As many of you know I'm not now, nor have I ever been in on making US Foreign Policy, but this strikes me as pretty paranoid. It also strikes me as a dangerous thing to be telling your military. Let's face it, if the USA decided to attack Venezuela there wouldn't be much of a fight despite their recent acquisition of Russian arms. With that in mind the Venezuelan Army might well desert or surrender before any actual fighting takes place. Not unlike what happened with Iraq's Army.



Questions for debate:
Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela?
Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela?
or
Should Hugo Chavez be given some herbal tea and reassuring talk or a large cache of pills to cure his paranoia?

Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela?

I doubt that very seriously- the very powers that brought us into the mess of Iraq have shot themselves in the foot over thier mis-management of Iraq. The poltical power base that would make the invasion possible will probably not be in power in 2 years- in the Republican or Democrat party, with the possible exception of Lieberman.

GW has his hands full with Iraq- and has dropped the ball- does anyone seriously think that any of GWs possible succesors have the ABILITY to win the presidency, much less launch another war?

However- that being said- Chavez IS playing to the roll that America is now in- imperialistic oppressor. We stepped into the role, he is merely exploiting it.

No, it is stupid for an American to believe that we could attack Venezuela, but it is an easy propaganda point to back up with facts against populations already thinking we are the great Satan

Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela?

Political ? un, duh, it is pretty obvious we are already hip deap in the political warfare skirmishes with Chavez. Media as well- we are pulling out our propaganda stops too- economic- hard to say- I am sure the oil lobbyists from Exxon and Conaco phillips are paying for a lot of expensive dinners right now in DC- to get the US to sanction Venezuela somehow- but if so,we are badly losing that one- and I think Chavez doesn't give a rat's fanny what the US wants to do economically- we still have to buy his oil, hat in hand. - psychological warfare? I need a definition to answer that one first- other than "calling someone a bad name and starting some gossip" as psychological warfare.


or
Should Hugo Chavez be given some herbal tea and reassuring talk or a large cache of pills to cure his paranoia?

Well, he is a "military strongman" that survived a coup that was financed by the US, so he is probably justifiably paranoid.

Are you referring to the MBR200? I thought that was his failed coup and I don't see why that would have possibly been financed by the US.

Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela?

Uh, no. The US has no interest in fighting tin pot strongman Hugo Chavez or his people.

Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela?

Yeah. Bush is on TV every night beating the drums of war towards our Latin American near neighbor. The war Chavez may be referring to is our tiresome persistance at promoting capitalism. As a neo-Communist dictator, Chavez is troubled by this economic freedom and success that is enjoyed in the US. His class warfare with the capitalist West is showing itself.

Should Hugo Chavez be given some herbal tea and reassuring talk or a large cache of pills to cure his paranoia?

I could think of some better things that Chavez could be given...

As a parody of another dictator, this just in:

In a shocking turn of events today, Hugo Chavez's approval rating dipped to an all-time low of 120%. The Venezuelan strongman blamed the jingoist United States for this "temporary imperialist intervention on his attempt to free the great Venezuelan people from the shackles that bind them."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_coup_attempt_of_2002

No- I am talking about the 2002 coup attempt- where the president installed by the coup ruled for about 47 hours- in which time the US recognized this goverment (the Carmona goverment) - pretty big indicator of who was behind the coup- hard to get proof of course- but someone has to recognize a coup goverment quickly in order to get the international ball rolling.

The documentary Irish film has it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolutio...8documentary%29

Fine, but with Bush's popularity in the tank both here and abroad, does it really make any difference. In other words does Bush have any moral principles tho throw at Chavez? Is he getting any traction here are abroad? At this stage of the game, Bush is just a paper tiger.

Bush's war-of-words isn't helping him at home.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

BTW: I just thought of a great art project for kids - a papier-mache tiger wearing a Bush mask.

Questions for debate:
Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela?
No, although the Democrats are doing so. Where do you think they want the troops in Iraq to redeploy? They'll want to make sure that the People's Revolution in Venezuela is done right, and they can't trust a beaner to do it proper.


Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela?
No.
or
Should Hugo Chavez be given some herbal tea and reassuring talk or a large cache of pills to cure his paranoia?
I'm not sure that he's paranoid. Rather, he's simply a demogogue priming the fear pump to stay in power. Of course, if he believes his own schtick, then he's paranoid.

Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela?
Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela?
It is Chavez who is playing the psychological mind games. First at the UN then in the US with some dopes from Hollywood and now with his own people.

The game of “we are in imminent danger and must defend our country” jargon is the oldest trick in the book.

IMO he is preparing for more confiscation action and the suspension of more rights and this will be his excuse.

I relish the irony of this statement. It is true.

Chavez is probably paranoid. But then, there is the coup that Cruising Ram mentioned, and the fact that Fidel Castro--whom the CIA did try to assassinate--is one of his best buddies. Add to that the fact that Venezuela has oil. The cliche' comes to mind: "You're not paranoid if people really are out to get you," conversely, "You can be paranoid and people can still be out to get you."

But I think that even if George W. Bush did want to invade Venezuela and seize its oil production facilities, the military is far too busy in Iraq, Afghanistan and God knows where else.

I don't think there is psychological propaganda aside from the regular stuff that goes over the airwaves every day about other things. There is no love lost between this administration and Hugo Chavez.

It is probable, however, that someone in the U.S. is trying to put the screws to Venezuela economically. I just don't have any evidence, only a gut feeling, that there are reasons why this country that calls itself Socialist is treated differently from China, an avowedly Communist country.

Every tin-pot dictator uses the boogey-man threat to rally the troops, or mobilize whatever activity they want. Even democratic leaders have been known to stoop to such rhetoric. It is more likely a machiavellian mania than true paranoia, -- although, the more power is centralized in one person, it is true such a person is more susceptible to delusions of that nature. So I won't rule out insanity completely.

GWB can “want” all he likes but as with all wars you need Congress – do you think Hillary would be as strong on invading Venezuela as she was on Iraq? (Irony intended)




Yes and it will not change even if a Dem is in the WH next. The man is a tin-pot Commie- soon to be dictator of Venezuela and no US President will have “good” relations with this man.

China is actually moving in the other direction – embracing capitalism at a rapid rate – and this is the source of their rapid growth. The opposite will be true in Venezuela and companies and talented people flee.

Bikerdad, Ted, Baphomet'sAdvocate, Amlord, and metropolitical all want to jump on Chavez and label him a tin pot dictator, or my favorite, a beaner, all because he has a different economic philosophy than the "Get Rich and Die Trying" American way of life. He doesn't think like us, and most important to Bikerdad, is that, he doesn't look like us. Put those two together and he HAS TO BE A NUTJOB!

The US is not going to invade Venezuela. There is a more compelling argument to invade Iran, and if we started a war with Iran, our country would likely implode politically. So to think we could invade Venezuela - it's just ludicrous.

The US is, without proof, yet, without a doubt, engaging in some form of covert counter-Chavez operation. We backed the 2002 coup attempt, which has been mentioned twice already, coupled with the recent release of CIA documentation stating the US attempted to assassinate Castro leads me to believe that we are indeed actively participating in the overthrow of Hugo Chavez. So my answer to the overall question would be, he is not paranoid, but on to us.

The third question, well, this is one of those FOX News questions; Hillary Clinton, She's a Dirty Whore?
You are assuming that he is paranoid and then also assuming that we should actually do something about it. First, he's not paranoid and second, even if he was, why is that our problem? Next time, leave the question mark out CavutosAdvocate.

Love this line Paladin Elspeth:Poetry.

Is Hugo Chavez right; is the US actually gearing up to invade Venezuela? Uhh... Nope.
Is the US engaging in psychological warfare, media warfare, political warfare, economic warfare on Venezuela? Not yet, but Chavez is clearly trying to provoke retaliation of some kind.
Should Hugo Chavez be given some herbal tea and reassuring talk or a large cache of pills to cure his paranoia? Maybe...

History is repeating itself yet again on the world stage. Chavez has cast himself in the role popularized by the Hussein-Perón-Mao-Shówa-Mussolini-Hitlers of yesteryear, and is trying desperately to recruit the Americans to play the foreign race of ideological boogeymen supposedly intent on enslaving the world and his fatherland, leaving Chavez as the lone brave underdog willing to save the world by dominating it before his enemy can. Apparently, Chavez is hoping the story will immortalize him internationally as the second coming of El Cid, fighting even beyond death as El Campeador de Venezuela.

Maybe he hasn't read far enough into the script to realize it doesn't usually end quite as well for the evil dictator character as it has for Castro. Or, maybe he's forgetting El Cid wasn't exactly a despot, and was fighting a real enemy rather than a convenient, but innocent, scapegoat.

Otherwise, follow the tea and pills with a frontal lobotomy and a side dish of ECT.

Well rather than let you put words in everyone’s mouth instead of defending your point (which is?) – We can say that Socialism has failed miserably everywhere – but what is common in its history is the troubling dictatorships it fosters. Now we don’t know yet if this will happen in Venezuela but there are some signs of this in that Mr. Chavez is saying he would like to “stay President”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194557,00.html

And the man is going about crushing the free press and TV.

Yet you Barnaby is ok with all this????

Odd.

Clearly Barnaby, you are satirically challenged. Odd, that the digs at the Dems didn't clue you in.

As for Chavez "not looking like us", well, I hadn't noticed. Looks a lot like Jim Martinez, my bike dealer. (I've bought more than a dozen bikes from Jim, great guy.)

And hey, I didn't call him a "tin pot dictator", although I support the notion that he's well down the path to becoming one. No, I called him a "demogogue". And I did qualify my assessment of his mental state. He's nuts if he believes his own schtick. Otherwise, he's simply machiavellian.

I don't think you are terribly far off BD- it is not often you and I agree on things- but Chavez is no better or worse than ANY other politician in the world at that playing level- PROVIDED he doesn't believe his own schtick, as you say- because if he does- he traipses right into Stalin-lite territorey very quickly. Stalin DID believe his own press, as he quite often wrote it- he was paranoid and possibly delusional-

but I am betting Chavez is just another political manipulator that doesn't really care about his legacy or anything else- he just likes being the number 1 big dog in his country.