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"Zelaya aligns himself with Chavez...".
Zelaya is president (and, yeah, he still IS president, duly elected) of a sovereign country. He has the right to "align himself" with whomever he damn pleases, in the interests of his country and his people. He got cheap oil from Chavez, by joining ALBA, and was thereby able to lower the price of bus tickets for poor workers. The US was doing NOTHING to help him or the vast poverty-stricken majority of Honduras--nothing! Brazil is creating an alliance with Iran. They are going to welcome Ahmadinejad to Brazil. So, the US should say, "fuck you, Lulu"--because Lulu, the leader of a sovereign nation, has friendly dealings with Iran? Brazil also is closely aligned with Venezuela. Their presidents meet every month. Lulu has had Chavez's back on numerous occasions, and they are in fundamental accord on issues of social justice and Latin American independence. Obama should also shun Lulu, in your opinion? How about Argentina? Bolivia? Paraguay? Ecuador? Uruguay? There is a very long list of leaders aligned with Chavez on critical issues, including rejecting the US embargo of Cuba, rejecting the US "war on drugs," resisting US-instigated coups, opposing the US military buildup in Colombia, and supporting social justice and regional independence. Obama should shun them all, do you think--or just the ones who are most aligned with Chavez (about half)?
"...uses Venezuelan planes."
Whose embassy has Zelaya taken refuge in, in Honduras? NOT Venezuela's! Brazil and all of Latin America back Zelaya! And since you raise the issue of planes: 1) Why weren't US planes put at Zelaya's disposal for the efforts he made to return to Honduras? Hm? Obama said, back in June, that he is "the ONLY president of Honduras." So why didn't we help him return? Why did he have to use a Venezuelan plane, with a US air base in Honduras? 2) Why did the US military, at the US military base in Honduras, permit the plane carrying the kidnapped president out of the country at gunpoint, stop there to refuel? Hm? Why? Who gave that order to the US military to stand down?
"...runs around palling with the Nicaraguans and Cubans."
"Palling around"? Once again, PRESIDENT Zelaya is the head of a sovereign country. He gets to choose who he meets with, who he makes alliances with, who he has diplomatic relations with--NOT the United States! Nicaragua is a DEMOCRATIC country. It furthermore has a democratically elected leftist government, i.e., sympathetic to the poor majority. Zelaya has every reason to be friendly with Nicaragua. As for Cuba, virtually every government in Latin America now has relations with Cuba, and opposes the US embargo of Cuba. Should Obama shun Mexico?
"...surrounds himself with marxists...".
Evo Morales also has "marxist" advisers, as do others. Most Latin Americans have never had the nutso phobia that the US suffers from about "marxists" and other communists. They ELECT communists to national congresses. (So do England and France.) Bolivia's VP could be called a "marxist." The next president of Uruguay is likely to be a former "marxist" guerrilla. But NO government in Latin America--no matter how leftist it is--is communist. They are all going for mixed socialist/capitalist economies--much like many European countries. Your terminology is ridiculous. "Marxism" is influential in Latin America. And if you've read Marx's books, you know why. It's a quite reasonable and informative analysis of industrial society. If Obama is going to base his foreign policy on shunning "marxists," he might as well write off half of Latin America, not to mention a good part of Europe. How about shunning the mafia in Russia and Eastern Europe? How about shunning the fat sultan tyrants in Saudi Arabia and the UAE? We are talking about DEMOCRATIC countries here--Bolivia, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil and (until last June) Honduras. Obama should sort them out--as good or bad--on the basis of "marxist advisers"?! Welcome back, Senator McCarthy! We really missed your red-baiting!
"...and then expects Obama to do him a favour?"
Does Obama support democracy, or not? It's not a matter of "favors." It's a matter of principle. And Obama had it right, to begin with. "There is NO other president of Honduras." Then his envoys, last week, stabbed that ELECTED president--and the people who elected him-- in the back. Zelaya--and all of Latin America-- are merely asking him to take the knife out. That is not a "favor." It is, a) the right thing to do, and b) essential if Obama wants to recover the good will he once had in Latin America.
"He's never been known for having common sense."
Yeah, well, then 67% of the Honduran people (Zelaya's current approval rating) must be dingbats, to support someone with no common sense. Jeez. Zelaya was violently ousted. Are you saying that's his fault? Typical rightwing garbage, if you are. The victim couldn't stop his violent ouster, so he has no "common sense." Thus, the bastards who did it, and then started beating up, imprisoning, raping, torturing and killing Hondurans who oppose their illegal act, somehow end up exonerated. You speaking for Jim DeMint, or what?
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