Obama, stop drinking the bong water. His contempt for our intelligence is revealing. It is increasingly clear to me that Obama wants Iran to go nuclear. By his fruits we shall know him, and so we know him.
Chavez is Iran's proxy in Latin America.
"We would expect Venezuela, as any other UN member, to fulfill their obligations under the decisions of the UN Security Council to call upon Iran to meet its obligations under various Security Council resolutions relating to Iran," said the US State Department spokesman
Western Hemisphere
The United States expects Venezuela to call upon its ally Iran to meet the UN Security Council resolutions regarding the Iranian nuclear program, on Wednesday said Ian Kelly, the spokesman of the US State Department.
"We take any allegation of proliferation very seriously, particularly if it involves proliferation within this hemisphere," said Kelly, AFP reported. Reference was made to the statements of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who said that investigations by his office show that Iran is using Venezuela's established banking network to skirt international sanctions and acquire the materials needed for its nuclear program.
"We are following any kind of links between Venezuela and Iran very seriously," Kelly added during a press briefing.
"We would expect Venezuela, as any other UN member, to fulfill their obligations under the decisions of the UN Security Council to call upon Iran to meet its obligations under various Security Council resolutions relating to Iran," he stressed.
Iran and its Proxy Hezbollah: Strategic Penetration in Latin America Ely Karmon
‘Here are two brother countries, united like a single fist’, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader, was quoted as saying in Tehran. ‘Iran is an example of struggle, resistance, dignity, revolution, strong faith’, Chávez told al-Jazeera. ‘We are two powerful countries. Iran is a power and Venezuela is becoming one. We want to create a bipolar world. We don’t want a single power [that is, the US]...Despite the will of the world arrogance [of the US], we [Iran and Venezuela] will stand by the oppressed and deprived nations of the world’, Ahmadinejad said.[10] Thérèse Delpech, a French analyst, has noted that Ahmadinejad's ‘flamboyant style’ is similar to that of his Venezuelan colleague.[11]
Some observers consider that Latin America’s willingness to embrace Iran indicates how far US prestige has fallen in the region. Chávez has emerged as ‘the godfather and relationship manager’, striving to draw in this embrace other allies such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. He is providing Iran with an entry into Latin America, vowing to ‘unite the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean’ and recently gave Iran observer status in his leftist trade-pact group known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.[12]
Iran has become the second-largest investor in Venezuela, after the US. The first ‘anti-imperialist cars’ from a joint venture (Venirauto) have now reached Venezuela’s roads, with the first batch earmarked for army officers. The 4,000 tractors produced annually in Ciudad Bolivar have a symbolic value as agents of revolutionary change. Most are given or leased at a discount in Venezuela to socialist cooperatives that have land, with the government’s blessing. Universities are teaching Farsi.[13]
Iran is to help build platforms in a US$4 billion development of Orinoco delta oil deposits in exchange for Venezuelan investments. An Iranian company is building thousands of apartments for Venezuela’s poor. The most visible impact so far has been the arrival of Iranian businesses. The public housing project alone has brought more than 400 Iranian engineers and specialists to Venezuela, where many have learned basic Spanish.[14]
Iran starves its own people to finance the jihad in Latin America.
Venezuela could also provide Iran with some breathing space as it tries to weather the financial pressure of UN and US sanctions on its nuclear programme. Venezuela could end up being an outlet for Iran to move money, obtain high-tech equipment and access the world financial system.[15]
Venezuela has already become Iran’s gateway for travel to the region. There is now a weekly flight between Caracas and Tehran, with a stopover in Damascus, operated by the Venezuelan state-controlled airline Conviasa and Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air. Flights are packed with government officials and government-friendly business people.[16] Venezuela’s state airline bought an Airbus jet especially for the route.
