Venezuela: El Observador gets back on line, Hugo gives Fidel fashion advice, Evo makes new friends

While Chavez is busy suing Globovision after having closed RCTV, Globovision continues to produce and post videos for RCTV on You Tube twice a day. Here's yesterday evening's (in Spanish):

Tamara Slusniys explains that the RCTV webpage, El Observador, which had been shut down from a DOS attack is now back on line El Observador. The actors from one of the RCTV comedy shows is taking their show on the road showing on screen one of the shows they couldn't broadcast when the station was closed by the government.

On Wednesday there was a huge demonstration of students who went to the National Assembly. As the WaPo correctly explains, there have been no opposition lawmakers since 2005. Daniel explains that the students are Settling into a protest routine, Venezuela style

El Universal has a slide show. This man's wearing a sign that reads, "Sorry for the inconvenience. We're working for your freedom!"

Of course, a cadena followed, and this is no news: Chavez calls protesting students 'pawns of Washington'.

Via Miguel, a new blog The end of Venezuela as I know it. That blogger is certainly no "pawn of Washington", or of anyone for that matter. But not everyone is as strong: Gustavo Coronel writes about The Dark Hour of Gustavo Cisneros.

Here's A priceless statement on the RCTV shutdown by a Government adviser. Indeed, as Daniel states in his article for Index on censorship, The non-renewal of the licence of the main opposition station is part of a broader, worrying, trend in Chavista Venezuela

AP has an article, Venezuela seeks leftist defense bloc

President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, while the leftist Latin American bloc announced the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.

which is something I've been posting on for a while, but now the rethoric's a little hotter,

Chavez said Wednesday that the four-nation Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, which began as a socialist-leaning trade group, should cooperate militarily to become more independent of U.S. influence. "It seems to be the moment to establish a joint defense strategy," Chavez said. He called for joint military aid as well as intelligence and counterintelligence cooperation "to prepare our people for defense so that nobody makes any mistake with us."

Austin Bay's Washington Times op-ed looks at Venezuela's current land claims against Colombia, Guyana and Holland (because of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire) and asks, A second Falklands?

One thing is clear, Hugo's networking involves Bolivia, and terrorist-supporting states:

Update: The Economist says Much though Evo Morales (left) might want to be another Hugo Chávez, he will not find it easy

Brazil's Senate is not too happy over recent developments: Stratfor has an excellent article, Mercosur and Brazil: The Venezuela Question and Quitting Time

Summary: Despite recent conciliatory gestures between the presidents of Brazil and Venezuela, Brazil's Senate has shown a new determination to block full membership for Venezuela in the trade group Mercosur as part of the fallout from the revocation of Radio Caracas TV's license. If Mercosur denies Venezuela, it could become a more viable trade group, though that greatly depends on Argentina's stance following elections later this year. Ultimately, Brazil will have to leave Mercosur if it does not become a more effective trade body.

Hugo's even ordering Fidel around, Get out of your trackies, Chavez tells Castro

"I believe the time has come to return to wearing the uniform," said Mr Chavez, a staunch supporter and protege of Castro.

"We want you in uniform ... That's an order," he joked.

I guess Hugo doesn't understand the dotty dictator's fashion sense.

Update Excellent round-ups at A colombo-americana's perspective



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Hightstown looks the other way

At the WaPo this morning, Looking the Other Way on Immigrants
Some Cities Buck Federal Policies

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- After federal agents launched a massive raid on an apartment complex here two years ago, other illegal immigrants in this quiet town near Princeton University grew so wary of the law, authorities say, that many began hiding behind headstones in a local cemetery when patrol cars approached.

But these days, the immigrants of Hightstown are more likely to be the ones calling the cops.

In the aftermath of a series of raids in 2004, the town council in this historic borough of 5,300 -- transformed in recent years by an influx of at least 1,300 Latin Americans -- unanimously approved a sort of immigrant bill of rights. Joining a growing list of cities enacting a no-questions-asked policy on immigration status, Hightstown now allows its undocumented residents to officially interact with local police and access city services without fear of being reported to federal authorities.

By doing so, Hightstown is subverting the principle of the rule of law.

The greatest problem I see, the most fundamental problem involving illegal immigration is that it subverts a basic principle on which the USA is founded: the principle of the rule of law.

I can not stress enough how erosive to our society is having,supporting and countenancing a group of people whose entire existence is predicated on evading the rule of law.

While the immigrants are calling the cops on those who break the law, they themselves are breaking the law. The message is clear: the immigrants are taught that the law applies to someone else.

The article continues,

It has opened new lines of communication here, officials say. One illegal immigrant at the complex where the raids were staged called on the police recently to help place a family member in alcohol rehabilitation; others have reported domestic abuse, extortion, theft and other crimes. Some are calling the town's pro-immigrant mayor for advice on City Hall weddings and landlord troubles. Hightstown has added services aimed at immigrants, including free bilingual computer classes last month. Noting the shift, one Spanish-language newspaper recently dubbed Hightstown the "Paradise Town" of New Jersey.

For pity's sake - when one's speaking in Spanish, half the terminology one uses in computer and internet is in English, and the other half is anglicisms. Are they using new, Spanish, keyboards? Or are they avoiding Insert, Home, Page Up, and all those other keys? Computer classes would be the perfect setting on which to teach English as a second language.

The best-paid professions in the world use English.

If the mayor and the people involved in implementing these policies really had in mind the well-being of the newcomers, they would have free computer classes in English. As I have mentioned time and time again, India's become an economic powerhouse in globalization because Indians speak English. Every person who comes to the USA should work hard to participate in all of our country's opportunities. Learning English is only the first step.

Additonally, there's the issue of integration:
In yesterday's Blog Talk Radio podcast, Pieter Dorsman mentioned how Holland failed to integrate immigrants:

Most of the immigrants who were brought in during the post war years when Holland became such an economic success was for lower-skilled labor jobs. Immigrants were brought in from Morocco, from Turkey, and there was a very strong belief that if let this people to their own devices and let them have their own culture, they would naturally fit into Dutch society and become a part of it, and not be too confrontational.

But what has happened is that there has been no integration at all, and we have created a group of people who are completely disconnected from mainstream Dutch society who have very little opportunities to climb the social-economic ladder.

That's exactly what we're setting ourselves for.

What it comes down to is: Every immigrant into the USA should be taught, in English, what it means to be an American.

Not doing so condemns those very immigrants who come here in search for a better life, to the same second and third-tier existence they tried to escape.

The "Paradise Town" of New Jersey? More like a fool's paradise.

Update, Wednesday 11 April Don't miss Sigmund Carl and Alfred's post Viva la immigracion
Enlighten NJ posts on New Jersey’s Boom in Illegal Immigrants

Today on Blog Talk Radio: Pieter Dorsman

UPDATED: Listen to the podcast, and read Peaktalk's post

Holland has a population of 16 million, yet

In the first nine months of last year a record number of Dutch packed their bags with some 100,000 leaving the country, an increase of 12% on the previous year.

Pieter Dorsman of Peaktalk is my guest today at noon. We'll discuss this topic, Europe, and more. Join us!

The Dial In Number is (646) 652-2639
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This was a most interesting podcast. Siggy and Mary, both of which had been my guests, called in. I'll post more about it once the podcast is archived.
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Update: You can listen to the podcast
Pieter Dorsman posts,

It is important to understand that failed Muslim integration to a large extent has resulted from the long held belief that allowing different religious pillars to exist in The Netherlands would contribute to a solution like it had in the past for the Catholic-Protestant divide on which the nation was built. The problem is that a template for neutralizing religious tensions between a culturally and economically largely homogenous group has limited use to integrate a group that both ethnically and economically occupies a different and separate world. Add to that the fact that Catholic and Protestant structures have largely become defunct in one of Europe's most secular nations and you can picture the divergent tracks in Dutch society.

Secondly, following on caller Siggy's questions – check out his blog here – the EU has gone through very different stages. From an economic project to a political "counterweight to the US" effort and now that its sheer size makes it impossible to foster a single European identity, a rather uncertain future. Again, the years of a Franco-German axis setting a largely political agenda appear to have waned, but it is not unthinkable that a possible Merkel-Sarkozy alliance could breathe new life into it. They could however shift the attention towards more economic reform and growth, but that is hopeful speculation on my part.

Go read the rest of his post.

I hope to have Pieter as a guest again soon.

First, no-go areas in France, now, no-go areas in Holland

Utrecht Riots: Neighbourhood Closed Off

The Dutch police deny that the police officer who killed Rinie Mulder is of Moroccan or Turkish descent. Esther, a Dutch blogger, refers to a post on a Moroccan website saying the police officer is Turkish, not Moroccan. The post has, however, been removed. Yesterday, we reported, relying on sources in Ondiep, that the officer was a Moroccan woman.

Crickets chirping at Google News and Beeb

Klein Verzet (h/t No Pasaran) has a post on the second night of serious riots in Utrecht:

But unlike the Paris riots, the rioters are not Muslims. The rioters are all native Dutch. Just like the Dutch man shot by the police. So what is going on? Dutch national media is very, very silent about the reasons for the shooting and seems to suggest that the riots are just the work of football hooligans.

Go read the rest, and follow their links.
Update: At Islam in Europe, Utrecht: Ondiep roundup
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Richard catches a demonstration and ponders the EU.
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Bad habit: ZAPATERO SURRENDERED AGAIN
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Terrorists Proving Harder to Profile
European Officials Say Traits of Suspected Islamic Extremists Are Constantly Shifting

European authorities said the trait patterns of those arrested on terrorism charges are constantly shifting. In the Netherlands, officials said they are seeing an increase in the number of young teenagers and people of Turkish descent, two groups that used to be low on their radar. Among the key players in the Hofstad group, a cell of Islamic radicals that targeted Dutch politicians and cultural figures, was Jason Walters, the teenage son of a U.S. soldier.

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Chirac's retiring and the French are upset that the American news venues aren't carrying this as a top story as they have - L'Escroc has been France2's top story for the last 2 days. As underwhelmed as I am by all this, I recommend Nidra Poller's article on Chirac's carreer.

He gets to keep 'ees lunch money, too.

Meanwhile, A Moderate Male Chauvinist gets stopped at the airport. Said male chauvinist has been banned from the USA for his contextually explicable (his words, not mine) positions on stoning women to death and the killing of innocent children.
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In lighter news,
Literati celeb feud of the day: Vargas Llosa gave Garcia Marquez black eye in 1976 (h/t Iberian Notes).