Many themes run through the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables released thus far, but only one runs through the heart of all of them. Underneath diplomacy and protocol, the US Chamber of Commerce and its clients around the world have a thumbprint on every single economy, even in countries like Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez is in full control of his own country and remains busy destabilizing others.

In a cable dated October 15, 2009, Ambassador Patrick Duddy relays a basketful of concerns expressed to him by Chevron, Baker/Hughes and the Venezuelan/American Chamber of Commerce.

Baker Hughes, XXXXXXXXXXXX shared that doing business in Venezuela is increasingly difficult, noting that where there used to be seven steps required to export a container from Venezuela, there are now over thirty steps imposed by GBRV agencies. XXXXXXXXXXXX confirmed that BHI has removed higher-technology assets from Venezuela.

That complaint sounds familiar, doesn't it? They all hate bureaucracy.

Chevron, on the other hand, has figured out a way to pull out the profit without investing anything in the country. Guess they're using the lessons they've learned here at home.

ChevronXXXXXXXXXXXX told the Ambassador XXXXXXXXXXXX that the company’s two Maracaibo joint ventures (JV ) Petroboscan and Petroindependiente) with PDVSA are profitable especially since Chevron is not investing new funds. He confided that although the JVs owe over $100 million to various service companies, Chevron is withdrawing profits through a deal to take crude oil shipments from Petroboscan to its Pascagoula refinery in Alabama.

Enter the US Chamber of Commerce with their list of complaints:

The Ambassador also attended a dinner hosted by the Zulia chapter of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber participants echoed well-known concerns regarding the difficulties with the CADIVI foreign exchange controls and voiced caution regarding the use of the parallel permuta rate because they do not want to be seen as possibly operating on the margins of Venezuelan law. A XXXXXXXXXXXX manufacturer mentioned that he is no longer able to import material from Europe using CADIVI. He fears his production costs will significantly erode his company’s competitiveness if he imports the fabric using the permuta exchange market.

To which I show him the world's tiniest flea playing the world's tiniest violin. Let's back up and remember why these US companies are in Venezuela. Here's the answer, in the Ambassador's conclusion:

The two perspectives on doing business in Venezuela presented by Chevron and BHI underline the private sector’s difficult situation -- faced with increased risk, companies are not investing in operations but are seeking ways to maintain a market presence given the tremendous opportunities that may yet exist in Venezuela,s oil sector.

It's all about the oil, baby. And the US Chamber. And commerce. Human rights? Meh. Chavez destabilizing Honduras, other countries? Meh. Oil trumps all.

If you don't believe that, check out this cable from 2007 written under the Bush administration.

As Chavez seeks to take on the mantle of this generation',s Castro, he starts with built-in advantages, not the least of which is a whole lot of money. Add to that the bluster of his anti-imperial, anti-U.S. rhetoric, and a certain squirrelly charisma, both of which continue to find a sympathetic audience in much of Latin America, and he presents a formidable foe. But he certainly can be taken. Washington policy-makers have already hit on one sure-fire tactic: Don,t fire back at every provocation, especially when it,s clear that Chavez,s mouth has opened before his brain has engaged. His recent dust-ups with both the Brazilian and Chilean senates over the RCTV closure are examples where Chavez,s ranting lost him points with ostensible friends without our having to lift a finger.

Is it any wonder the Ambassador was expelled because Chavez suspected an overthrow effort?

I don't recall any eruptions of right-wing outrage when a beaming Richard Nixon shook hands with a man responsible for the deaths of untold millions. Or rending of garments and gnashing of teeth when he greeted this sworn enemy of freedom.  There were no reports of wingnut tantrums when St. Ronnie was palling around with this dictator. Of course, a mere handshake can't compare to the love and support lavished on this butcher by every Republican president - and this GOP candidate - from Nixon to GWB. Hell, any semi-literate citizen could fill the page with similar examples for the history-challenged, but excitable denizens of Wingnuttia.  Obama shaking hands with other leaders does not endanger America, but cynical, calculated hypocrisy surely does.

The Mahablog: Must reads at TPM.  I guess I coulda put this together, but Barbara already did it for us...

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The Aristocrats: silent treatment

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On this morning's Morning Joe, Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough were all over President Obama for having shaken Hugo Chavez's hand, and worse still, having sat through Daniel Ortega's anti-American tirade:

Buchanan: Barack Obama allowed himself to be disrespected. Now if that's the way he wants to do it personally, that's personal. But he's the President of the United States, and his country was savaged and smeared down there, and he grinned all the way through it.

Later, he continues in the same vein:

Buchanan: But I think he allowed himself to be disrespected. The perception was he was being made a mockery of down there. Chavez was up there putting that stupid anti-American book in his face. He gets lectured for fifty minutes, then he goes over to Morales and tells him how wonderful it is that he's an indigenous -- Morales is an enthno-nationalist. He believes the Spanish and the white people should be put down because they've run things --

Hmmm. I'm not so sure Pat Buchanan is the guy to be complaining about someone else being an ethno-nationalist.

Steve Benen is right: this is just another fake controversy like the DHS-bulletin flap, a hissy fit that lets Republicans avoid talking about actually fixing the nation's problems.

Obama apparently expected the excessive whining, and noted over the weekend the "great differences" he has with Chavez, including the Venezuelan president's "inflammatory" rhetoric and his unhelpful role in Latin America.

"It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States," Obama told reporters. "I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela."

That, of course, doesn't matter. Gingrich & Co. need a new meme, and they settled on this one over the weekend.

What I find odd, though, is the underlying message. Leading Republicans make it sound as if America's stature is so fragile, it is easily weakened by casual courtesies at an international forum. President Obama, in contrast, acts as if America's stature is strong, and can withstand a handshake with a foreign head of state. Since when does the GOP find it useful to promote the idea of American weakness?

Aravosis at AmericaBlog noticed this one...I guess that McCain should thank his lucky stars that most GOP are low info voters, so hopefully not many of them picked up on this:

This, two weeks after he said that Spain was in Latin America. Here's the video from McCain's economic forum that just took place today - Ben Smith has the transcript:

McCain, talking about energy policy, stresses the importance of "ensuring that America is secure, and not dependent on oil from people like Hugo Chavez or other parts of the Middle East which is, as we know, could be destabilized under certain sets of circumstances."

Can we just get this guy a map or a little mini-globe that some staffer can keep handy?

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

One of the overriding themes of last night's sneerfest was the trumping and dismissal of Barack Obama's qualifications as a community organizer for years in Chicago. I understand the need for Republicans to tout their own expertise -- though the snideness put me in mind of the movie "Heathers" personally --but this line of attack just seems to fly in the face of the larger Republican narrative that it shouldn't be the government doing everything for you. If you believe that, it would seem that community organizers would be something to laud. Especially since Sarah Palin's own foray into politics was being the President of the PTA in order to have a voice in the educational standards of her children. Or am I being just too logical for Republican minds?

Continue reading »

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I'm Manila Ryce from The Largest Minority, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to trick you.

It's Thanksgiving here in the states, so let's take a look at A Native American View with a post from 2000. It was written pre-9/11 which means it's probably very inaccurate. Read with caution. After showing our thanks by consuming copious amounts of food, we then consume more the following day. One Kucinich intern has a different idea for Americans on the largest shopping day of the year.

It's well known that Conservapedia was created to counter the left-wing bias of reality, but did you know that it's also the airport bathroom of the internet? A Capitol Idea (or two) informs us that 9 out of 10 of the most viewed pages on Conservapedia are about homosexuality! Now that's a whole lot of gay. Something must be done to cure these sinners of their conservatism.

With the unbiased reporting the Western media is known for, you no doubt know that Hugo Chavez is not just a leader with virtues and faults, but an insane dictator. His most recent acts of insanity? Protecting gay rights under the Venezuelan Constitution and breaking strict religious laws at the OPEC summit in Saudi Arabia. He's as threatening as all the other leftist leaders. What leftist leaders you ask? Nevermind.

Since we're on the topic of media coverage regarding the images of politicians, while completely disregarding their policies, let's journey over to The Daily Banter, where Ben Cohen looks at one of the miscellaneous "experts" in the corporate media and her hack opinion of the Democrat whose Neocon policy is most worthy of serious criticism.

Quaker Dave is back and it's worth mentioning. He hasn't been able to blog lately because he's been sick with leprosy and his fingers keep falling off. Even typing with his tongue, he's already informed me that Bjork and I share the same birthday, so we're pretty much meant to be. I hope she doesn't wear that swan dress to the wedding. That's what I'm wearing.

Don't give up folks. Submit links to: John (dot) William (dot) Harrison (at) Gmail (dot) com

Back in 2001, Republican activist Linda Chavez was Bush’s first choice to serve as Secretary of Labor, looking out for the interests of working people nationwide. She ran into a little trouble when the White House learned that Chavez failed tell the Bush gang about housing a Guatemalan woman whom she hired illegally to clean her house, and then encouraged a neighbor not to talk about the cleaning woman to the FBI when agents asked questions during her background check. Oops.

But never fear, this was a temporary setback for Chavez, who has built a successful network of political action committees. The problem, as the WaPo reported in a fascinating front-page expose today, is that Chavez’s PACs don’t appear to do anything — except raise money.

In the years since she was forced to pull her nomination as Bush’s labor secretary after admitting payments to an illegal immigrant, Chavez and her immediate family members have used phone banks and direct-mail solicitations to raise tens of millions of dollars, founding several political action committees with bankable names: the Republican Issues Committee, the Latino Alliance, Stop Union Political Abuse and the Pro-Life Campaign Committee. Their solicitations promise direct action in the “fight to save unborn lives,” a vigorous struggle against “big labor bosses” and a crippling of “liberal politics in the country.”

That’s not where the bulk of the money wound up being spent, however.

Josh Marshall has more.

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On H&C last night, Pat Robertson reiterated his call to get rid of Chavez. Colmes asked him a few questions and while he appeared to be trying to apologize- flipped and went back to the "let's get him some day" theme.
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COLMES: Do you want him taken out?

ROBERTSON: Not now, but one day, one day, one day. My premise is, and I think as -- you know, until that comment came out, everybody thought Chavez was a fellow having to do with table grapes in California. Now--

NewsHounds has more

Media Matters has the transcript posted...