Wednesday, September 20, 2006

UNGA: Chavez calls Bush “the devil”

Apparently hosting Iran’s president in Caracas over the weekend was a mere appetizer to today’s main course at the U.N. as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez lashed out against the U.S. and called George W. Bush “the devil.” Chavez’ insults were met with some giggling as well as a bit of applause. A few choice quotes from Chavez’ speech earlier today:
  • “The devil came here yesterday. He came here as if he were owner of the world.”
  • “In this very spot it still smells like sulfur.”
  • “The hegemonistic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very existence of the human species.”
  • “The U.N. system born after World War II collapsed. It is worthless.”

Though a White House spokesman said Chavez’ words were “not worthy of reaction” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton noted that “serious people can listen to what he had to say and…reject it.”

And thus the sad state of affairs between Bush and Chavez continues.

Links- BBC News, Reuters, International Herald Tribune, The Latin Americanist (blog)

Image- Asia Burning (blog)

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:58 PM

    Again,Mr Chavez was being just as many of us,latin americans when we get angry: tell whatever passes over our minds without measuring the consequences.

    Mr Chavez is a president much of the style of Mr Buccaran ,the former president of Ecuador.

    We,in Panama ,had a president like that,Mr Endara, and he was considered a funny clown saying always the wrong words , the wrong answers,the wrong conceptions.
    But nobody in Panama resented by the things he said.
    We knew that he was temporarily in office and let him be.

    I think Mr Bush should not pay attention to what Mr Chavez said.

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  2. Erwin C.12:52 AM

    I completely disagree with you. Chavez did not make his most controversial remarks "without measuring the consequences." I feel that he understood 100% what he said but more importantly to who he was saying it too both in the U.N. as well as the U.S. public. Regardless of whether you thought his comments were accurate or silly, he received the attention he sought.

    To use a cliche, Chavez is 'crazy like a fox.' He is not the idiot or motley fool some prtray him to be and he well knows the startegy he's embarking. Like it or not, it has worked to a large extnent.

    Finally, not only President Bush should DEFINITELY pay attention to what Chavez has to say, but ALL regional and global leaders need to lend anear to Chavez' words and rhetoric.

    ReplyDelete