Hillary Clinton warns Latin America off close Iran ties

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Latin American countries not to get too close to Iran.

Mrs Clinton said countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia should "think twice" about the consequences of their ties with the Islamic Republic.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month visited Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia which voiced support for Iran's right to a nuclear programme.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8409081.stm

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Seems to be saying "behave children or maybe you get a smack"

[Bobbieo]

1. Politics does create strange bedfellows!!!!!

[David__77]

2. The US is one of the very few countries not to recognize Iran.

Bolivia is aligned with the vast majority in having diplomatic and trade relations with Iran.

[Renew Deal]

6. The US "recognizes" Iran

We don't have diplomatic relations with them.

[movonne]

12. and if we don't will we start another war...I think our troops are

getting stretched a little too thin...or will it be a private corporations war...

[Kolesar]

3. Iran and Russia form a nefarious team

that's where Iran is getting nuclear technology.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lars77]

5. free trade?

I guess the principle of free trade only applies if you trade with America.

[izquierdista]

7. Or else!

Or else we won't send our defense contractors to steal your water!

[EFerrari]

14. Seriously, what is State going to do to Bolivia and Venezuela

that they already haven't tried to do?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

8. It's none of the US' business

How would Washington react to other countries telling it to back off from its relationship with the brutal Saudi state?

[Peace Patriot]

9. Obama initially promised "peace, respect and cooperation" in US/Latin American relations.

That has gone out the window, with...

1. U.S. treachery and backstabbing on Honduras aimed at legitimizing a rightwing putsch--against a unanimous Latin America with Brazil in the lead (the OAS, the Rio Group, UNASUR, Mercosur, ALBA--also Spain, the EU and the UN). So much for respect and cooperation.

2. U.S. has been secretly negotiating a huge U.S. military buildup in Colombia. So much for peace.

So this rude insult to Latin American countries, that they have no sovereign right to their own foreign relations, is no surprise to me. As far as U.S./Latin American policy goes, Bush-Cheney might as well still be in charge.

[AlphaCentauri]

11. New president same bureaucracy and intel n/t

[IndianaGreen]

18. There is a widening chasm between Obama's words and his deeds

It all began with Rick Warren.

[BAKTPRT]

30. Welcome to the real world

Anyone can shoot their mouth off with promises...its the followers (Kool Aid drinkers) that fall for it and don't study facts before voting....know one to blame but our selves...lets dig a little deeper next time before we vote for another...Think we are going to learn our lesson real quick on this one....I see nothing good coming out of him yet< unless you like high unemployment and a debt of 12 trillion, more debt of all our nations history combined in just 1 year...but He speaks nice and he is soooooothing

[IndianaGreen]

19. Obama's sweet words are used to mask a brutal imperialist policy

In Latin America, the Obama Administration has been far more bellicose that Bush/Cheney ever were.

[bvar22]

10. HIllary WARNS Latin America?

What are you going to do, Hillary?

It is the USA's hostile stand AGAINST the populist reforms sweeping across Latin America that has driven them into the arms of Iran, Russia, and China.
Keep it up and you will lose an entire continent....
AND there is NOTHING you can do to stop it except "CHANGE" our oppositional policy.

The USA should be welcoming and supporting the emerging democracies with open arms.

It is revealing that the USA is backing the few remaining Right Wing puppet dictators AGAINST the open democracies.

VIVA Democracy!

I pray it migrates to El Norte.
We could use some here.

[boppers]

13. Viva Democracy?

The democracy of Iran, Russia, and China?

Uh, I don't want anything like their kind of corrupt, oppressive, "democracy" in the US, thankyouverymuch.

[bvar22]

24. No

The open and transparent Left Leaning democracies of Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, and Surinam.

All of the above have managed to throw out their Right Wing Police State "Corporate and WTO friendly" governments despite massive bankrolling by the US.
They have installed Left Leaning governments through free and open elections.

It is the hostile Foreign Policy of the US (plus the support for the previous Right Wing US puppet governments) that is driving these countries into the arms of Russia, Iran, and China.

Hillary's performance did NOT help.
They are laughing at her impotent "warning", and moving further into the arms of Russia/China.

The Right Wing (with US help) in Mexico just barely managed to steal the last election.
They WILL lose the next one.

The predatory trade policies of the US coupled with out support for oppressive governments WILL leave us isolated on our continent unless there is real "CHANGE" in our policies toward Latin America.

YOU may not like that, but it IS the truth.

[saigon68]

20. Her efforts to help bill dodge the Draft are legendary

What a POS ---

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. I've repeatedly warned the US against forming close ties with China and Saudi Arabia.

But they don't seem to listen to me. What gives? :shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

16. Imperialism is alive and well, no matter who is President

As Emma Goldman once said, if elections really changed anything they would make them illegal.

[rabs]

17. Interesting HRC did not "warn" Brazil by name

Cuz Lula da Silva would have diplomatically slapped her silly (and he still may do so when he meets with Arturo Valenzuela (U.S. Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere) in Brasilia on Monday.)

Brazil's relations with the U.S. have dipped sharply this year because of the Pentagon/Colombian bases deal and the way Hillary mishandled the coup in Honduras.

In fact, Hillary does not even have an ambassador in Brasilia. A career diplomat named Lisa Kubiske is the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission in Brazil.

[yurbud]

21. What legitimate beef do we have with Iran besides their support Hezbollah in Lebanon?

and it's pretty hard to ding them for that given the beating that Israel has given Lebanon the last couple of decades.

Don't tell me it's about human rights or democracy. Nobody in DC gives a rat's ass about that or we'd be talking about invading Saudi Arabia right now.

The only real problem is seems to be that they don't dance to the tune of our oil companies and banks, and they do business with Russia when it's in their interest.

They are not a security threat to us, and not even a security threat to Israel, even if they GET nuclear weapons--Israel has several hundred and would launch them before the mushroom cloud from one Iranian bomb cleared over Tel Aviv. Iranians are not stupid. They can predict the reaction of any attack on Israel or the US. The only reason both we and Israel are worried about Iran getting nukes is it will make them harder to bully or invade (which is exactly why every other country that has nukes got them, for defense not offense).

[IndianaGreen]

22. Exactly, the underlying issue is that the US doesn't like competition

particularly in Latin America, which even today it is viewed by the US as our own private plantation.

[yurbud]

26. I wonder why Hugo Chavez & company don't buy Chiquita and solve that problem.

[BAKTPRT]

31. because he is nuts?...and he said he is going to do it?

and he squashes free speech?, freedom of the press?...freedom to assemble ?.Hes probly a nice guy other than that...

[Vidar]

23. I hope they laugh at her.

[EFerrari]

25. I'm going to "think twice" about any politician

that threatens Latin America in such an ugly, public way.

[rabs]

27. Evo had a few things to say to Hillary

Evo responded to Hillary yesterday (Saturday). Don't know if AP, Reuters etc picked it up. (Translation mine.)



Morales rejects Hillary's claims at a news conference in Cochabamba.


"The United States does not have the moral authority to talk about terrorism and to accuse other nations of promoting it."

Cochabamba, BOLIVIA 12 dic (ABI).- "Estados Unidos no tiene autoridad moral para hablar de terrorismo y acusar a otras naciones de promoverlo", manifestó el sábado el presidente Evo Morales Ayma.
---------------------------------
Morales added that the principal terrorists are U.S. authorities "who send troops to other nations to promote wars or to install military bases such as those they will have in Colombia." He added that he was not aware that Iran and Venezuela do the same.

Morales anotó que los principales terroristas son las autoridades estadounidenses "que mandan a otros países tropas para promover guerras o instalar bases militares como las que tendrán en Colombia". Anotó que no conoce que Irán y Venezuela hagan lo mismo.
--------------------------
Article in Spanish

http://abi.bo/#

[sabrina 1]

28. How arrogant.

Someone needs to tell this country that they are not King of the World. And when this country cuts off emerging democracies like Venezuela eg, they are free to do whatever benefits their own countries. Who put the US in charge of anything relating to other countries? We need to clean up our backyard right here before presuming to tell anyone else what to do.

I have some advice for Hillary. How about the US stops supporting brutal dictators like Karamov of Uzbekistan eg?

Hillary is beginning to sound like Bush. 'You're either with us or against us'. That didn't work out too well when he said it.

[IndianaGreen]

29. Obama, Hillary, and even Sarah Palin, have publicly stated that they believe in...

Obama, Hillary, and even Sarah Palin, have publicly stated that they believe in American Exceptionalism, which is a form of racism.

This is why politicians from both parties feel compel to tell the world how to behave.