"Chavez Wants to Reboot UN

Published: September 21, 2006, 1:53 pm

Found a pic of Chavez in his new car.

"Venezuela was the fourth-largest crude oil supplier to the U.S. last June, ." .... ... and we owe a debt of gratitude to the "greens" for hamstringing domestic drilling, refinery expansion thereby subjecting us to the whims of this tiny little despot seated above.

Just maybe the UN will move to Venezeula and a more meaningful, effective world organization can be formed.

"Chavez Wants to Reboot UN
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
September 21, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Hugo Chavez has spelled out his plan for creating the type of United Nations he could work with - including moving the U.N. headquarters from New York City to a country of "the South," like Venezuela.

The left-wing populist's suggestion that the U.N. leave U.S. shores may be the one point in his controversial speech to the General Assembly that American conservatives support.

In a 15-minute address laden with personal attacks against President Bush, whom he called the devil, Chavez outlined why he thought the U.N. was "worthless."

That the U.N. had "collapsed," he said, was evident from Washington's use of its "immoral veto" to block Security Council efforts to stop Israel's war in Lebanon over the summer.

Complaining that the General Assembly had been "turned into a merely deliberative organ," Chavez laid out his four-step formula for re-establishing the U.N.

The Security Council had to be expanded, with new permanent seats going to developing and less-developed countries. There must be "immediate suppression" of the veto power currently wielded by the big five -- the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China.

Decisions at the U.N. to resolve the world's conflicts must be "transparent," he said.

And finally, the role and powers of the secretary-general must be strengthened.

In contrast to his criticism of the U.N., Chavez remarked positively on the Non-Aligned Movement, a grouping of 118 nations -- more than 60 percent of the General Assembly -- which held a summit last week in Havana, and is chaired by Cuba for the next three years.

The resolutions adopted by the NAM, he said, followed "open debate in a transparent matter."

He urged his audience to "lend your goodwill to lend momentum to the Non-Aligned Movement for the birth of a new era -- to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism."

"A new, strong movement has been born, a movement of the South. We are men and women of the South."

'Voice of the world's people'

Chavez also attacked the U.S. for opposing Venezuela's bid for a rotating Security Council seat. A seat earmarked for Latin America becomes vacant at year's end, and Venezuela has been lobbying hard to fill it.

Washington, however, is supporting Guatemala as an alternative candidate. The General Assembly will vote on the matter in a secret ballot on October 16, and the winner will need the backing of two-thirds of members, or 128 countries.

China and Russia have declared their support for Venezuela's candidacy, and Chavez said in his U.N. speech that he also received the endorsement of major Latin American countries, the entire (22-member) Arab League, and "almost all of Africa."

"Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council, will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend dignity and truth."

A key concern for the U.S. and its allies is that Venezuela -- even as a non-permanent member -- will play an additional spoiler role in the already divided council at a time it faces challenges posed by the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. Chavez has allied himself closely with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is also sympathetic to Pyongyang.

Responding to Wednesday's speech, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "The U.N. is an important world stage and an important forum, and leaders come there representing their people and their country. And I'll leave it to the Venezuelan people to determine whether President Chavez represented them and presented them in a way they would have liked to have seen.'

Rep. Connie Mack (R-Florida) said Chavez had shown the world his true colors.

"Quite simply, Chavez's anti-freedom tirade at the United Nations only bolstered the fact that he is little more than a champion of despair and despotism and a sworn enemy of hope and opportunity," Mack said in a statement.

"Chavez's growing alliance with proven enemies of freedom including Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, coupled by his rapid militarization, pursuit of nuclear technologies and relentless broadside attacks on freedom in Venezuela, pose a real threat to the stability of the Western Hemisphere and indeed the world."

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil producer. According to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, Venezuela was the fourth-largest crude oil supplier to the U.S. last June, after Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200609/INT20060921a.html

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"Chavez Wants to Reboot UN

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