NationStates Jolt Archive

The shrub is probably not too happy about it! ;)

Reuters has a story as well....

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-01-12T234600Z_01_N1233184_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-USA-VENEZUELA-PICTURE.XML

Why doesn't every state in the US just ask him for cheap oil. Venezuela could be bankrupted in a couple of months and it would be great for the US economy.

Never mind the shrub, if I was a poor venezuelan I'd be fucking pissed. Still, I am sure donating oil to a state where the per capita income is ten times that of the average guy in venezuela is well worth the hardship if it pisses GWB off. That's money well spent after all, becuase it's not like there are term limits in the US or anything.

Mind you, I doubt it would be very wise for anyone down there to complain. Chavez would probably get troops to storm your apartment and swipe what's left of your coffee beans.

Never mind the shrub, if I was a poor venezuelan I'd be fucking pissed. Still, I am sure donating oil to a state where the per capita income is ten times that of the average guy in venezuela is well worth the hardship if it pisses GWB off. That's money well spent after all, becuase it's not like there are term limits in the US or anything.

Mind you, I doubt it would be very wise for anyone down there to complain. Chavez would probably get troops to storm your apartment and swipe what's left of your coffee beans.
No, if you were a poor Venezuelan you would probably believe the claims Chavez makes in his speeches about the US poor being much worse off than the Venezuelan shanty-town dwellers. You would feel that your country was doing a good and charitable thing by helping people even less fortunate than you.

NOT THE COFFEE BEANS!!!! :eek:

Chavez is my favorite uber-jingoistic left-winger of the moment because he's just dining out luxuriously on every stupid, goddamned moronic political or PR mistake Bush makes. This oil donation -- it's all about the class issues that came out of the Katrina disaster, and Bush's tax breaks for the rich, etc. Cahvez is determined to turn all of South America into a big commie jamboree, with him as scout master, and damn me if Bush isn't helping him do it.

Talk about giving aid to the enemy. :rolleyes:

(I don't think a left-wing South America would necessarily be our enemy, but from Bush's pov...)

No, if you were a poor Venezuelan you would probably believe the claims Chavez makes in his speeches about the US poor being much worse off than the Venezuelan shanty-town dwellers. You would feel that your country was doing a good and charitable thing by helping people even less fortunate than you.

Well possibly.

The larger point however, is that Chavez is squandering venezuela's main source of wealth pretty much just to piss GWB off - and it's not even working very well.

To my mind, that is totally immoral, and he should be censured by the international community for it, not lauded as some type of hero.

My favorite left wing South American leader is the coca-lovin' Evo Morales of Bolivia.

Well possibly.

The larger point however, is that Chavez is squandering venezuela's main source of wealth pretty much just to piss GWB off - and it's not even working very well.

To my mind, that is totally immoral, and he should be censured by the international community for it, not lauded as some type of hero.
Screw that. The US can certainly use cheap petrolium. Keep it comming Chavez, ya big crazy commie bastard.

All I can say is yay to Chavez for giving me subsidised oil this winter, and yay to Bush, if it really is angering him, for not doing anything to stop it.

Well possibly.

The larger point however, is that Chavez is squandering venezuela's main source of wealth pretty much just to piss GWB off - and it's not even working very well.

To my mind, that is totally immoral, and he should be censured by the international community for it, not lauded as some type of hero.

I think the international community cares little what any oil exporting nation does as long as they keep their pipes flowing (and for FREE! Maybe we need more socialist leaning rentier state despots! Far better than them turning into theocracies.)

Anyway, a Venezuelan people cannot rely on oil, just as Flint Michigan shouldn't have relied on GM (not that they were unwise at the time to, but when GM left...) The government controls it and will do what it wishes with it, oil is a political tool. The real source of wealth for any nation are the minds of its citizens. Power to the individuals!

All I can say is yay to Chavez for giving me subsidised oil this winter, and yay to Bush, if it really is angering him, for not doing anything to stop it.
Yes, Bush, or NSA, if you are reading this, please stay "angry" and make Chavez retaliate with even more free oil. Maybe oil fields.

The larger point however, is that Chavez is squandering venezuela's main source of wealth pretty much just to piss GWB off - and it's not even working very well.

To my mind, that is totally immoral, and he should be censured by the international community for it, not lauded as some type of hero.

But people on this very forum have claimed that the US citizens have far more right to get oil for prices at 1/3rd of what the rest of the western world pays since they use such an awful lot. That the living in suburbia makes it necessary to own a car to do anything - and that it is unthinkable to just go back to a less wasteful lifestyle.

So.. since the US citizens obviously need it more than others, could it not be argued that Chavez is doing the right thing ?

And no, this post was not entirely serious. But the comments I paraphrased were actually used.

A Nation state... being... moral?

It's not our fault Europeans pay so much for petrol. They tax it more than the US. If someone tries to tax it here we dump them and their dirty tea tax in the harbor. Hell yeah.

This is trivial. Chavez is a thug and everyone knows it. Everyone except Henry Belafonte, I guess.

What we should be more concerned with is that Citgo is wholly controlled by Chavez. Citgo refines about six percent of our gasoline. What happens if Chavez decides to halt any production for, or delivery to the United States? Any interruption of refinery output has sent our gasoline prices into the stratosphere. He could cause far more mayhem in the U.S. that Katrina, if he were to halt deliveries. Huh?

How do people STILL think Chavez is the worst in South America, when Morales of Bolivia has been elected on a platform of increasing the 'cocoa'/cocaine production as a big F you to the US?!

Priorities.... sheesh.

How do people STILL think Chavez is the worst in South America, when Morales of Bolivia has been elected on a platform of increasing the 'cocoa'/cocaine production as a big F you to the US?.

Our energy security is more important than his nationwide cocaine binge I guess...and Morales isn't as friendly with Iran as Chavez is.

How do people STILL think Chavez is the worst in South America, when Morales of Bolivia has been elected on a platform of increasing the 'cocoa'/cocaine production as a big F you to the US?!

Priorities.... sheesh.
The US loves cheap oil and cocaine. We secretly love both Bolivia and Venezuela for providing both. This does raise an important question though. What do we need all that oil for? The massive loads of cheap Bolivian Marching Powder will zoot us up so high that we'll just sprint everywhere we go.

Our energy security is more important than his nationwide cocaine binge I guess...and Morales isn't as friendly with Iran as Chavez is.

Yes, evil man giving people cheap energy.... WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END!!! :eek: :eek: :D

Yes, evil man giving people cheap energy.... WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END!!! :eek: :eek: :D

zomg...:eek:

This is trivial. Chavez is a thug and everyone knows it. Everyone except Henry Belafonte, I guess.

What we should be more concerned with is that Citgo is wholly controlled by Chavez. Citgo refines about six percent of our gasoline. What happens if Chavez decides to halt any production for, or delivery to the United States? Any interruption of refinery output has sent our gasoline prices into the stratosphere. He could cause far more mayhem in the U.S. that Katrina, if he were to halt deliveries. Huh?

A "thug"...I seem to remember a bunch of US sponsored thugs trying to remove him not long ago, despite his democratic election....In fact, were he a "thug" the usual flag-wavers would be lauding him, for his efforts in suppressing unruly poor people, and nun-raping in general.

How do people STILL think Chavez is the worst in South America, when Morales of Bolivia has been elected on a platform of increasing the 'cocoa'/cocaine production as a big F you to the US?!

Priorities? Who gives a crap about coke? We need OIL DAMMIT! Give us the OIL!!!!

And cheaper coke... how is that a bad thing? :p

We could always use more oil

Well possibly.

The larger point however, is that Chavez is squandering venezuela's main source of wealth pretty much just to piss GWB off - and it's not even working very well.

To my mind, that is totally immoral, and he should be censured by the international community for it, not lauded as some type of hero.

Did it ever occur to anyone that he is putting his oil where his mouth is? If his platform is helping the disadvantaged and creating a stronger America (of course I am talking about THE AMERICAS, and not just the United States, because since when is The US the only American country?)...it doesn't seem too dishonest or immoral to me. People are only upset because a brown-skinned leader is doing something for the people of a white-skinned country that its white-skinned leader wont do.

Plus, his program began in neighborhoods with high latino populations. So if he promotes the idea of a unified latin america, in a way, he is only helping his own people out.

and who the hell are we to turn down free oil?

How do people STILL think Chavez is the worst in South America, when Morales of Bolivia has been elected on a platform of increasing the 'cocoa'/cocaine production as a big F you to the US?!

Priorities.... sheesh.

Without Coca production, the Bolivia wouldn't have an economy to speak of. Besides, in a country with an 80% indigenous population, he would be very unwise to outlaw or restrict something that exists in the indigenous way of life for thousands of years. There is a difference between coca and cocaine, and believe it or not, not all coca becomes cocaine. And i mean, the US demands it....until the US stops being cokeheads.....