US Imposes Sanctions On Venezuelan Officials
CARACAS/WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials it accused of helping Colombian rebels smuggle drugs, deepening a diplomatic crisis that raised the specter of an oil supply cutoff.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Venezuela's top two intelligence chiefs and a recently retired interior minister had assisted Marxist guerrillas fighting the U.S.-backed Colombian government to traffic in cocaine and guns.
The United States banned U.S. citizens from having dealings with the officials and froze any U.S. assets they may own.
The sanctions were announced in Washington a day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to stop crude sales to the United States and expelled the U.S. ambassador, plunging relations to the lowest point in years.Labels: ahmadinejad, Chavez, jihad
posted by RD at 10:53 PM
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22 Comments:
Does anyone ever wonder why the press in this country always has to add that "Marxist" label when talking about guerrillas or freedom fighters or anything like that?
I thought this country had moved from the big red menace enemy to the big Muslim menance since the fall of the Iron Curtain?
uhhmm otter, does anyone ever wonder why people don't even take the time to actually read the articles or where they are from?
The article you refer to was from the UK.
WHEN was the last time you heard the NY Times or any of the other billion liberal newspapers OR NBC, CBS, ABC etc refer to ANYONE as "Marxist"?
Come to think of it though, I HAVE heard leftwingers refer to President Bush and General David Petreaus as much worse in fact.
Your last sentence is pretty hateful there otter... especially considering it's only a few days after the anniversary of when "the big muslim menance" (your words not mine) killed over 3,000 innocent I repeat, over 3,000 innocent American men women and children.
America has many enemies otter, probably always will... enemies around the world and enemies from within as well my friend.
Ever wonder why?
-red
No, that statement was not meant to be hateful at all. It just seems awfully convenient (in my opinion) that just as soon as the Cold War ended, another enemy sprung up in the communists place so that the war machine could get on running.
And I used to wonder why the U.S. had so many enemies. Not so much anymore though. I think I have a pretty good handle on why.
wow Otter, your selective memory regarding history is amusing.... and quite typical of the left. You've swung much further that direction in the past couple of years I've noticed.
Are you suggesting that those on the right invented the terrorist bombings on the Kobar Towers, the USS Cole, the first WTC attack and 9/11/2001 and hundreds of other attacks?
Or are you suggesting that all of those attacks were because of our "foreign policy" of Democrats like Jimmah Cawtah, or how about BJ Clinton? Did THEY invent a new enemy?
What a joke otter, get real will ya?
-red
"Blame America" otter... Are you blaming America for Hitler?
Pearl Harbor?
C'mon be fair otter, was it our foreign policy that created those enemies?
I guess you mean to say that if we had simpy turned communist back in the 70's when we had the chance, then we wouldn't HAVE any enemies today...? Isn't that what you are mean?
Yes Red, it is our foreign policy that has created all these enemies.
Selective memory? What do you mean? I remember that the country at one time supported Sadaam Hussein's fight against Iran and then in the early 90s decided that they didn't like him. I remember how the country at one time supported the Taliban and then decided they didn't like them.
I'm not suggesting that the events you mention were invented. They in fact did happen along with other attacks. I am just saying that there is a reason we are getting hit so often in the past couple of decades.
Enemies are invented they are real. I am not suggested they are invented at all. I am, however, saying that it is awfully convenient that our country is constantly at war. Constantly. And THAT Red, is very REAL.
lol, well lets see now, I'm 54 years old and we have been in the Vietnman war, the gulf war and the current war against those who declared war on us.
Vietnam was what 7 years, the first gulf war was maybe a year or two tops and it's been 7 years since 2001 so thats about 15 years out of the past 54.
Constantly at war otter?
Or is it that you don't think there is ever anything worth fighting for?
If communism, Islamic Jihad and Nazism aren't good reasons for fighting... then please tell me exactly how you plan to appease our enemies, or are you under the false impression that if we are just nice and tolerant of everything in the world that everyone will like us and never attack us again?
IF so, you are a foolish man my friend. Not one I can trust with my grandchildrens lives.
You are forgetting some though Red. Did you forget about (in non-chronological order here) Central America, Grenada, Somalia, Bosnia, Lebanon, Libya.......
And the first Gulf War was only a year or two? Let us refresh with a brief history timeline:
1990 - Operation Desert Shield
1992 - Operation Desert Storm/Persian Gulf War
1991-1996 - Operation Provide Comfort (northern Iraq)
1992-2003 - No-Fly Zones are declared and enforced in Iraqi airspace.
1998 - Operation Desert Fox - The U.S. begins bombing Iraq.
2003 - 2nd Persian Gulf War - The U.S. invades Iraq.
2008 - American troops are still occupying Iraq.
Didn't it ever occur to you where this vicious cycle began? Don't you ever wonder why we ever started all this fighting in the first place? Did it ever occur to you that the communists and Islamic jihadists didn't actually start this fight or do you think our country's crap doesn't stink?
Do you really think that we were fighting the communists and the Nazis for anything as noble as national security or for protecting our interests? I sure as hell don't. What did those people ever do to us? Nothing.
I for one wish all the fighting would just stop. Our people are dying so that the Rockefellers of the country can just keep making profit without any regard to the peoples' lives they are destroying in the process. And on top of the loss of life, just follow the money. This country has been spending trillions upon trillions of dollars for military development and for our endless conflicts around the globe. This is money that could go for something a hell of a lot more noble than to make a profit.
I for one could not trust anybody who is trying to teach our future generations that greed is good and that money is the most important thing ever, no matter what the cost.
lol, so now any use of military is a "war" ?
How long do you think we would last if we did away with our military otter?
What would the world look like if we had a Nazi Germany, if we had not fought back against Japan after Pearl Harbor and with a nuclear Saddam in an arms race with Iran and N Korea sharing nukes with Chavez and Castro?
God forbid you ever have to actually live under those conditions. You should be thanking those with the courage to defend America and our allies instead of blaming those who are making YOUR life better for all the wrong you think you see in the world.
Shame on you otter, shame on you.
-red
war never solved anything except nazism, oppression, slavery, genocide, communism, totalitarianism, human rights...
lol, in fact without war otter we'd still be living under British rule... that is providing there wasn't ever a japan or a nazi hitler or a stalin etc.
It must be nice to live in a place where you can be so unaware of how you got there that you can ignore the facts and blame the very country that has given you unlimited opportunity yet you spit in it's face.
shameful.
Well okay, I will give you that. It isn't all war. But I am using the term war in a generic sense. The point is still the same. We fight way too much!
I think we would last longer without a military than you would apparently.
Regarding a world with a Nazi Germany? Did you ever consider that maybe there never would have been a Nazi Germany had it not been for a Versailles Treaty? I am not condoning what Hitler did by any stretch of the imagination but that treaty put Germany in a really bad spot so I almost don't blame its people for rallying around someone that told them they were getting screwed.
I am not ignoring how we got where we are but aside from pulling us out of British rule (which by the way, if you remember was over 200 years ago) this government has done what? What have they done to protect us? WWI? That wasn't our war. WWII? That wasn't our war and we helped create it anyway along with our "allies." Korea? Vietnam? The Cold War? Were we protected from the "dangerous commies?" I think not. Desert Storm? Again, not our war. These wars did nothing to protect the people of the United States. The United States was never in danger. The current Iraq occupation? Protecting the United States? Nope. We were never in danger. There is evidence that Sadaam never had weapons of mass destruction AND their is evidence that the current administration knew this.
So if you think I am blaming someone for the war-like situation we have been in for years and years, you are darn right I am! And there is no shame in that. What is shameful though is being so lazy and having such a lack of accountability that we let our leaders just do whatever the hell they want with no accountability for their own actions. Just going around waving a flag just because the government tells us should. That I will no longer be a part of.
Another thing. What is everyone's problem with Hugo Chavez?
Without our great military we would last about as long as it would take you to write that last comment... maybe less.
Are you kidding me?
I don't recall anyone from the government telling me to fly anything... perhaps you could forward me the memo you refer to.
I fly the American flag outside my house (where it proudly waves as we speak) because I want to and because it is an honor to do so.
We live in the greatest nation ever to grace this warming/cooling/warming/cooling rock. America has done more for other nations and peoples than all the other countries COMBINED and then some my friend.
We give more in aid, we help more, we do more business and we come to the rescue of more people than all others combined as well.
I'm truly sorry you hate your country so much and are unable to see the greatness which you take for granted...no worse, that you spit on and reject.
sad, very sad.
-red
I feel sorry for you otter, I truly do.
America may have done a lot FOR other nations and peoples but we have also done many things TO other countries....without their request.
Did Grenada ask to be invaded? No. Did Iraq ask us to come to their aid and rid them of their government? No.
Sure we give a lot in aid, and that, in itself is admirable. Doing more business isn't necessarily a good thing when you are talking about corporate investors who burn down rain forests so they can make move their operations to another country and earn better profit while at the same time displacing idigenous (probably spelled that wrong) people and costing U.S. factory workers jobs. That is NOT admirable.
Come to the rescue? Come to the rescue of who? And again, I have to ask. Did these people ask to be rescued? If you are talking about things like helping those affected by the typhoons in Southeast Asia, okay, I'll give you that. But if you are talking about invading sovereign nations and toppling their existing governments, that is not rescuing people. That is telling people how to live and what government they are "allowed" to let rule their countries.
I do not reject nor do I spit on my country. I do, however, reject the government as it has been operating for the past...oh....I don't know how far to go back....you get the picture. Something has to be done to make some changes in the way we operate at home and abroad. Sadly, nothing will ever change. There are too many people in support of the big blue war machine and let it continue to decide how their country is run.
I feel sorry for us all.
lol... in another comment you asked ... "So what's everyones problem with Hugo Chavez?"
lol
say no more my friend, say no more.
You are beyond help I'm afraid.
If you have to ask whats the problem with Chavez... you will never get it.
Vote for the socialist or communist party candidate, thats where your loyalty lies.
BTW- the big blue machine works for us... not the other way around.
Remember... "we the people..."
Explain to me HOW the war machine works for us?
What exactly is all of this fighting all over the world, that is, how is all of this imperialism (call it something else if you want) helping our lives? Other than those that help finance all this and are raking in huge profits from it...I will tell you what it is doing. Nothing.
okay... simple. We pay the taxes that pays their salaries, buys their bullets, planes, tanks etc. and in addition we elect the politicians and presidents that send them into combat ON OUR BEHALF whether you agree with that fact or not.
Those in the military are there serving for your benefit and at the pleasure of the majority of the country... most take great pride in that fact my friend. You should be at least grateful and respectful if not downright appreciative.
what good comes of it?
you have the freedom and pleasure to be completely ignorant of their efforts and successes without giving it a second thought... how much is that worth?
No no no Red. You aren't answering the question I am asking.
Let me rephrase. All of this fighting. All of these foreign countries we are occuping. All of these places that our elected officials are sending our troops to "on our behalf" (your words not mine). How? How is what they are doing on our behalf? How is this machine working for us?
We do pay the taxes. And I don't mind paying taxes. I don't mind paying them if what that money is going to is helping our country. I do mind that my money is going to help fund the war machine that is completely without merit at this point in time.
Why should I appreciate what they are doing over there just so the oil companies can make sure their investments in foreign oil are safe?
I do have the freedom to (as you say) be ignorant of their efforts and "successes" (again success is your word, not mine). But not because of what is currently going on in the world and not because of anything the government or the military have done in that last, oh, I dunno, let's just 100 years to be safe. Where have we fought in that time frame where the military has been fighting for OUR RIGHTS? It's always going over somewhere to "stabilize democracy" in a country most of the kids going over there to fight in can't even find on the map.
Really? Explain it to me. What are they doing over there right now that helps MY (and everyone else in this country's) freedoms? What?
Simple otter... the very fact that you're sitting comfortably in your home with the spare time and freedom to publicly criticize your government, the military mission, the war, and voice your opinions.
That is the evidence otter.
If not for those who have defended freedom across the globe... it simply would not exist today and that is the fact.
So... aside from your freedom to claim that those who fought and died for that very freedom didn't really do so... and aren't doing so today, I dunno otter, I guess not much at all from your perspective.
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