Chávez sends troops, tanks to Venezuela's border with Colombia
Strike against rebel commander 'cowardly,' he says
By Juan Forero
Washington Post / March 3, 2008
Calling a Colombian military strike against a guerrilla commander "a cowardly assassination," President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela yesterday closed his country's embassy in Colombia and ordered tanks, planes, and thousands of troops to the 1,300-mile border the two countries share.
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador also recalled his ambassador to Colombia in protest over the assault just inside Ecuador on Saturday that killed 17 guerrillas, including Luis Edgar Devia, a top commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Ecuador and Venezuela are allies.
Speaking on his nationally televised show, Chávez lauded Devia and ordered his defense minister to mobilize troops to Venezuela's western border. He also blamed the United States, a staunch ally of President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, for fueling the conflict in Colombia.
"Move 10 battalions to the Colombian frontier immediately, tank battalions, military aviation," Chávez said. "We are not going to permit the North American empire, which is the ruler, to allow his lapdog, President Uribe and the Colombian oligarchy, to divide or weaken us. We will not permit it."
Another Venezuelan ally, Nicaragua, which is disputing Colombian sovereignty over two islands in the Caribbean, also criticized Colombia. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a Cold War foe of the United States, called the strike against Devia "an act of total provocation" that reduces the chances of peacefully settling Colombia's conflict.
Although celebrated in Colombia as a major blow against the FARC, the attack has triggered the most serious regional crisis in recent years. Venezuela, Ecuador, and Nicaragua frequently criticize Colombia's military activities in the region and are detached from the United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Colombia.
|
Comments
Geneticist Creating Life Form
This is interesting ... made me go "hmmmm" ... & wonder if this is a good thing or a scary thing.
Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel
Thu Feb 28, 3:56 PM ET
MONTEREY, California (AFP) - A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.
Geneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially world-changing "fourth-generation fuel" project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California.
"We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy," Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page.
"We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock."
~~More~~
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080228/sc_afp/scienceusitgenetics;_ylt=ApL...
thanks for posting this!
i may convert it to a blog post;
and perhaps a poll as to what will come of this invention / inventor...
-NJT
It's All About The Oil
So, the US/CIA sponsored Columbia government starts the dirty work of bringing more democracy to the world.
Vampires with a never ending appetite for Blood ....for Oil and profit.
This article was posted on Global Research yesterday:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=KEL20080...
"Never again will they rob us -- the ExxonMobil bandits. They are imperial, American bandits, white-collared thieves. They turn governments corrupt, they oust governments. They supported the invasion of Iraq."
This was the response from Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to the successful lawsuit by the world's biggest corporation (ExxonMobil), freezing $12 billion in assets of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA -- a serious escalation in Big Oil's long running dispute with Chávez and the movement he represents.
....The ExxonMobil attacks have been met with defiance in Venezuela. PDVSA denies that any significant assets have been affected by the court action. "PDVSA is operating at 100 percent and is exporting oil all over the world," said Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez. February 11, Chávez said that if ExxonMobil does succeed in freezing PDVSA assets, he would halt oil exports to the United States. This is a threat the U.S. has to take seriously. As well as being the fourth largest exporter of oil to the U.S., if Venezuela succeeds in certifying an additional 200 billion barrels of oil reserves to the 100 billion already certified, it will officially have the most proved reserves of oil, in the world.
With so much at stake, U.S. imperialism and its corporate allies are not at the moment in a position to launch a sequel to the failed coup of 2002. Venezuela's movement is too big, and Venezuela's oil is too important for that to happen -- for now. But we know from the bitter history of Big Oil and the Global South that this is not the last confrontation between corporate and popular power in Venezuela.
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king"
Bob Dylan
Hmmm
That html code you gave us didn't work the same this time or maybe I didn't something wrong.
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king"
Bob Dylan
More...
More from the Global Reasearch link above.
In January and February, ExxonMobil used the courts in Britain, the U.S. and the Netherlands to get injunctions that freeze up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), in those countries. The British injunction, granted on January 24 without any prior notice to PDVSA, will be heard again on February 22. The U.S. injunction was upheld by a February 13 ruling of the U.S. Federal Court.
ExxonMobil's economic thuggery is an attempt to undermine and reverse the Venezuelan government's decision last May to nationalise ExxonMobil's 41.7% stake in the Cerro Negro project in the Orinoco oilfield. The nationalisation was part of the revolutionary government's efforts to recover Venezuela's sovereignty over its natural resources. ExxonMobil rejected the Venezuelan government's offer of compensation, instead using the legal system in various First World countries to punish the country. In contrast, France's Total and Norway's Statoil have agreed to accept from Venezuela close to $1 billion compensation for part of their holdings in the oil project.
ExxonMobil is the world's largest oil company, and was a key "stakeholder" in the US's bloody invasion and occupation of Iraq. The corporation's attack on Venezuela is a continuation of its aggressive response to any government daring to assert its nation's right to own and control their natural resources. More fundamentally, the attack also aims to destabilise Venezuela and undermine the socialist revolution being constructed by the Venezuelan people.
PDVSA accounts for some 90% of Venezuela's foreign exchange and half of its federal tax revenue, and it is the crucial source of funds for the Venezuelan government's programs that provide free education and health care to the poor. In 2006, the state-owned oil company spent $13.3 billion on such programs, up from $6.9 billion in 2005 and more than double the $5.8 billion it invested in new domestic gas and oil projects.
ExxonMobil's actions have angered poor Venezuelans, who have held protests around the country. As oil workers' union leader Luis Carvajal said: "This transnational has exploited our wealth, has exploited our workers and violated our rights. All the workers in the Orinoco oil belt support the nationalisation."
Venezuela supplies about 10% of the US's oil. On February 14, PDVSA halted oil supplies to ExxonMobil and the government is now considering suspending oil supplies to the USA. As Venezuela's energy minister, Rafael Ramirez, has emphasised, the interests of the Venezuelan nation are more important than any corporation, and Venezuela will not back down from its policy of full oil sovereignty.
In light of these events, we the undersigned:
** Support the Venezuelan government's efforts to defend and extend the Venezuelan people's common ownership and control over Venezuela's natural resources, and defend the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela's right to assert its social, political and economic sovereignty.
** Condemn ExxonMobil's economic blackmail against Venezuela and call for it to immediately withdraw its legal campaign against PDVSA.
** Reject as illegitimate and immoral the British, U.S. and Dutch courts' order to freeze PDVSA's assets. Only Venezuela, through its own courts and in accordance with its own Constitution, has the right to decide the ownership and control of the resources in its territory. So-called "international arbitration" on Venezuela's resources via courts in the First World countries is colonialism.
** Stand in solidarity with the protest actions of Venezuela's people, trade unions and social organisations against ExxonMobil and the U.S. government's economic and political thuggery, and commend the words of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: "They will never rob us again, those bandits of ExxonMobil."
Show your support by Signing on - http://venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/2397
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king"
Bob Dylan
i went in and hacked them for you
mainly you didn't close the second table.
I updated the "Blog Notes" to be more accurate but now some unexplained < br />'s are showing up in there. Maybe the blog is starting to feel the freezing affects of winter! No harm either way, brrrr
Thanks
I thought I had closed them ... I'll check it out later when I have some time to see what you did for me.
I don't want to be causing you more work than you are already doing.
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king"
Bob Dylan
no worries
the only way we'll see if this thing works, or what it needs, is if people try it.
There are a ton of options... configurable profiles with avatars? more smileys? different features? sidebar with lotsa links? in good time it's all possible.
Avatars
I like avatars. On others forums I have frequented I find them very helpful for quickly identifying whose posting. Besides being fun, I think the visual image adds more dimension to the community feeling you get with forums.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king"
Bob Dylan
Oh goody - Avatars! n/t
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. ~~ Mohandas Gandhi~~
Format Issue
Something happened to the format on Drums of War II blog post. The width is increased - stretching into the right sidebar.
There's always something! Roseanne Roseannadanna
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. ~~ Mohandas Gandhi~~
i think its because of the image
i think its because of the image of S.A. may be too wide for your screen size, now that we added a left menu and pushed everything over. I could shrink the image and see if it helps... there we go, any better?
-NJT
Looks OK to me??
Kira,
It looks OK to me.
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king" ~~Bob Dylan~~
Now it works for me ...
What screen size are you guys using?
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. ~~ Mohandas Gandhi~~
1280 x 800 n/t
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king" ~~Bob Dylan~~
1280 x1024
i think Kira did an img link to get the bigger smiley
-NJT
My Screen Size & more
I'm using 1024 X 768.
Yes, I did use an image link to a fun site I found a bunch of years ago - Smileys.
Smileys out the Wazoo!
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. ~~ Mohandas Gandhi~~
Unrest to the south ?
not sure if this bears any relation to the story above... but maybe something to keep an eye on,
Soccer brawl in Colombia leaves 78 injured, 18 with stab wounds
By JAIRO ANCHIQUE, Associated Press Writer Mar 9, 12:25 am EST
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)—A stadium brawl at a soccer rivalry game left about 80 people wounded in the Colombian city of Cali late Saturday, 18 of them with stab wounds, emergency officials said.
Clashes broke out among America de Cali’s “Red Baron” fan club in the 82nd minute of the match with Deportivo de Cali and spread onto the field and around the Pascual Guerrero stadium.
Police fired tear gas as the brawlers lit firecrackers and tried to tear down fencing separating the stands from the field.
Eighteen people were stabbed during the melee, said Manuel Infante, spokesman for Cali’s Emergency Prevention Committee. They were treated at the stadium and taken to a local hospital. Another 60 suffered bruises and other minor injuries.
A young pregnant woman and three police officers were among the wounded, the Red Cross said.
Tensions flared over referee Wilman Roldan’s decision not to call a penalty kick against Cali. America protested the no-call, players traded blows on the field and America coach Diego Edison Umana got into the fray, elbowing his Cali counterpart Daniel Carreno.
Cali Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina called Umana “directly responsible” for the violence and said the stadium’s stands would be closed temporarily.
Umana had harsh words for the refereeing later in comments published on the Web site of El Tiempo newspaper, but said there was “no excuse” for his behavior.
“It’s my fault, and if I have to leave soccer I’ll go,” Umana said.
Fans of the two Cali squads have had frequent clashes in the past, though less serious.
“This cannot happen again,” vowed Juan Carlos Abadia, governor of Del Valle department.
The chaos led Roldan to whistle an early end to the match, which Deportivo won 1-0 on a goal from defender Freddy Hurtado.
U.S. may add Venezuela to list of terrorist states
U.S. may add Venezuela to list of terrorist states
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/29944.html
snip:
The Bush administration has launched a preliminary legal inquiry that could land Venezuela on the U.S. list of nations that support terrorism, following reports of close Venezuelan links with Colombian rebels, a senior government official has confirmed.
The investigation is the first step in a process that could see Venezuela join North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran as countries designated by the State Department as supporters of terrorism.
U.S. laws give some leeway on what economic activity is subject to such sanctions, but experts say adding Venezuela to the list would force U.S. and even foreign firms to sever or curtail links with one of the world's largest oil producers.
The legal review comes after Colombia captured four computers belonging to a guerrilla leader in a March 1 raid into Ecuador. The documents suggest the Venezuelan government was in the process of providing $300 million to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The U.S. and Colombian governments and the European Union have officially designated FARC as a terrorist organization, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said publicly that he considers it a legitimate insurgency.
A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the subject, said government lawyers had been asked to clarify "what goes into effect in terms of prohibitions, or prohibited activities," with the state sponsor designation.
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king" ~~Bob Dylan~~
Post new comment