrrl]

24. OMG!!!! Not Hugo Chavez!!!!!!

[Junkdrawer]

25. Without support from China, how long would Venezuela avoid US intervention?

I think this is a case of Realpolitik. Distasteful, but probably necessary for Venezuela's continued political independence.

[Catherina]

28. False reporting. Chavez was referring to his political opponents and the prize is a sham

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed solidarity with China's government Sunday over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed Chinese dissident.

He suggested the prize should not have gone to Liu Xiaobo, who has drawn praise from Western governments as an advocate of gradual political change without any violent confrontation with Chinese leaders.

"This (Liu) is like Obama, the other peace prize," Chavez said.

The Venezuelan leader criticized last year's award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, saying the U.S. president didn't deserve the honor because his administration continues to engage in wars.

Speaking in his weekly radio and television program, Chavez scoffed at his Venezuelan political opponents who praised the giving of the peace prize to Liu.

Chavez said the opposition's support for the prize showed that "they are lackeys" of the West. "They are worse than the Yankees."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtMYvggtgYjkInaCrTqcfWK6sihQD9IP2SNG1?docId=D9IP2SNG1

Please report accurately. Not that it would be incorrect to call the Nobel Prize Committee Western lackeys, but that's simply not what he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize was designed to be awarded to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Neither Liu Xiaobo nor, especially, last year's recipient meet that criteria. Alfred Nobel must be turning in his grave. Politicizing the prize to take sides in a pissing contest between capitalism and socialism was the last thing Nobel wanted. The flotilla members who peacefully tried to break the Gaza blockade, the antiwar activists in the US who were recently arrested and Cindy Sheehan were more fitting recipients, for example.

This "Peace Prize Committee" has totally compromised itself and its goal no longer seems to be promoting peace but advancing the foreign policy of the US and its allies. Liu should reject the prize sayng he doesn't want to stand in the company of warmongering politicians like Kissinger and Perez who received it in the past, not to mention Obama who accepted his prize by saying that war is peace. This is a committee that considered Adolph Hitler for a Peace Prize for goodness sake.

Liu Xiaobo is no hero except to banks and the rest of the ownership class. He wants to dismantle Chinese socialism and replace it with good ole western crooked capitalism, right down to having the same glorious unregulated banking system that's destroying millions of peoples lives and free markets economics. The Charter 8 he helped pen is nothing more than a Neoliberal Manifesto.

Article 14: Protection of Private Property. We should establish and protect the right to private property and promote an economic system of free and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in commerce and industry and guarantee the freedom to start new enterprises. We should establish a Committee on State-Owned Property, reporting to the national legislature, that will monitor the transfer of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in a fair, competitive, and orderly manner. We should institute a land reform that promotes private ownership of land, guarantees the right to buy and sell land, and allows the true value of private property to be adequately reflected in the market.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/chinas-charter-08/

And in case anyone still harbors any doubts about what Liu Xiaobo is all about. Hear it from his own mouth:

Liu said in response to a question on what it would take for China to realize a true historical transformation, "300 years of colonialism. In 100 years of colonialism, Hong Kong has changed to what we see today. With China being so big, of course it would take 300 years of colonialism for it to be able to change to how Hong Kong is today. I have my doubts as to whether 300 years would be enough."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

Colonialism? He wants China to be occupied and colonized by the West for 300 years? This man is no hero. He's a neoliberal shill working to turn China into the same profit-uber-alles economic shambles the West is in. The Nobel Peace Prize is a SHAM.

Norwegian jurist and writer Fredrik S. Heffermehl on the Nobel Peace Prize. I’d like to share it with WAISers:

It is clear that human rights work is work for peace, but it was to support disarmament efforts that Nobel established his prize for “the champions of peace.” With all due respect to Liu Xiaobo, this is yet another example that this is no longer Nobel’s prize, it is the peace prize of the Norwegian Parliament. The best the committee could do for human rights, democracy, poverty alleviation, environmental protection would be to wholeheartedly defend the work that the Nobel would support, for deep change of international relations and abolition of national military forces.

The Nobel committee has not received prize money for free use, but was entrusted with money to give to the pivotal element in creating peace, breaking the vicious circle of arms races and military power games. From this point of view the 2010 Nobel is again an illegitimate price awarded by an illegitimate committee.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/?p=52351