From the Gulf Times in Qatar: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=127488&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19

Venezuela and Iran boost anti-US alliance

Published: Monday, 15 January, 2007, 11:52 AM Doha Time

CARACAS: Iran and Venezuela expanded their anti-US strategic alliance on Saturday with the two controversial leaders signing 11 new bilateral agreements and pledging to boost the price of oil.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Saturday in Caracas for his second such visit in four months to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
After the two men met at the government palace, Chavez noted the deep relationships between the two countries and said one can speak of a “single fatherland” when speaking of Iran and Venezuela.
The Iranian people will “stand side to side with Venezuela” for now and evermore, Ahmadinejad vowed.
“We are spreading revolutionary thought throughout the world,” the Iranian leader said.
Yesterday, Ahmadinejad travelled to Nicaragua, where the Sandinista and former US foe Daniel Ortega was inaugurated as president earlier this week, and to today’s inauguration in Ecuador of leftist populist Rafael Correa, a Chavez admirer in the oil-rich but otherwise impoverished country.
The new Iran-Venezuela agreements call for more intense cooperation on energy, industry, trade and building construction. Last year, Ahmadinejad offered to help Venezuela develop its nuclear power industry at a time that Iran is under intense international pressure to stop enriching uranium, a process that can produce weapons-grade fuel.
During the September visit in Venezuela, the two men signed 28 co-operation agreements, with heavy focus on energy and economy. The two countries plan to start co-operative oil companies, and factories to produce cement, airplanes, bikes, automobiles and gunpowder.
The presidents on Saturday agreed to speed up establishment of a $2bn bilateral fund to invest in countries that join their anti-US alliance and free themselves from the “yoke of imperialism,” Chavez said.
The two leaders also pledged mutual support in foreign affairs, including efforts to keep oil prices high by lowering production from the oil group, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). Iran and Venezuela are the world’s fourth and fifth most important oil exporting nations.
Ahmadinejad charged that “all problems of the world are caused by the false policies of the most powerful countries” that have caused poverty, conflict, discrimination and injustice. The rich are only interested in economic profits and have nothing left over for the dignity of humanity, he said.
“Instead of love, hate and enmity rule the day,” the Iranian leader said.
Chavez compared his Bolivarian revolution, under which he has been building a Latin American base to confront the US, with the Islamic revolution that governs Iran.
During last year’s visit, Chavez declared his “unlimited support” for Iran’s controversial nuclear programme. Iran is developing a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes, he insisted. – DPA [emphasis added]

From the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/14/business/chavez.php

Chávez vows to nationalize all energy

Reuters

Published: January 14, 2007

CARACAS: President Hugo Chávez plans to nationalize Venezuela's entire energy sector, reinforcing his socialist revolution and possibly giving himself more targets for state takeover.

But he said Saturday that he would permit foreign firms to hold minority stakes in energy deals.

Chávez, in power since 1999, announced last week that he would nationalize power utilities and the country's biggest telecommunications firm, confirming his status as the catalyst of Latin America's swing to the left.

"We have decided to nationalize the whole Venezuelan energy and electricity sector, all of it, absolutely all," Chávez said in his annual state of the nation address to Parliament, potentially opening up more projects for state acquisition in the fourth-ranking exporter of crude oil to the United States.

Chávez's growing control of Venezuela's economy is accompanied by his political influence. After the opposition boycotted last month's elections, he has full support in Parliament and dominates the judiciary.

Chávez was inaugurated last week for a term that runs through 2013, and has said that only his supporters can work in the army and the oil industry. He uses his presidency to spar with Washington, which he had accused of imperialism.

Chávez is an ally of Cuba and Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited Venezuela on Saturday. Chávez said Venezuela and Iran had agreed to push for a cut in world oil supplies to counter plunging prices.

Chávez has already pursued oil and gas projects and power utilities, but he left no leeway Saturday for a private company to hold a majority in operations anywhere in the energy sector.

It was not immediately clear whether his pronouncement on nationalizing the whole sector was a precursor to moves against specific projects or companies.

Huge oil service companies such as Halliburton and Schlumberger operate in Venezuela, but Chávez gave no indication whether deals involving such businesses were in his sights.

In his address to Parliament, Chávez also said Venezuela was almost ready to take over the foreign-run oil projects of the Orinoco Belt, which produce about 600,000 barrels per day. Those projects are run by such big foreign companies as Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Statoil and BP. [emphasis added]

Wow! When you're feeling intellectually isolated in the world, it's so refreshing to see a total stranger say something that rings so true. [I don't quite know how to phrase this but...] It gives you real evidence that you can work and live with the people around you ['trading for the best that others have to offer'] rather than beating your head into a wall trying to gode them along and do everything yourself. This is actually why I stay out of politics, it feels too much like repeatedly running and throwing myself into the brick wall of other people's stubborn idiocy. Anywho, I found this article by Lynn Woolley to be refreshing, if it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

Imagine No Possessions

by Lynn Woolley
Posted Jan 10, 2007

“We’re heading toward socialism and nothing and no one can prevent it.”  

No, that’s not a quote from someone in the U.S. Congress -- at least not yet.  That’s from President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, making good on his election promises to nationalize vast segments of his nation.  

Now compare that with this quote:  “My solution is that everyone in California must have health insurance. If you can’t afford it, the state will help you buy it.”  That comes from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is proposing coverage for 6.5 million uninsured residents of the Golden State.  He promises to spread the cost among businesses, individuals, hospitals, insurers and the government.  

What, exactly, is the difference between the socialist president of Venezuela and the socialist governor of California?  

Hugo Chavez is planning a government takeover of Venezuela’s electrical and telecommunications companies. Chavez may retain some foreign investment in the energy sector, but he maintains that lucrative oil projects should be under state ownership.  But at least, he was honest about it.  In the recent election that he won by a landslide, he promised a radical turn toward socialism.

Have you ever noticed, though, that nothing much of value ever comes out of a socialist state?  Chavez likes to glorify the Cuban model of Fidel Castro where the people all have a certain “security” under Castro’s thumb.  But where are the scientific advances?  Where are the engineering and medical breakthroughs?  And why do so many people risk their lives on leaky rafts to escape from this island paradise?

In Ayn Rand’s seminal novel “Atlas Shrugged,” first published in 1957, she tells the story of a nation that is becoming a festering hotbed of socialism.  Our heroine, Dagny Taggart, fights to keep her railroad open in the face of government meddling.  Hank Reardon invents a new metal, but the government takes it away.  Behind the scenes, a man named John Galt organizes a strike of all the great minds of the world.  Guess what happens once all independent thought and innovation gives way to government management of the entire country?

Which brings us back to the Congress of the United States, now run by the esteemed Democratic Party.  Their first major goal is to meddle in private business by setting a false floor for wages, rather than letting the marketplace decide.  

Representative Barney Frank, who, as part of the Congress, has the ability to set his own pay scale, wants to meddle with CEO compensation.  It seems that Rep. Frank is not happy that the ousted former head of Home Depot negotiated a fairly nice golden parachute.  You have to wonder if Mr. Frank is equally distressed that Randy Johnson is being paid millions by the Arizona Diamondbacks to toss a few baseballs each year.  Should Congress limit the outrageous salaries that movie stars and sports stars earn?  Where, exactly, should Congressional meddling stop?

Perhaps where presidential meddling begins.  The Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, has attempted a takeover of the nation’s health care system once before.  If elected, she’ll try again.  So will former Senator John Edwards.  If the government takes over medicine, what’s next?  Oil?  Electric power?  Media?  Imagine no possessions. It’s easy if you try.

Don’t scoff; it’s happening right now in Venezuela.  And as a little bonus for Hugo Chavez, he’s getting quite a bit of extra power in the deal.  Under the new socialism, he will become an outright dictator, able to legislate by presidential decree.

At the end of “Atlas Shrugged,” the government was running everything, and the lights began to flicker out in New York City.  The lights aren’t out yet in America, but they could be starting to dim.  If you wish for the government to provide all that you need, be very careful.

You may get your wish.

Mr. Woolley is a talk show host on the SSI Radio Network. Contact him via www.BeLogical.com.