Now THAT'S Disingenuous

posted by The Vidiot @ 11:29 AM Permalink

As you may or may not know or remember, Venezuela's Chavez is battling it out at the UN, trying to win a temporary seat on the security coucil. His major challenger hails from Guatemala, which, as you also may or may not know, is a Bush crony. The voting has gone on for round after round, neither guy being able to garner the necessary 2/3 vote. It's deadlocked. There's been badgering and promise-giving from both sides, but you can be sure that the US' methods include more bludgeoning, using the threat of withholding economics and aid to make their point.

Now, this article in the UK's Telegraph, a conservative paper, says that the reason Chavez is having such a hard time garnering the necessary support is that anti-Bush rant he gave at the UN last month.

Excerpt: Hugo Chavez's tub-thumping tirade against President George W Bush and the United Nations at the General Assembly last month has backfired in a humiliating way for the demagogic Venezuelan president.

Venezuela's campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council — key to Mr Chavez's aim to secure influence on the world stage with his country's petrodollars — seems doomed after a series of votes ended in deadlock last week.

Yes, yes. It's a few nasty sticks and stones tossed out there by Chavez that has incurred the US' wrath.

Honestly, do you really think it has anything to do with Chavez' speech? Isn't that just a little too reductionist and simplistic to explain it?

The fact of the matter is that Chavez challenges US hegemony on every front. He's very good at pointing out the contradictions of our system and he does it in a way that most people can understand. He's a common man, and he communicates these things in a common way, a way that is well understood by many. And if he gains enough power, he'll cause large chunks of it to crumble. Our, meaning the US', lofty position in this world is tenuous at best, with a lot (though not all) the credit going to the Bush administration's follies in the Middle East. It wouldn't take much, even a tiny little guy from the southern hemisphere, to cause it to crack and crumble. The US, using the UN in its usual way, cannot let Chavez get onto the security council. It threatens the very foundations of our hegemony. (I'm not overstating that. It really does.) And they're doing everything in their power to make sure that doesn't happen.