Conspiracy theory for Latin America
There are, of course, plenty of people who hate Hugo Chávez. Very few, though, create conspiracy theories as entertaining as the one in National Review written by two "former diplomats," one American, one Venezuelan. It is a new domino theory, as it sounds like the first draft could have been written in 1981, then they put in "Hugo Chávez" instead of "Soviet-backed communists."
The highlights:
- Hugo Chávez does not just fund leftist governments. He controls all of them.
- He has a plot to take over Central America and Mexico, then funnel drugs and Islamic terrorists into the U.S.
- He wants to disrupt Panama Canal operations
- Salvadorans "should have been skeptical" of the FMLN, but apparently they were not smart enough to listen to these former diplomats
- Many in the FMLN want a new civil war (because the last one was so much fun??)
9 comments:
Don't forget how they somehow forget the existence of Colombia in the second to last paragraph.
The article was so laughably bad, when I first read it I wasn't even sure where to begin.
It seems like they had been imbibing some of the drugs that Chávez planned to smuggle through his "pipeline."
Talk about preaching to the choir . . .
I agree that the article in the "National Review" is exaggerated.
quotation :
"With El Salvador in tow, Chávez has moved one step closer to creating a corridor that extends from Ecuador to the Rio Grande, over which narcotics, arms, Islamist terrorists, and illegal immigrants are already being transported. Next stop for the mercurial man from Caracas: Panama, where presidential and legislative elections are due to be held on May 3."
Chavez is not so powerful.
another quotation :
"It is easy to blame the rise of authoritarian socialism across Latin America on successive negligent administrations in Washington. Reclaiming real and relatively honest democracy in radicalized countries, ruled by nominally socialist dictators and led by the red-shirted Venezuelan, will prove far more difficult."
The American Administrations have not been so stupid as this paragraph assumes. They have acted effectively to stop Chavez. George W. Bush was not a failure in his Latin American Foreign Policy.
Boz said :
"Don't forget how they somehow forget the existence of Colombia in the second to last paragraph."
Well thought, ... Boz !
By supporting Colombia against the FARC terrorists, The USA has effectively created a Big Stumbling Block against Chavez. Chavez always supported and helped the Guerrillas.
Let us say that in a few years Venezuela is in Great Economic Trouble while Colombia is stable, progressive and prosperous ( I believe in that scenario ).
The Whole World will see that a policy of calmed and tranquil relation with the USA is better than a Policy of Confrontation and Madness.
And that Intelligence and Reason trumps Oil Reserves plus Vulgarity and Agression.
Milenials.com
Vicente Duque
Man, I thought NR was supposed to be the thinking conservative's magazine. Where I'd disagree with the articles but feel like I could have a reasonable discussion with the author (it was this quality, as well as his intelligence that made Buckley the favorite conservative of many a liberal and radical). Oh well.
There's a reason Buckley's son endorsed Obama. at some point, "Conservatism" among most US politicians and pundits stopped being about a different ideological take on the facts and started living in some crazy fictional world.
Or, to quote Stephen Colbert, "Reality has a well known liberal bias."
Oh, my.
I was scanning the blog and my eyes hit the bullet points first, and I really thought Greg was being tongue-in-cheek, until I read the whole post and then went to the article.
NR is no longer a bastion of intellectual conservatism--that much is clear--just surf over to The Corner if one needs empirical confirmation of that fact.
George W. Bush was not a failure in his Latin American Foreign Policy.
Thank you, Otto Reich.
There's a reason Buckley's son endorsed Obama. at some point, "Conservatism" among most US politicians and pundits stopped being about a different ideological take on the facts and started living in some crazy fictional world.
But the "fictional world" doesn't just infect the "analysis" of the National Review types. It also infects the "analysis" of "centrists" like Greg and Boz. It wasn't but a few months ago that Greg was peddling a completely preposterous poll suggesting that, in the immediate wake of the chavistas' gubernatorial victories in November, the chavistas were trailing by a 60-30 spread (!) in their campaign to end term limits. Viewed in context, one would really have to be a little blind to believe that sort of thing. Wishful thinking doesn't make for good analysis.
...just surf over to The Corner if one needs empirical confirmation of that fact.
It would have been interesting to see Buckley blog (or even edit the site). He probably wouldn't have put up with most of what goes on over at the Corner.
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