Personally, you are not the president of Venezuela, with a policy of using Venezuela's oil profits to bootstrap the vast poor majority with schools, medical care, land reform and other desperately needed social justice measures. So, personally, it doesn't matter a rat's ass what YOU think of the Venezuelan GOVERNMENT's policy on contracts with monster global corporate predators like Exxon-Mobil, or anything else.
"Now Chavez wants to change the deal, taking a larger stake
for himself." --sergeiiAK
Chavez is the PRESIDENT of Venezuela. He is taking
nothing "for himself." He is acting on behalf of all Venezuelans. And there is
no evidence whatever that the oil negotiations will benefit Chavez personally in any way. The only thing he may get for his efforts is a bullet in the head, from fascist thugs on the Bush/USAID-NED or covert budgets payroll.
This is a classic corporate news monopoly and Bushite tactic--to PERSONALIZE a conflict and IGNORE the millions and millions of people whose lives are at stake. They did it with Saddam Hussein. They demonized him, and used that demonization to justify the slaughter of 1.2 million innocent Iraqis to get their oil. They had an easy time demonizing Saddam, and making the 1.2 million victims of their bombs and bullets disappear in the "news." Not so Chavez. He is a genuinely elected, legitimate leader, very popular in Venezuela (70% approval rating) and in the region, where most other leaders are his friends and allies. But they are nevertheless trying, as Donald Rumsfeld's op-ed in the Washington Post in Dec of last year, the stream of tripe coming out of the U.S. State Department, and numerous hit pieces by the Associated Press and other corporate lapdogs--amply demonstrate. They want you to ignore the awesome social movement in Venezuela that is responsible for electing Chavez, each time with ever increasing margins, and the millions of people involved, whose aspirations to social justice and democracy have moved them to become active citizens. The focus on one man, not on the democracy around him, which would not tolerate a "dictator"--as Rumsfeld does in his title
"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.htmlThe word "tyrant" turns to ashes in Rumsfeld's mouth. Rumsfeld, and the Bush Junta, and Exxon-Mobil are the tyrants--not the poor millions of Venezuela who ELECTED Chavez to see to their interests.
And when you say things like "Chavez is being a nut here" (the other winger epithets are "buffoon," "clown," "scumbag" but "nuts" is often used as well), and Chavez wants a larger stake of the oil "for himself, you are aiding Rumsfeld & co. in their efforts to demonize Chavez, make it personal, topple his government and install a fascist regime that will permit Exxon-Mobil and other predators to steal one of the Venezuelan peoples' only resources, and you are displaying colossal ignorance of the basics of democracy and the "sovereignty of the people." Corporations have no rights. They are not people. Only people have rights. Corporations--consortiums of "organized money" (as FDR called it)--have no right to do business, to profit or to own property and accumulate vast wealth and power in perpetuity. They are charted by A SOVEREIGN PEOPLE, who PERMIT them to do business, if it is in the INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE. They must be chartered. They must be licensed. Their charters and licenses can contain ANY provisions and regulations that the SOVEREIGN PEOPLE of a country decide to impose on them.
THIS is the proper order of things. The people come first. In a democracy, they are the SOVEREIGNS. And just as a king can banish a corporation, so can the people. Only people have rights.
Global corporate predators try to assert their "rights" over the sovereign people of a country by making analogies such as you do, to a business transaction between "you and me." (You say, "if
I sued
you over a business deal..."). But Exxon-Mobil is not like "you and me." Exxon-Mobile is a monster. Last quarter, they reported higher profits than any U.S. corporation, ever. They are a country unto themselves--a floating country with no loyalty to anyone. They
use corrupt governments to start oil wars. They have used our own corrupt leaders to do this. They are an absolutely evil entity. There is simply no comparison between "you and me," and some dispute we might get into over a business deal, and Exxon-Mobil. The justice of scale must come into things, at some time. And the scale of Exxon-Mobil's power, wealth, profits and global reach is beyond anything that any sovereign country and its people--let alone a third world country like Venezuela--can deal with. All Venezuela can do--and it is doing this--is seek ALLIANCE with other bullied countries, and try to fend off Rumsfeld and his war plans, and Exxon-Mobil and its part in those war plans, by means of the collective strength of many countries.
We all need to throw these monstrous corporations off our backs. They have nothing to do with real trade and business. They are out-of-control monopolies. They kill small businesses, as well as killing and impoverishing lots of people. They run our government. They gas gouge with impunity. They are anti-democratic, and they are destroying the planet we all live on.
There is no defense for what this horror, Exxon-Mobil, has done to Venezuela. It is immoral. They are quite literally taking food out of the mouths of poor Venezuelan children, to add to their ungodly wealth and power. They've been exploiting Venezuelans for decades! When Chavez came to power, Venezuelans were getting only 10% of the profits from their own oil. Chavez has pushed it up to 60%. Norway's Statoil, France's Total, British BP, Conoco and even Chevron consider that reasonable. Only Exxon-Mobil walked out of the negotiations and went crying to the Bushites who control the World Bank, and into corrupt "first world" courts, in countries they control--to freeze Venezuela's assets. But, frankly, I don't think it's this money that Exxon-Mobile wants. They want it all--all the oil profits. Their aim is to topple the Chavez government with economic warfare (read Rumsfeld!), and reinstall fascist dictatorships in Venezuela AND in its allies, the ones rich in natural resources, oil especially--Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina. It's more than greed. It's POWER they are after--to destroy any SOVEREIGN government that dares to demand a fair deal for the people who live there.
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