Venezuela is arming

The Western hemisphere's leading nut job, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, is busy spending his country's vast oil wealth on Russian weapons. The Venezuelan military are the proud new owners of everything from 100,000 new Kalashnikovs to Sukhoi fighter aircraft, with loads more goodies on the way.

Who knows? Maybe the Russian versions of these weapons systems actually work, unlike the Soviet-constructed models of yore. While there's no arguing the effectiveness of Mikhail Timofeyevich's semi-automatic rifle, I think the boys and girls who fly F-15s and F-22As have a nice giggle regarding the Su-30. But that's neither here nor there.

Chavez says the arms are to deter US imperialism, as he's pretty sure the Americans are about to invade his country to seize it's oil.

Chavez has been poking his big Socialist nose into Bolivia's politics, raising the ire of many in that country. Is Chavez setting himself up to be the arbiter of right and wrong in South America? If so, would he be any worse at it than the US has?

I hope that last line doesn't come across as anti-American. I'm very much pro-American, and am thankful on a daily basis I live in this country and my kids were born here. There's nowhere on Earth I'd rather live my life than the good ol' US and A. However, I see the rest of the world's point pretty clearly: Why the hell do we think we know what's best for everyone?

I'm certainly not saying the US should pull back into Big Cal Coolidge-style isolationism. There are places in the world where we can make a positive difference: Israel, parts of Africa, spots in Asia and South America - we can (and should) take the lead in the fight against hunger, disease, corruption, subjugation of ethnic and religious minorities, women, etc. There's all kinds of good things we can do, and we should.

However, our immense appetite for stuff - oil, narcotics and other drugs, cheap labor, gems and minerals mined by hand, plastic trinkets of all descriptions, etc - effectively prohibits us from being as benign as we'd like to think we are.

All this is a long way of saying I don't seriously think Hugo Chavez is a better steward of South America than George Bush 0r his successor. I think Chavez is a dangerously paranoid, delusional nut ball who is potentially as cruel and despotic, and as addicted to power, as any of the big meanies in history. I think he's very, very fortunate to have HUGE oil reserves at his disposal, which make his crackpot policies and blind faith in utterly-discredited socialism possible in the first place. I think he's likely to make allies in the worst possible places - jihadists in South America? It's not only possible, it's happening today. - and, as soon as he runs out of money, he's out on his keister.

Wow, went off on a couple of tangents there, didn't I? The original point was, and remains, Hugo is buying lots of things that go boom, the Russians are willing to sell whatever they've got to anyone with the dough, and this can't be good news for anyone.