Fight the gas prices

[kandrathe]

Human rights watch has comments even on the Netherlands....

Right. But did you read them? They are all positive things.

Like I said Chavez does questionable things....but I can't see much problems with this land seizure thing.

I believe that the right to own property is a fundamental human right.

The answer is 100 % NO
They were no socialist. They were leaders of countries which still today have a very strong togetherness feeling. To call them socialists as well as to compare Chavez with them is absolutely despicable. I see that in Italy also the thinking very lightly about the war period is very common. Much different in Holland which was more a victim country. Don't confuse socialism with national socialism by the way, the name is somewhat similar but they are completely different things. I guess that if hitler would have called his party the `let's kill all the jews party' he would not be so popular.

I don't mean fascist in the sense it is usually taken as a slur. I mean think about the definition; "Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the state, and seeks to forge a type of national unity, usually based on ethnic, cultural, or racial attributes. Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, corporatism, collectivism, totalitarianism, anti-communism, and opposition to economic and political liberalism." Nationalizing the oil and mining industries, and telling the central bank where they can and cannot invest money seems like fascism to me.

I don't want to call you names. I respect you too much as a discussion partner. I just got a bit annoyed by the way in the US people are constantly badmouthing Cuba and now Venezuela....treating them like enemies that are on the brink of attacking the US. I just don't expect those kind of things from an intelligent person like you.

I am an American patriot so I freely admit I am biased against what I perceive to be threats. In this case, I'm not afraid anytime soon of Cuban, Venezuelan and Iranian armies marching on Washington. However, Chavez is in a position to do harm to the US economy, and therefore also the world economy. I just hope the Venezuelans get fed up with him and keep the problem a Venezuelan one so that the world is not forced to deal with him.