InfraBlue, I think Azner is a fascist. Corporate control of policy is what I call fascism like here in America where Congress is bought and sold by corporations. And I think the war in Iraq and whatever escalation comes is controlled by corporate fascists. Chavez did not call Azner a mass murderer but that's the implication imo as it was when he smelled sulfur at the UN. Chavez is not a dictator but duly elected. I dont like some of his policies at home but then he does have American corporate fascists pretty good on his case. It's kinda been that way in Central and South America for many generations with assassinations and the set up of despotic leaders by America a regular occurence. Death squads trained in America and greedy American corporations taking natural resources from nations and not giving much back to the people is what led to populist leaders like Chavez. Not only is he popular throughout the region but leadership in a bunch of nations has taken a decided turn against the kind of American led corporate fascism that has been the history. The US doesn't have to make enemies if she could adopt a more sensible policy. But it seems to me that making enemies, even arming enemies and getting rich off the blowback is what America's corporate fascists do best.
Well, for all of Aznar's 'fascism,' he did step down after the elections. Chavez' rhetoric about smelling sulfur was in reference to him having called President Bush the devil. That's the kind of petty name calling that isn't conducive to anything other than more name calling, like when Bush used to refer to Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "the axis of evil," or when Reagan called the Soviet Union "the Evil Empire." What's the purpose other than to score a few points with one's constituencies' lowest common denominator off of some sophomoric digs against one's adversaries? How does that further diplomacy?
Yeah, Chavez was elected, but he's doing things that are anti-democratic (read: fascistic) like what I've already mentioned. If Aznar is a fascist for what he did in regard to going to Iraq, then certainly Chavez is a fascist for doing what he's doing in Venezuela, regardless of his popularity. Hell, the European fascists of the early twentieth century were wildly popular. It didn't make them any less fascist.
About the US' policies, those would be better discussed on another thread.
Considering the King was on his "turf," he had the right to say what he wanted, I believe.
