by Rick Lowe
According to the United Nations web site, "The purposes of the United Nations, as set forth in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends."
This blogger is not naive enough to believe that disagreements will not happen, however, should the forum allow Hugo Chavez to act in such an unbecoming manner? But on second thought, they might have done the world a favour by allowing us to see first hand what he really is. The one thing missing from his speech was there was no horror flick music playing in the background.
In this story at Newsvine .com Chavez reportedly said that "if chosen (for a seat in the U.N. Security Council) over U.S.-favorite Guatemala in a secret-ballot U.N. vote next month, Venezuela would be "the voice of the Third World."
Well thanks for the offer Mr. Chavez, but we would rather not be "aligned" with you.
PS. You might find this article, titled Venezuela’s Social Contract breached by Hugo Chavez by By Aleksander Boyd an interesting read as well.
Absolutely right, Rick
He did us all a favor by showing the world what a jackass he is (albeit a dangerous one).
Is it possible to get anyone to say what our Government’s official position is with regards to this bully?
As a Bahamian I am insulted that our Minister of Foreign Affairs would travel to Cuba to meet with Chavez and his buddies.
Rick
As much as I agree with your take on Chavez, I believe a couple adages might be instructive here: namely, “don’t throw out the baby with the bath water” and “don’t kill the messenger”.
After all, we need only look at the way the Americans have bullied our fellow islanders in Antigua over internet gaming, or the way they bullied Dominicans and others over banana trade to appreciate the kernels of truth that were lost in his rant.
Indeed, as undiplomatic a speech as it was, I suspect the reason so many delegates laughed during his speech was because it provide comic relief for the informed and pent up frustrations they have with U.S. foreign policies.
Thanks iPinions:
Oh the US is not perfect, but as you point out on your blog – http://www.theipinionsjournal.com/2006/09/united-nations-debate-hes-evil-hes.html – people are leaving Venezuela to get to America. I’m not hearing of cases the other way around.
I also do not read that Bush (with all his warts) wants to change the US Constitution so he can be president for life.
Need I say more?