Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinejad

Blogging may be less-than-regular over the next few days. I have just completed one major project only to have my plate filled at work. I'll be here until elevenish for the second night in a row as a result. And, to top it off, my wife called and told me that our cable (read: my internet connection at home) may be dodgy. So I'll spit out this quick post and then we'll see...

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John Hughes of the Christian Science Monitor has a column out about how the left's heroes in Latin America have embraced Iran. This is something I have blogged about before.

The growth of relations between Cuba and Iran has been under way for some years prior to Ahmadinejad's ascendancy to the presidency. Observers of Cuba say that Iran has made use of an electronic jamming station outside Havana from which Cuba blocks broadcasts beamed at it by the US-backed Radio Marti. Iran has apparently piggybacked on Cuba's expertise to jam American government broadcasting into Iran. Cuba has also helped the Tehran regime to build a genetic laboratory in Iran.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has defended Iran's right [sic: Dictatorships have no "rights". --ed] to develop nuclear energy and declared that Iran and Venezuela are like "brothers who fight for a just world." Last year Venezuela negotiated with Iran a variety of trade and economic agreements. Iran has spoken out in support of left-wing leaders in Latin America and singled out Mr. Chavez's socialist movement as one that Iran favors because it is spreading rapidly through the region. A major producer of oil, Venezuela has been increasing ties of energy cooperation with Iran, Russia, and China, all while Chavez rails against the US. In recent days he has declared that "Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush," ordered the expulsion of a US military attache on charges of spying, and told Venezuelans to prepare for a US invasion. [my bold]

Sadly, Chavez's invasion talk is only rhetoric. Whether by invasion or by other means, this administration ought to do something about "regime change" in both Venezuela and Iran. Instead, we have the former, already meddling in politics in the United States and (follow the links) in Latin America, potentially turning into a backdoor for a nuclear-armed Islamist state, not to mention China, which could become our next big headache. And, oh yeah. I guess with Cuba's help, the mullahs can add to their impressive (in the words of Joe Boureston) nuclear industry one devoted to biological weaponry! (And this link to my blog happens to quote a discussion about Iranian "factories" in Venezuela.)

-- CAV