Bloodthirsty Liberal

France:

Anti-Semitic acts almost doubled in France in 2009

According to the head of the French Jewish community, the rise showed ‘the totally unacceptable import into France of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.’

Venezuela:

About 30 Jewish families in Venezuela will immigrate to Colombia in 2010 because of concern about the policies of President Hugo Chavez and also because of the energetic and economic crisis which affects the country, a Jewish leader in Bogota said.

(How bad must Venezuela be if the Jews there see greener—and more potent—grass in Colombia?)

And then there’s the always-reliable Middle East:

A regional war may well be approaching. The actions and statements of Iran and its Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian proxies over the past week or so indicate that this is what Israel’s enemies are gunning for.

Come on, Aggie, admit it: Britain looks pretty good now, doesn’t it?

About this much:

President Hugo Chavez has turned to his friends in Cuba for help in tackling Venezuela’s energy crisis, drawing criticism for seeking advice from the communist-led island that has struggled with its own electricity woes.

Chavez gave few details on Wednesday about what is expected of Cuba, but insisted that “it’s valuable experience that’s serving us well.” He said that he spoke for hours Tuesday with Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes after his arrival in Venezuela to lead the consulting team.

The decision to seek help from Cuba bewildered Venezuelans coping with the nation’s power shortage.

“It’s laughable that he’s looking for help from Cuba,” said Aixa Lopez, director of the Committee for People Affected by Power Outages, which monitors the extent of current energy shortages and rationing in Venezuela.

Laughable, but logical. Who better to consult on the abject failure of the socialist so-called economy to provide for the betterment and welfare of the people than the abjectest failure of all, Coo-ba? Batisita may have been corrupt, but under Fulgencio, the island shone brightly indeed (there’s a bilingual pun in there if you care to look for it); under Fidel, it’s all drab, all the time.

Enjoy that “high literacy rate” and that “low infant mortality rate”, Venezuelans—there’ll just be nothing for you to read (or even watch on TV, once Hugo shuts down all the stations) and no jobs for all those literate and healthy children when they grow up.

Socialism is that remarkable process which can turn wealth and abundance in natural resources into inflation and poverty.

We can but marvel:

President Hugo Chávez announced a sharp devaluation of Venezuela’s currency on Friday night, a move that reflects the financial stress faced by his government since the price of oil, the country’s top export commodity, fell from its peak as a result of the global financial crisis.

The action, which Mr. Chávez had repeatedly ruled out in the past, came after Venezuela’s economy contracted by 2.9 percent in 2009. Hampered by disarray in the oil industry and nationalizations that have shattered business confidence, the economy is expected to remain sluggish this year even as other large Latin American economies show signs of vibrancy.

“This is all about one objective: revitalizing the productive economy,” Mr. Chávez said in a cabinet meeting that was broadcast live on state television.

One could sympathize with Tubby the Two-Bit Dictator when oil was down in 30s a barrel—sympathize, or laugh garlic breath in his fat face, my preferred approach. But oil is over $80 a barrel, and gas is rising at the pump. It takes a specially skilled market-wrecker to ruin an economy with that kind of IV hooked up to your country’s coffers.

“Revitalizing the productive economy”: those words spoken by an avowed Socialist should make any investor’s blood run cold.

Venezuela teaches us how to impoverish people

Five months after Venezuela nationalized dozens of oil service contractors in Zulia state, the once-bustling industrial dock on Lake Maracaibo is nearly abandoned, and the 16 red flags raised to celebrate the takeovers are already tattered and faded.

A few small groups of workers remain, hoping to get the jobs they were promised after the expropriations.

“We demand our jobs. Because we haven’t gotten an answer, we’re still here,” said Demostenes Velasquez, who for months has lived under thescorching sun in a tent improvised from remnants of oil union election pamphlets.

Like Velasquez, many workers on the eastern shores of the lake have protested or gone on hunger strikes to demand jobs promised them after President Hugo Chavez’s government expropriated 76 oil services companies on the Maracaibo Lake. The western region has a long history of oil production.

As part of his drive to install socialism in the OPEC nation, Chavez expropriated the companies contracted by state-run PDVSA, with promises of social prosperity and worker justice.

Why can’t we learn from events?

Over the months since then, protests have intensified so much the government sent troops to control the discontented workers. Many of the protesters sewed their lips together and chained their hands and feet to call the president’s attention to their plight.

BROKEN PROMISES

Despite the protests, most of the workers don’t blame Chavez or his revolution, but individual managers of the state oil company.

“Five months ago, our President Hugo Chavez announced the glorious news (of the nationalization) that would benefit the town, but some (PDVSA) managers have contradicted it,” said Velasquez, a self-proclaimed “Chavista” who dresses in the red clothing popular with champions of the president.

The raft of nationalizations in Venezuela since 2007 has brought pressures on the government to improve lives for workers. But petroleum revenues have dropped with crude oil prices in the recession, leaving Venezuela without funds to fulfill the promises made to gain worker support.

- Aggie

And Chavez is making it difficult for them to build cars there

Venezuela rations dollars, loses billions as Chavez’s currency controls backfire in oil slump

VALENCIA, Venezuela (AP) — General Motors Corp. is halting production in Venezuela for three months starting Friday. Ford Motor Co.’s subsidiary announced 10 percent cutbacks last week. Other automakers also are shrinking their business — but not because Venezuelans don’t want to buy cars.

They’re closing down because the government won’t give them enough dollars to import parts.

It’s a crisis entirely brought on by the currency controls imposed by President Hugo Chavez, Gabriel Lopez, president of Ford Motors for Venezuela and the Andean region, told The Associated Press. “Year after year we’re shrinking by about 10 percent compared to the year before,” he complained.

Chavez began regulating access to dollars and making it harder for businesses and people to transfer money in 2003, after confidence in his government was shaken by a failed coup and a subsequent strike. Venezuelans must now apply to the currency agency Cadivi for dollars at the official rate of 2.15 bolivars to import goods or take vacations.

These controls have backfired with a vengeance — businessmen, companies and private citizens transferred some $72.7 billion out of Venezuela over the last six years — nearly double the outflow of the previous six years, according to the Central Bank — distorting the economy, fueling inflation and discouraging private investment.

But the controls themselves haven’t led to a political backlash, perhaps because Venezuelans with means tend to be opposed to Chavez’s socialist policies already. Poorer Venezuelans haven’t been as affected, partly because the government subsidizes food and free health care.

That could change now that oil income has plunged from last year’s record highs. Oil represents 93 percent of Venezuela’s exports, and with crude prices at 52 percent below their July peak, the inflow of dollars is expected to drop by half this year to about $42 billion, said Alejandro Grisanti, an economist at Barclays Capital in New York.

The oil price drop has roughly cut in half the amount of goods Venezuela can afford to import, so the government has had to tighten currency controls even more and ration the dollars it supplies to travelers and importers in response, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said.

Just $4.9 billion was allotted for imports in the first quarter of the year — 39 percent less than the same period last year, according to the Caracas consulting firm Ecoanalitica — and the government is prioritizing dollars for food and medicines, while limiting those it provides for luxuries like liquor, cosmetics and designer clothing.

Nearly all private businesses are feeling the pinch — from automakers to hairdressers. Textile manufacturers are waiting for currency to import cloth. Dairies complain they can’t buy imported powdered milk.

The closure of GM’s two plants in central Carabobo state could be a tough blow to the local economy. GM is Venezuela’s largest automaker, employing 4,000 people and generating 70,000 indirect jobs.

Learn something new everyday. Say! Wouldn’t it be fun to boycott Venezuela so that Hugo has an even tougher time? Let’s see… I think that would be Citgo. Why yes. And if, instead, you prefer to protest former President Bush, you can make it a point to buy gas from CITGO.

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

And tell your friends.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation’s oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him “the Anti-Bush.”

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela — not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela’s democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.

Conversely, you can boycott them. I usually do.

- Aggie

Friends making bombs together

The Two Amigos In Tehran

Secret document: Venezuela, Bolivia supplying Iran with uranium
By The Associated Press

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report.

The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran’s nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

“There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program,” the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, “Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran.”

The report concludes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to undermine the United States by supporting Iran.

So, let me get this straight. Both Iran And Venezuela hate the United States… so they are working together to destroy Israel. I get it.

- Aggie

Chubby cholo Hugo Chavez offers a word to the wise—well, a word to President Obama anyway:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday called upon US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as the “only” way out of the global recession. “Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism. This is the only path. Imagine a socialist revolution in the United States.”

We don’t have to imagine, Huge, It’s taking shape every day.

“The American empire is coming to an end. It’s not about the end of the United States, or its institutions, or its people. That murderous, genocidal empire has to end and someday a leader will come that will better interpret that people and lead it to a superior destiny, and not give it the sad destiny of a murderous power, an aggressor hated by the whole world.”

…

“Obama, take care of yours [the American people] and I’ll take care of mine […] show a little intelligence… Here the DEA supported the drug traffic.” Carries on about torture in Iraq, Americans killing Iraqi children, Israel committing genocide, and concludes with,

Go wash your *ss, Mr. Obama. Go wash that *ss.

Look who’s talking. That keister could wipe out whole Kurdish villages.

But I apologize for not linking to this story earlier:

President Hugo Chavez boosted state control over Venezuela’s economy, ordering the expropriation of a U.S.-owned rice plant and threatening to seize food companies that don’t sell enough products at official prices that are meant to stem inflation.

Fatty the Fascist has to seize the food companies to safeguard his supply of Doritos and Ho-Hos. It’s just too rich.

“I invite all those Germans who say they want an end to the debate about the Nazi past to wear the kippah (skullcap) or a Star of David so they can experience the anti-Semitism that German Jews are confronted with on a daily basis.”

Gideon Joffe, head of the Berlin Jewish community, at a prayer service held to protest against the attack against a Jewish kindergarten over the weekend in which “Auschwitz” and “Jews get out” were sprayed on a wall and a smoke bomb was thrown into the building.

Perhaps Aunt Agatha and I go on about all this stuff too much.

I propose a deal: when a Lutheran or Catholic or other Christian kindergarten is attacked this way, complete with graffiti that says “Unitarians get out”, we’ll knock this off.

But not until.

PS: I can’t find a single news story about this attack (in Venezuela yes, in Germany no), which is some combination of odd or disturbing, but there’s more about the situation in Berlin here.

Well, a little further south (sorry, Mexico).

With the installation of el jefe for life, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Jews can look forward to a lot more of this:

Assailants threw an explosive at a Jewish community center on Thursday, but nobody was hurt in the blast — the second assault against Venezuela’s Jewish community this year.

Abraham Garzon, president of the Jewish Community Center, told the local Globovision television news channel that a small explosive resembling a pipe-bomb was lobbed at the building in Caracas before dawn on Thursday. The explosion damaged the doors to the center.

“It seems there are people in the country dedicated to sowing terrorism,” Garzon said.

Yeah, Abe, like the president.

A Caracas synagogue was ransacked and vandalized last month. The assailants shattered religious objects, spray-painted “Jews, get out” on the temple’s walls and stole a computer database containing names and addresses of Jews living in Venezuela.

Authorities have arrested 11 people, including eight police officers, suspected of participating in the attack. Investigators believe the assailants forced their way into the temple to steal a large amount of cash they believed was inside. The vandalism, authorities say, could have been aimed at turning attention away from the true motive behind the crime.

On Thursday, Sergio Widder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for failing to take steps aimed at curbing anti-Semitism.

Chavez should strongly criticize pro-government Web sites and newspapers that have carried articles and columns that many Venezuelan Jews perceive as anti-Semitic, he said.

“This is outrageous, it’s turning into an escalation,” said Widder, the center’s representative for Latin America. “It’s the government’s responsibility to stop this.”

They’ll get right on it, Sergio, right after they hold a fair election.

Birds do it.
Bees do it.

Even educating Austrian Muslims do it:

Austria’s Islamic Community says it has revoked the license of a Muslim religion teacher who allegedly gave his students anti-Semitic pamphlets.

The announcement Friday came a day after the Islamic Community suspended the man for allegedly encouraging students to abstain from shopping at businesses he listed as “Jewish.”

The teacher in question taught at a regular school in the Austrian capital but has not been identified. He was banned by the Vienna School Authority on Thursday.

An Islamic Community spokeswoman said the teacher and officials mutually agreed it was best to revoke the license.

Nice of them. I’m not sure other countries would be so understanding:

The number of anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews rose sharply after the start of the conflict in Gaza, a Jewish charity said Friday.

The London-based Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism and works to safeguard the Jewish community in Britain, said 250 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the four weeks after Dec. 27, when Israel launched attacks on Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks.

That compares to 40 incidents from the same period the year before.

Dave Rich, a spokesman for the trust, said Jews in Britain are unfairly seen as local representatives of Israel - a view that fuels some of the anti-Semitic attacks.

“This is racism,” he said. “And like all forms of racism, it is unacceptable.”

…

Police figures echo this rise. London police have recorded about three times the number of anti-Semitic incidents from Dec. 27 to Feb. 3 as compared to the same period last year.

…

Around Europe, several attacks were reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Belgium in the weeks after the Israeli offensive, Rich said.

Check that—around the world:

A delegation of European Jewish students raised their profound concern for the security of the Jewish community in Venezuela, during a meeting with this country’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

…

The EUJS, an organization representing European Jewish youth at the European level and at the European Youth Forum, urged the Venezuelan ambassador to strongly condemn anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish communal and individual property while ensuring that the Venezuelan Government extends the same guarantee to its Jewish citizens as it would to any other.

In recent years, anti-Semitic sentiments have increased dramatically in Venezuela, according to various reports.

On January 30, 15 heavily armed men broke into and desecrated the main Tiferet Israel synagogue in Caracas, destroying Torah scrolls and calling for the Jewish population to be expelled from the country.

“European Jewish youth … urged the Venezuelan ambassador to strongly condemn anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish communal and individual property while ensuring that the Venezuelan Government extends the same guarantee to its Jewish citizens as it would to any other.”

Nice idea. But I don’t see it happening any time soon.

Complain about Hugo Chavez and this is the response you’ll more than likely get:

Venezuela on Friday expelled a Spanish member of the European Parliament after he called President Hugo Chavez a dictator and criticized Chavez’s handling of a referendum on term limits that the lawmaker had been set to observe.

…

Venezuela’s Globovision television reported that Herrero was escorted to the Maiquetia airport on Friday by what appeared to be members of the national guard.

“Following his comments, in a sequestering operation, they took him by force from the hotel without even allowing him to take his personal belongings and his passport,” opposition member Luis Ignacio Planas told Globovision.

Tubby the Two-Bit Dictator will end up hanging upside down in the public square. The only question is when.