Hero of the year, the "none-of-the-above" primary, focus on Afgahnistan, and other Sunday items

Hero of the year:

Siggy has The Other "Person Of The Year", Dr. Liviu Librescu, who saved the lives of his Virginia Tech students at the cost of his own.


Click on the photo above for more on Dr. Librescu.

As far as TIME's kleptocrat goes, Vladimir Putin will now use Time magazine's honor to enhance his own power, as one would expect.

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Yesterday I mentioned that Sarko was visiting Afghanistan. Well, Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi went to Afghanistan this weekend, too:

Mr Rudd said: "We're committed to being here for the long haul."

He added: "Over the next several months, I would also be encouraging other friends and partners and allies in Nato to continue their commitments and where possible extend them."

Matt Dupee at Long Wars Journal reports on Northwestern Afghanistan: Badghis province seeks security, revitalization

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The "none-of-the-above" primaries: Ed Morrissey asks, Can't anyone play this here game?

Skip the lede of this story and check the numbers at the link. Even the best showing for the candidates, Barack Obama (-6%) and John McCain (-11%) have bigger negatives than positives among all voters. This doesn't bode well for the 2008 campaign in either the primaries or the general election. Not only has no one really caught fire, but no one has managed to convert more voters than they've driven off.

At least neither party has an "annointed".

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Michael Drida picks this week's WSJ's 5 best Christmas stories:

Full of make-believe and festivity, this wonderful narrative poem possesses a Mozartean lightness and wit. Luckily, several modern versions, particularly those by W.S. Merwin and Simon Armitage, deftly replicate much of the feel and rhythm of the Middle English original. On New Year's Day an eerie Green Knight challenges a champion from King Arthur's court to exchange ax blows. Sir Gawain duly slices through the stranger's neck, only to see the decapitated torso pick up the head, which then speaks: Remember, the Green Knight says, to meet me in a year and a day at the Green Chapel. But where is that? The following winter, riding to what must be certain death, Gawain finds himself alone and desolate on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, a castle hoves into view. There the famous knight is welcomed by a red-bearded lord, the man's beautiful lady and a hideous bent-backed old woman. For the next three days Gawain savors all the sumptuous delights of the Christmas season--while each morning in his bedchamber the seductive wife tempts him to surrender to more sinful pleasures. There are, however, mysteries about this castle--and they are not resolved until Gawain fearfully bows his head to receive the promised ax stroke from the Green Knight.

Sir Gawain is one of my favorite books, and you can find it on line here. I suggest you read the modern English versions, since the Middle English is particularly difficult.

The other four books are




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Christmas shoes, you ask?
Steve Madden Women's Luvvy Pump in red patent, which I featured last month:


Let everybody else wear a red sweater!

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Pat has the CARNIVAL OF THE CHRISTMAS INSANITIES - Special Edition!

Today's story on TIME's Person Kleptocrat of the Year

Vlad, sitting on a huge fortune
Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune

An unprecedented battle is taking place inside the Kremlin in advance of Vladimir Putin's departure from office, the Guardian has learned, with claims that the president presides over a secret multibillion-dollar fortune.
Rival clans inside the Kremlin are embroiled in a struggle for the control of assets as Putin prepares to transfer power to his hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in May, well-placed political observers and other sources have revealed.

At stake are billions of dollars in assets belonging to Russian state-run corporations. Additionally, details of Putin's own personal fortune, reportedly hidden in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, are being discussed for the first time.

I highlight "for the first time": certainly Putin's not the first Russian ruler to have socked away millions here and there, and used Zug, Switzerland as a business base. What is interesting is that this is being revealed at all.

Is it because of the amounts involved?

Putin "effectively" controls 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz, an oil exploration company and Russia's third biggest oil producer, worth $20bn, he says. He also owns 4.5% of Gazprom, and "at least 75%" of Gunvor, a mysterious Swiss-based oil trader, founded by Gennady Timchenko, a friend of the president's, Belkovsky alleges.

Asked how much Putin was worth, Belkovsky said: "At least $40bn. Maximum we cannot know. I suspect there are some businesses I know nothing about." He added: "It may be more. It may be much more."

I doubt that the investigation has to do with the oil-for-food connection:

>Now just where would Putin come in such wealth? The Senate investigated the Oil for Food Scandal back in 2005 and found direct ties to Saddam and Putin - among other world leaders - a relationship which enriched both despots.

But back to the Guardian article and why there is an investigation at all, is it because of a power struggle?

Discussion of Putin's wealth has previously been taboo. But the claims have leaked out against the backdrop of a fight inside the Kremlin between a group led by Igor Sechin, Putin's influential deputy chief of staff, and a "liberal" clan that includes Medvedev.

The Sechin group is made up of siloviki - Kremlin officials with security/military backgrounds. It is said to include Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's KGB successor agency, his deputy Alexander Bortnikov, and Putin's aide Viktor Ivanov.

Those associated with the liberal camp include Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea football club who is close to Putin and the Yeltsin family. Other members are Viktor Cherkesov, the head of the federal drug control service, and Alisher Usmanov, an Uzbek-born billionaire.

Ideology has been ruled out:

Insiders say the struggle has little to do with ideology. They characterise it as a war between business competitors.

But Putin, like Fidel (and like Hugo, if he lives long enough) has a practical problem:

"There's no point in having all this money if you can't travel to the Maldives or Paris and spend it," Elena Panfilova, the director of Transparency International in Russia said.

Maybe that other famous oil-trading denizen of Zug, Marc Rich, will help Putin find a way out of that dilemma.



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Putin: Time's Person of the Year

Vlad, looking cadaverous

Jeremayakovka just sent it:

A Tsar is Born.

Putin named Time 'Person of the Year'

Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year."

The 2007 honor went to the Russian leader because of Putin's "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability," said Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor.

Stability counts for a whole lot among some. Look how stable Cuba's been all this time.

Putin named 'Person of the Year'

President Putin will be legally obliged to step down as Russian president next year, but is likely to become prime minister if his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, wins the presidential election in March.

He's ready, alright:


Update: Putin, Biped of the Year



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Iran is not your friend: Putin and Che's daughter get a taste of Iranian hospitality

SPECIAL PODCAST TONIGHT
Is Iran a proxy for Russia?
Putin finally made it to Tehran today after some hesitation due to an assasination threat.

The official word is

"Of course I am going to Iran," he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "If I always listened to all the various threats and the recommendations of the special services I would never leave home."

The remark played into the carefully crafted image of a fearless leader that Putin has cultivated, and also appeared aimed at emphasizing that he is in control - not under undue influence from security officials - as he maneuvers to maintain influence after his presidential term ends next year.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini dismissed reports about the purported assassination plot as disinformation spread by adversaries hoping to spoil good relations between Russia and Iran.

While Russia's fearless leader (who is the first Russian leader to visit Iran since Stalin) and the Iranian spokesman want to put lipstick on that pig of a visit, it sounds to me like the intelligence services from both countries do not mutually trust each other well enough to have kept the purported threat from becoming public. The source for the news appears to have come from Putin's own staff:

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that such reports were "very serious".

It's one thing when threats like that are revealed in open societies. It's another thing altogether when both countries involved are not.

Of course, Putin's fearlessness has a lot to do with that nuclear plant ("for peaceful purposes") Russia's building the Iranians, and with a heck of a lot of Caspian Sea oil that would allow Putin to tighten a stranglehold on the EU's fuel supply.

So far, the Iranians aren't paying Russia the bills on the power plant, but the Iranians still have much to gain,

Iranian media also emphasized the importance of Putin's trip. "Iran can use the visit to lobby for getting our nuclear dossier out of the U.N. Security Council and Russia can strengthen its opposition to the U.S. through boosting ties with Tehran," the hard-line newspaper Resalat said in an editorial.

Which brings me to the next story, by Amir Taheri at the NY Post, TEHRAN'S PRICE FOR 'SOLIDARITY'
MULLAHS SEEK USEFUL MARXIST IDIOTS

ANXIOUS to create what they call "a global progressive front," Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela are sponsoring projects to underline "the ideological kinship of the left and revolutionary Islam."

The theme - hammered in by Ahmadinejad during his recent visit to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia - inspired a four-day seminar organized by his supporters at Tehran University last week (partly financed by Chavez).

This, of course, is part of the PR campaign against the USA, as was Ahmadinejad's visit to the three stooges last month. But it's a lot easier being the host and having the stooges come visit you:

The conference title was "Che Like Chamran," a play on words designed to emphasize "the common goals" of Marxism and Islamism. It honored Mostafa Chamran on the 26th anniversary of his death, which coincided with the 40th anniversary of the death of the Cuban-Argentine guerrilla icon Che Guevara.

Interestingly, Che and Chamran died at strategic points in their countries' histories, too:

Chamran was a Khomeinist militant of Iranian origin who became a U.S. citizen in the '60s before traveling to Lebanon, where he founded the Amal guerrilla group. He entered Iran in 1979 and helped the mullahs seize power. Appointed defense minister by Khomeini in '81, he died in a car crash a few months later.

The conference had three guests of honor: Mahdi Chamran, a brother of Mostafa and an Ahmadinejad associate, and Che's daughter Aleida and son Camilo.

Aleida, a pediatrician who lives in Havana, wore the mandatory Khomeinist hijab, while her brother had grown designer stubble to please the hosts. Also attending were an array of aging European and Latin American "Guevaristas" and Lebanese Hezbollah cadres.

Things were going along swimmingly until Aleida Guevara, who must have found time to travel to Tehran after trying to get Argentinian citizenship for her Cuban children, demanded the right to speak.

Oopsie.

Not only that, she publicly contradicted the keynote speaker, who claimed that Che was "a truly religious man who believed in God and hated communism and the Soviet Union."

Ha!

Demanding the right to respond, Aleida Guevara told the conference that Qassemi's claim might be based on a bad translation: "My father never mentioned God," she said as the hall sighed in chagrined disbelief. "He never met God."

The remarks caused a commotion amid which Aleida and her brother were whisked away, led into a car and driven to their hotel under escort.

But the poop didn't hit the fan until later in the evening, by the end of which both Aleida and her brother Camilo "had become nonpersons", in Taheri's words, and the Iranians had forgetten that Che was a Marxist.

I'm willing to bet Vlad's not hitting the mosques on this trip, but I am sure there'll be some discussion regarding that UN Security Council seat.

Related reading: Connecting Dots On The Axis Of Evil

Iran is already active in Syria, but it's also active much closer to home. Through small starter projects such as the manufacture of tractors and small-arms cooperatives, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has set up joint projects with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who supports Iran's nuclear program and seeks one of his own.

Last month, Iran's leader announced a $1 billion investment in Bolivia for projects that could include Iranian mining for Bolivian uranium. Such cooperation may have political rather than economic purposes. The countries seek to disguise their aims just as the higher powers of the axis seek to deceive about theirs. It may not be a threat today, but it's certain to be a problem on the horizon tomorrow if the axis is not acknowledged.

We'll continue to keep an eye on these actors.
SPECIAL PODCAST TONIGHTIs Iran a proxy for Russia?
In tonight's special podcast, Siggy and I will discuss if Iran is a proxy for Russia.
We'll also have live chat during the podcast. Join us!




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Saving the planet, one vacuum bomb at a time

Yesterday I posted about Putin's new bomb, which is four times bigger than any non-nuclear bomb now in existence, and said that I wouldn't be surprised if the "dad of all bombs" turns up at a Caribbean nation near you, along with the Russian subs

But, hey, there's no need to worry, because da bomb is green (italics added): Russia drops 'dad of all bombs'
Environmentally friendly weapon four times bigger than U.S. non-nuclears

And how do we know it's "environmentally friendly"? Because a Russian general says so, of course:

"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks.

Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment, he added.

Yessiree, we've got the ultimate in eco-friendliness served right here, and in full color:

Pictures showed what looked like a flattened multi-storey block of flats surrounded by scorched soil and boulders. "The soil looks like a lunar landscape," the report said.

Because there's "environmentally friendly", and then there is really "environmentally friendly".

(h/t Copious Dissent)

UPDATE, Friday 14 September:
Behold, the penetrator.
I think this is a slap at Russian manhood, actually. It's the military equivalent of accusing someone of premature ejaculation.



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'Fidel' is now a truther; Putin dissolved the government

I was about to post on this earlier this morning when my internet connection was rudely interrupted:

Fidel Castro says U.S. fooled world over 9/11

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said the U.S. government misinformed Americans and the world about 9/11, echoing conspiracy theories about the terror attacks against the United States six years ago.

In an essay read by a Cuban television presenter on Tuesday night, Castro said the Pentagon was hit by a rocket, not a plane, because no traces were found of its passengers.

"Fidel" or his amanuensis have now officially joined the Truthers.

In other "Fidel" news, the Cuban Culture Minister says Castro's not dying.

Which is probably true.

Moving right along,
Vlad is taking time off from his modeling job to dissolve the government and name a new prime minister,

Russia President Vladimir Putin has dismissed his entire cabinet and replaced his prime minister in a bid to pave the way for his successor. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov submitted his resignation, and the speaker of the State Duma later announced he was being replaced by the relatively unknown Victor Zubkov, head of the country's money-laundering watchdog agency.

He probably won't stay there for long.

Though it's no safe bet, many analysts have their money on Putin ally and KGB veteran Sergei Ivanov to be voted in as the new president in the March 2008 election. It is probable that Putin will put him in the place of Zubkov at the last minute, since Russian presidents usually come from the post of prime minister, as Putin did himself to succeed Boris Yeltsin.

UpdateZubkov seems to want to run for president next year.

Those of us old enough to remember the Cold War days find no joy in reading that Vlad's also embarking on a new arms race.

What does this all mean? Pajamas Media has an article by Sean Guillory that sheds light on the subject.

But don't be surprised if the "dad of all bombs" turns up at a Caribbean nation near you, along with the Russian subs.



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So easy a caveman can do it, and today's items

Siggy has the poster, and the link to the Caveman's Crib.

Any rumors that Siggy's own International Crib of Mystery resembles the Caveman's are simply that, rumors.

Not that I would know.
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Neolithic gum: So easy, a caveman can chew it!
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Vladimir Putin's attempt to achieve fame as a sex symbol got stymied by his severe blood-iron deficiency and total lack of chest hair.

That Tilley hat didn't help, either.

Update
Via Glenn, turns out Vlad was aiming for a different market demographic from mine. But is he butch enough?

And more:
LOLPutin

Meanwhile,

Kremlin watchers have been busy trying to guess what kind of political message the pictures might send, given that Putin has insisted he plans to step down at the end of his second presidential term next year, as required by the constitution.

"I shake my little toush on the catwalk, on the catwalk..."
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More cartoon censorship
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TigerHawk continues his report on the pitiful conditions at the McCaffrey's parking lot.
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You Are 39% Bitchy

You're a pretty sweet person, and you're definitely not prone to bitchy outbursts. Sometimes, though, you can't help thinking mean thoughts about people. But at least you don't act on them!

How Bitchy Are You?

Sports, drugs, oil, and networks: all in Hugo's trip

UPDATED
While I was away on vacation Hugo's been touring, so it's time for the freshest news on Latin America's biggest tinpot tyrant:

Sports
Venezuelan Fans Embarrass Hugo... Chant "Freedom" at US Match. Let's go to the videotape:

Not Sitting Still For Dictatorship

Drugs
Venezuela Becomes Cocaine Conduit

Of 46 suspected drug flights detected in the Caribbean by U.S. surveillance in the first four months of 2007, all but six originated in Venezuela.
...
But as Mexico cracks down on land shipments, and authorities get better at high-seas interdiction - the helicopters in the May 12 bust came off a British ship in the area - Venezuela is increasingly providing an alternative, counter-drug officials say.

Most Europe-bound cocaine is believed to pass through Venezuela, sent aboard ships and jets - 727s, DC-8s and Gulfstreams - to west African nations where enforcement is often weak and easily bribed, Hathaway said at the command's headquarters in Key West, Fla.

Oil
Venezuela oil loss put at $4.5bn

The Chavez government is taking majority control of operations
US oil giant ConocoPhillips has said that a decision not to accept a minority stake in its operations in Venezuela may cost it $4.5bn.

The Economist: Exeunt Exxon and Conoco

Nevertheless, some Venezuelans worry that their country's oil industry is going the same way as that of Iran, whose government is one of Mr Chávez's closest allies. This week, as Venezuela's president was due to visit Tehran on a tour that also takes him to Russia and Belarus, Iran imposed petrol rationing. Admittedly, Iran faces sanctions, and Venezuela does not. But national sovereignty does not automatically fill the tank.

Investor's Business Daily focuses on how the markets took the news: Chavez's Anaconda Embrace

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has expropriated $4.5 billion in assets from two U.S. oil firms. It's an ugly loss, but they will live. What's in doubt is Venezuela's future.
...
Markets Wednesday offered a hint of what's ahead, with Exxon's stock ending 2% higher, leading the market upward on a down day, and Conoco ending flat.

Bear in mind that Exxon lost nearly a billion dollars in Venezuelan investments, and Conoco lost four times that much, amounting to 10% of its proved reserves.

Yet credit agency Standard & Poor's declared Conoco's rating undented by the move, and Exxon said it would "move forward," probably signalling a bid to recover some of the value of its assets in U.S. courts.

Suddenly, Venezuela's U.S. Citgo refining and marketing network has become a juicy target.

But Venezuela is another story. Its currency, the bolivar, and its sovereign bonds both plunged as Exxon and Conoco announced they're leaving.

Most Venezuela watchers saw a link. Standard & Poor's, for instance, downgraded the country's outlook, citing "a highly negative climate for investment, which results in virtually no foreign and private investment."

Venezuela has strict capital controls on its currency, so the bolivar trades only in the local black market. Its value to the dollar fell from 4,050 to 4,180 yesterday as dollar demand for capital flight rose, Bloomberg reported.

Even the "official" rate of 2,150 bolivars to the dollar signals ruinous inflation, likely well above the most recent inflation rate of 19%. A lack of dollars has emptied store shelves of imported goods, causing food prices to shoot up.

This is a bad sign for Venezuela. Markets basically shrug when two major investors leave, while brutally punishing Venezuela's government for its treatment of its U.S. investors. Chavez's regime is like one of the country's anaconda snakes, squeezing the very life out of Venezuela itself. Sadly, it's part of a long downward slide that shows no end.

Indeed, Venezuela's Citgoing Nowhere.

And yes, I have mentioned before that the Venezuelan economy collapsed a couple of decades ago when the oil prices dropped.

Hugo's network
Chavez in talks with Iranian ally

This was Hugo's third visit to Iran during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he also visited old friends,

During his latest visit, which kicked off on Wednesday, Chavez met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and urged a global revolution against Washington.

He has also discussed possible purchases of submarines and other defence equipment from Russia, arguing that these are needed to defend his oil-rich country against the United States.

Earlier this month Iran welcomed Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a Cold War foe of the United States. Tehran has also boosted ties with other countries which have frosty ties with Washington, notably Belarus, whose president has been condemned by the European Union for rights violations.

More on the Iran visit:
Iran seeks stronger ties with Latin America
Hosseini says Iran, Venezuela to sign 20 agreements, MoUs
Chavez Prefers Russian Oil and Lenin

Both Venezuela and Russia have revisited contracts signed in the 1990s with major oil companies, and slapped back tax claims on private companies.

While we ponder that, read Austin Bay's post on Putin's anti-missile tantrum - expect to hear similar rumbles from Hugo sometime in the future. It would get him the attention he craves.

Publius Pundit's posts on Russian Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds has a whole photo gallery of Hugo's buddies. Start with this one:

Yup, that's Hugo Chavez and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov laughing and holding hands like lovers whilst they gaze upon a spectacle of Russian folk dancing as part of Chavez's state visit to Moscow.

Meanwhile, The Devil's Excrement posts that the Putin dominated Duma voted against receiving Chavez.

And then there's this
Via Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, Middle East should look to Latin America: Tariq Ali

The Middle East lacks the social vision of Latin America which is currently undergoing a political revolution and successfully challenging American foreign policy, Tariq Ali told a sold-out audience at Sydney Ideas on Tuesday night.

Pointing to the success of Venezuela's leadership under the seven-times elected President Hugo Chávez, the London-based historian, political campaigner and prolific author said: "Solidarity outside Venezuela is as important as solidarity inside Venezuela."

According to the author of Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope (2006), a new level of unity lead by radical new leaders has had a "massive impact" on South America, and the region has broken down the isolationist policies driven by the United States through its ban on Cuba.

(For background on Tariq Ali, here's a transcript of his debate with Christopher Hitchens from December 4, 2003.)

Will Hugo outdo his own $1,000,000,000 shopping tour from last year?

We'll find out soon enough.

For now, he's not going to Mercosur, and is even saying Venezuela may withdraw its bid to join the Mercosur trade bloc due to objections from congressmen from Brazil and Uruguay.

Update
Gustavo Coronel writes in Petroleum World,

This situation in Venezuela could trigger other, even more dangerous developments. Hugo Chavez has been losing much ground lately, both inside and outside Venezuela. His “revolution” is doing badly at home and abroad, due to his numerous errors and his undemocratic style of ruling. In Spain, Chile and Brazil he has lost most of the goodwill he had been able to accumulate in the past. The Democratic Party leaders in the United States have recently supported a resolution condemning his aggressions against freedom of expression. He is aligning his regime, more and more, with failed states, such as Cuba, Iran, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Syria. Right now he is in Russia, trying to recruit Putin to form a global alliance against the United States. I consider that Hugo Chavez is, at this moment, one of the most dangerous political leaders in the planet. If he sees that his political situation becomes untenable he could well resort to a Plan "B".

What could this Plan "B" look like? It could consist of provoking a global political crisis by starting a violent, military action against a neighbor or against a U.S. aircraft or ship in the Caribbean area. This could be followed by a cut of oil supplies to the United States, which could be particularly dangerous if Iran decided to join him in a boycott against the U.S., while Russia sat on the fence in apparent neutrality and vetoed or delayed any action in the Security Council of the United Nations. I believe Hugo Chavez is determined to go down in history as someone who went well beyond the limits of his native state of Barinas and made a big impact in the world, and he no longer cares if this impact will be good or bad.

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Puerto Rico and Hugo's subs, in today's round-up

No, not these subs; the Russian subs: Mora writes,

Chavez is heading to Russia in the next few days, to discuss the purchase of five kilo-class submarines, and possibly four more advanced amur-class subs. There are questions as to how he would be able to finance them as well as how obtain the advanced training to bring them online, but there is no question from his statments that he wants them.

The financing might involve not only oil, but also drugs. As I have pointed out, Hugo needs money for financing his "Bolivarian Revolution", i.e., his desire to control all of Latin America's politics. For that he needs money. A huge amount of money. The drug trade is one source.

As for the advanced training, I'm sure Putin will provide the personnel as part of the deal. Don't believe for a moment that Vlad's going to hand Hugo valuable war weapons without keeping a firm hand in the works.

Mora also points out,

Although there are many islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Of Mexico, and many colonial powers, it's significant that Chavez alluded to the U.S.'s and France's prime presences there. In the past he's threatened Netherlands and its overseas territories, and he's always hated Britain, but now he seems to have singled out France. While Chavez's antipathy to the U.S. is well-known, what's less well-known is that France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has an interest in the region and a clear understanding about Chavez. He's stepped up his ties to Venezuela's battered neighbor, Colombia, and probably will become more active in the region as Chavez's aggression steps up. Chavez knows this, and wants to throw out a few threat to France and the U.S. now.

This segues well with my theory on the drug trade: France has repeatedly caught tons of cocaine proceeding from Caracas in the past (including the seizing of a vessel carrying 18 tons of cocaine on March last year. I explored this connection between Chavez and the drug trade on my post of April 13, 2006 (scroll down).

Hugo may be fooling some, but he's certainly not fooling Lech Waleska: Via Gateway Pundit

"I believe Chávez is a huge demagogue and populist who says one thing and does a quite different thing. He likes giving away what does not belong to him and tries to take advantage of people's dissatisfaction," he added.

One thing for sure, Hugo's not fooling Newton---------------------------------------------------------
Immigration and Terrorists in the US: Connect the Dots

In a nutshell - terrorists flew under the radar in 1986, over-stayed visas, and rode the curtails of illegal Mexicans who had crossed the border all the way to citizenship. Do we want to do that again? Can we afford it?

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In other, totally unrelated news, Hitchens asks, Let's stop channelling angry Muslims

Look Forward to Anger
It's impossible to satisfy "Rage Boy" and his ilk. It's stupid to try.
...
The lives of Shiite Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Christians—to say nothing of atheists or secularists—are considered by Sunni militants to be of little or no account. And yet they accuse those who criticize them of bigotry! And many people are so anxious to pre-empt this accusation that they ventriloquize the reactions of Sunni mobs as if they were the vox populi, all the while muttering that we must take care not to offend such supersensitive people.

This mental and moral capitulation has a bearing on the argument about Iraq, as well. We are incessantly told that the removal of the Saddam Hussein despotism has inflamed the world's Muslims against us and made Iraq hospitable to terrorism, for all the world as if Baathism had not been pumping out jihadist rhetoric for the past decade (as it still does from Damascus, allied to Tehran). But how are we to know what will incite such rage? A caricature published in Copenhagen appears to do it. A crass remark from Josef Ratzinger (leader of an anti-war church) seems to have the same effect. A rumor from Guantanamo will convulse Peshawar, the Muslim press preaches that the Jews brought down the Twin Towers, and a single citation in a British honors list will cause the Iranian state-run press to repeat its claim that the British government—along with the Israelis, of course—paid Salman Rushdie to write The Satanic Verses to begin with. Exactly how is such a mentality to be placated?

We may have to put up with the Rage Boys of the world, but we ought not to do their work for them, and we must not cry before we have been hurt. In front of me is a copy of this week's Economist, which states that Rushdie's 1989 death warrant was "punishment for the book's unflattering depiction of the Prophet Muhammad." There is no direct depiction of the prophet in this work of fiction, and the reverie about his many wives occurs in the dream of a madman. Nobody in Ayatollah Khomeini's circle could possibly have read the book for him before he issued a fatwah, which made it dangerous to possess. Yet on that occasion, the bookstore chains of America pulled The Satanic Verses from their shelves, just as Borders shamefully pulled Free Inquiry (a magazine for which I write) after it reproduced the Danish cartoons. Rage Boy keenly looks forward to anger, while we worriedly anticipate trouble, and fret about etiquette, and prepare the next retreat. If taken to its logical conclusion, this would mean living at the pleasure of Rage Boy, and that I am not prepared to do.

Interesting to see that The Economist is referring to the Prophet Mohammed; I've been subscribing to The Economist for decades now and never once have I seen them refer to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fred Thompson has more to say about Rushdie.
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GreenMountain politics posts on Giuliani.

Go, Pundit, Go has a video on the Dems and the unions

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Side note:
We've been on the road, and I'm happy to recommend the Subway franchise for a fast lunch. You can get a freshly-made salad with as many or as few toppings as you like, without having to put up with greasy burgers or overfried, overseasoned chicken.


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Of course he isn't!, and today's items

Of course he isn't!,
Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly denied claims that Russia is using its energy resources as a lever to put pressure on other countries

Update: Via Maria, Why are Vladimir Putin’s opponents dying?
------------------------------------------------
Cassandra posts on The Virtues of Gratitude, and she lets it rip.

Via Larwyn, It's Official: The Press Has Gone To War - with us.
Important Analysis

"U.S.-Iran tensions could trigger war," cautions an article by the AP, which appears to be just waking up to this possibility.

In a similar vein, this morning's BBCA newscast managed to blame the centuries-old, thirteen centuries, that is, Sunni-Shia rivalry on - you guessed it - Israel and the Americans:

"It's America and Israel who want trouble here," said another participant.

I kid you not.
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Must-see video: The Islamic Mein Kampf
The Terrorism Awareness Project

Don't miss Pamela's CAIR censorship round-up
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The French work only 35hrs/week, and now they're taking naps after lunch:

"Sleep must not be trivialised," Xavier Bertrand, the Health Minister, said.

But they're not lazy.

Obviously Cassandra's husband (see above) is not French.
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A little romance, a little sadness, from Siggy,

You'll find a line from the lyrics in today's Twitter box on the right sidebar.
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In a lighter mode,
I'm always amazed by what brings some people to my blog. The latest are two people doing google searches for "Bear Grylls naked picture." These two have been doing that search for the past couple of days but I guess they haven't given up on me yet. (For those of you who don't remember, Bear's one of the Discovery Channel guys.)

Sorry to disappoint you, folks, but this is a mostly PG-rated blog. However, You Tube has several videos of the fully clothed Bear. I might post one of those one of these days.

I watched the Discovery Channel the other night and they had Stephen Hawkins talking about black holes. I can't say I understood most of what he said, but I came out pondering the possibility that my long-lost pair of eyeglasses dropped into a mini black hole.

Back to Man vs Wild, then.