America dropped the ball. It is breathtaking how quickly the world is spinning out. All of these drastic moves have dire consequences.
The rise of the leftist/Islamic era. And remember, Obama stood with these dictators and backed Chavez's man Zelaya against the constitution and the working democracy of Honduras. Breathtaking.
Who will stand with free men?
Victor Davis Hanson was right in remarks he made late last year:
"Obama has a very different view of the world. This view is anti-platonic. And I say that, not to be condescending, but Plato said that the natural order of the world was chaos, it was war—peace was a parenthesis, it had to be achieved and worked at. I think in the Obama view that men like him that are charismatic, articulate, they can change the world because it's naturally a peaceful thing until people like George Bush rush in and through their stubbornness—"smoke 'em out dead or alive" vernacular—destroys it, but the fact of the matter is the only reason there is any semblance of peace and tranquility in the world today is because in places as diverse as the Aegean, planes over-flying in Greek airspace daily, where there's near fighting on Cypress, or whether we are talking about the Korean Sea and the Philippines and Taiwan and South Korean democracies not going nuclear because the United States is there, or whether Russian ships keep out of Norway every hour—all of that is predicated on the presence of the United States.
To be frank, or to put it a different way, Vladimir Putin doesn't give a damn that Barack Obama is African American. And the Chinese autocrats do not hear very well "hope" and "change"—it doesn't translate to Chinese very well—and the Europeans don't care if he has a nifty jump shot. All they want to know is half the world are vying to try to take advantage of regional opportunities if the United States is not there to stop mold, and to stop rust, which is the natural organic order of the world. They take advantage of it and our friends are there waiting to see which side to join. All of our friends in Europe know that, and Australia and South America. They don't have deities. Nations don't have deities like Barack Obama, they have interests. And their interests are predicated on who is going to win and who is going to lose. Into that void comes Barack Obama.
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia — Leftist Latin American leaders have agreed on the creation of a regional currency to scale back on the use of the US dollar as well as economic sanctions against Honduran coup leaders.
Nine countries of ALBA, a leftist bloc conceived by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, met Friday in Bolivia where they vowed to press ahead with a new currency for intra-regional trade to replace the US dollar.
"The document is approved," said Bolivia's President Evo Morales, who is hosting the summit.
The new currency, named the Sucre after Jose Antonio de Sucre, who fought for independence from Spain alongside Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar in the early 19th century, will be rolled out beginning in 2010 in a non-paper form.
ALBA's member states are Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Saint Vincent and Antigua and Barbuda.
In a resolution on Honduras, members of the group agreed "to apply economic and commercial sanctions against the regime that came to power as a result of a coup."
They also urged the United Nations to send a representative to Honduras to ensure "the inviolability of the Brazilian diplomatic mission as well as security and adequate humanitarian conditions for the stay there of president Manuel Zelaya."
The bloc also called for the replacement of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes which has probed a slew of rows between ALBA members and western energy firms.
Most ALBA members have already withdrawn from the organization, with Ecuador announcing last July that it would pull out of the group.
On Friday, Bolivian media reported the country intents to nationalize a electricity distribution firm owned by Spain's Red de Electrica de Espana.
It is just the latest in a series of nationalizations in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.
In May, Venezuela nationalized 74 energy services firms operating in the oil-rich Maracaibo Lake region.
Bolivia's Evo Morales has indicated that parts for his country's energy and rail sectors will be nationalized.
UPDATE: Ugly.
The League has released translations of excerpts from interviews and comments made by some Honduran political figures and Venezuelan media commentators showing a pattern of blaming Jews and Israel for the political crisis. On September 25, a commentator on Radio Globo in Honduras pointed to Jews and Israelis as "people that do damage in this country" and added, "After what I have learned, I ask myself why, why didn't we let Hitler carry out his historic mission?"
"From President Zelaya himself down to media pundits and political activists, there has been a troubling undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the situation in Honduras," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat, and that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority."
The League's has compiled various statements from Honduran public officials, commentators and others dating back to July 7, 2009, as well as statements by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and pundits on Venezuelan government television and radio. The statements include:
- False allegations by President Zelaya that "Israeli mercenaries" are trying to assassinate him;
- False claims by President Chavez of Venezuela and other Zelaya supporters that Israel was the only country in the world to recognize Micheletti's de facto government;
- Remarks by David Romero, Executive Director of Radio Globo, claiming that "officers of the Jewish army" are working in conspiracy with the Armed Forces in Honduras. His remarks were reportedly challenged by Adolfo Facusse, president of the National Industrial Association in Tegucigalpa, who stated," Jews are our cousins and we will not tolerate such language."
