But who has dared to even put such a notion on the agenda . . . except me, the President of Venezuela*, the Wall Street Journal** and other business papers? :-> I take it that leftists are indeed being put on notice. Good!
There is something of a burgeoning industry on the Left counseling Chavez against being too friendly to Iran and busy distancing Venezuela from Iran: e.g., "Venezuela and Iran, Diplomatic Relations, Trade Deals and Revolutionary Foreign Policy," <http://www.marxist.com/venezuela-iran-revolutionary-policy210706.htm> "Extracts from an Open Letter by a Group of University Students in Iran to Hugo Chavez," Translated and distributed by Workers Left Unity- Iran <http://www.marxmail.org/msg15223.html> "Venezuela Signs More Deals during Chavez's Visits to Iran and Vietnam" <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2027>
Chavez is a realist as well as socialist, not a sectarian ideologue, however, so he'll disappoint leftists and pursue alliances with Tehran, Moscow, Beijing, and so forth.
* "At a press conference with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Chavez stated, "If we are united, we can defeat imperialism, but if we are divided, they can push us out of their way, and this has been the experience of countries over the past two hundred years" ("Venezuela Will Stand beside Iran: Chavez," 29 July 2006 <http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=359940>); "Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution and Iran's Islamic Revolution are sister revolutionary movements" (Hugo Chavez, qtd. in "Chavez from Iran Threatens to Cut Oil Supply to the US," 31 July 2006, <http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=8433>); Associated Press, "Venezuela's Diplomat Recall Concerns Israel," 4 August 2006, <http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/08/04/israel.venezuela.ap/>.
See, also, <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez-congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>.
** Bill Spindle, "Burning Oil -- Behind Rise of Iran's President: A Populist Economic Agenda; Ahmadinejad Wins Power Promising Lavish Outlays; Inflation Is a Major Worry; Crunch Time at Biscuit Factory," Wall Street Journal, Eastern ed., 22 June 2006, A.1 <http://montages.blogspot.com/2006/06/wsj-mr-ahmadinejad-is-emerging-as.html> and <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20060619/040719.html>.
> but in Lebanese politics Hizbollah is integrated fully into the system.
> It has two ministers in the government that is dominated by Hariri-led
> US clients and it allies itself with quite reactionary figures. True, it
> organises social services, but only as churches or charities do—they
> represent no social threat whatsoever to the bourgeois social order.
Has Mr. Gilbert Achcar examined the multinational empire's double imposition of neoliberal reforms and disarmament of Hizballah on Lebanon and Hizballah's alliance with trade unionists in resisting it?
<blockquote>Flexing its muscles further, Hizballah began mobilizing its constituency, together with like-minded activists within the country's trade unions, to protest the government's austerity proposals. On May 10, an anti-government demonstration hit the streets of Beirut, with Hizballah's al-Manar media outlets claiming that at least half a million protesters were in attendance. The march was a thinly veiled demonstration of the party's influence in anticipation of the new Security Council resolution. It also fell on the eve of renewed discussions within the framework of the national dialogue on the future of Lebanon's "defense strategy" -- code for the question of whether Hizballah will disarm or integrate into Lebanon's regular armed forces. Earlier, Nasrallah had implied a threat to block any future privatization plans, arguing that this issue should also be part of the national dialogue and, hence, become tied to Hizballah's arms. (Reinoud Leenders, "How UN Pressure on Hizballah Impedes Lebanese Reform," 23 May 2006 <http://www.merip.org/mero/mero052306.html>)</blockquote>
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>