Leading “Anti-Imperialist” Hugo Chavez And The Syrian Murderer.

You can always trust on the inflated ego of dictators to get the better of them. In this case, the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez expresses his support for the Syrian dictatorship, AFP reports:

“”From here we greet president Bashar al-Assad,” Chavez said, after witnesses reported that Syrian troops backed by tanks had rolled into the town of Daraa, the epicenter of recent anti-regime protests, killing at least 25 people.

“Terrorists are being infiltrated into Syria and producing violence and death — and once again, the guilty one is the (Syrian) president, without anyone investigating anything,” said Chavez.

He gave no further details to support his claims.

Chavez, a close Assad ally in Latin America, criticized the “imperial madness” of the international community which, according to him, seeks to attack Syria under the pretext of defending its people.

“They’re starting to say: ‘Let’s see if we sanction the government, we’re going to freeze their assets, we’ll blockade them, throw bombs on them, in order to defend the people.’

“Wow, what cynicism. But that’s the empire, it’s imperial madness,” he said.

When Chavez talks about “the empire,” he is usually referring to the United States.

While critics say Damascus is using its troops to crush dissent, the Syrian army said that citizens invited the soldiers into Daraa to hunt “extremist terrorist groups.”

Some 390 people have been killed in security crackdowns since the protests erupted in Syria, rights activists and witnesses say. “

This is despite the fact that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has killed about 400 civilians since the start of the revolts in Syria, according to Reuters:

“Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 400 civilians in their campaign to crush month-long pro-democracy protests, the Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said on Tuesday.”

This is Amnesty International’s page on Syria:

“In 2008, Syria ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights. However, laws continue to restrict freedom of expression and give the police powers to arrest and detain without trial due to an official state of emergency that was introduced in 1963 after the Ba’th party took power. In 2005, permission was given for the formation of new political parties, but human rights defenders, women and ethnic Kurds face discrimination in law and daily life.

The country retains the death penalty, torture is carried out with impunity and 17,000 disappeared people are unaccounted for. Syria currently hosts around 1.4 million Iraqi refugees and has a 500,000-strong longstanding Palestinian refugee population. “

Jumping Ship And Provisional Governments.

Apart from the chaos that’s going on in Libya, I noticed two bits which are telling.

Apparently, Gaddafi’s own private pilot has deserted:

“The pilot of Moammar Ghaddafi’s private jet, a Norwegian citizen, has been able to flee Libya with his family. They are now safe in Vienna after fearing for their lives in Libya.

57-year-old Odd Birger Johansen for the last year has been the pilot of the private jet of Colonel Ghaddafi. Until yesterday, he was in Tripoli, together with his wife and daughter that had chosen this unhappy moment to visit him for a holiday in Libya.

Yesterday, he spoke to the private Norwegian broadcaster ‘TV2’, saying he wanted to evacuate Libya as soon as possible. “Right now, the way I feel it, is that things are burning around me … and I don’t want to … I am not a hero, I will go home,” Mr Johansen told the broadcaster. “

Else where, they are setting up a provisional government:

“In eastern Libya, in the city of Bayda, a provisional government was being formed. The new leadership also is holding some Gadhafi loyalists hostage.

As the first Western journalists many of the residents of Bayda had ever seen were led into the meeting, the crowd gave a standing ovation — quickly followed by cries of “Freedom, Freedom!” and “Libya, Libya!”

This building had been a symbol of Gadhafi’s regime — where his revolutionary council would meet to discuss local affairs.

A new revolution was finding its voice in Bayda, and its fighters were vowing to end Gadhafi’s reign. Some people were crying, others pumping their fists in the air.

“Ordinary people, doctors, lawyers are talking about how we can coordinate with all other cities in Libya who are now under the protesters’ control,” says Ahmed Jibril, a former diplomat at the Libyan mission at the United Nations.

He says this is the beginning of a new government.

“We have a former minister of justice who just resigned three or four days ago,” Jibril says. “He’s among us and people agreed … he would be one of the people in control.” “

Update 1: Frank Gardner piece at the Beeb, Libya: Who is propping up Gaddafi is good.

What Now Libya?

I am not sure what is *really* going to happen in Libya.

Will the popular uprising be enough to overthrow Gaddafi?

Or will he use his mercenaries to retake Tripoli, and then other cities?

How can unarmed civilians stand up against the paid murderers under Gaddafi’s control?

Will the Army units be enough to support the people’s revolt? I hope so, but the picture is unclear and Gaddafi is one murderous dictator who will do anything to stay in power.

Libya: Some Round Up.

[I have made the post sticky and will update things as events change in and around Libya. Newer posts will appear below this one for the time being.]

Was away at the weekend and didn’t follow the news at all, so events in Libya have caught me on the back foot.

Nevertheless, here’s a bit of a round up from those in the know, all very subjective and incomplete:

Nick Griffin and Colonel Gaddafi, weird, but then they did share the same pet hate at one time in life, if you think about it.

Terry Glavin on that Libyan Slave Revolt.

Salon has a primer on Libya, with this revealing photo of Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi holding hands:

Comrade Dave looks at the Libya crackdown: the trajectory of Brother Gaddafi.

From December 2010, Hugo Chavez and the gift from Muammar Gaddafi.

From the Don’t vote BNP channel on YouTube, more on Nick Griffin and the Libyan connection:

Over at the Guardian, WikiLeaks cables: A guide to Gaddafi’s ‘famously fractious’ family. This is the bottom line:

“Like all the Gaddafi children and favourites is supposed to have income streams from the national oil company and oil services subsidiaries.”

This is superb, Mapping Violence Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Libya, a Google map of the on-going events in Libya.

Marko Attila Hoare reminds us of how money talks in academia, Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi and the London School of Economics.

Kellie Strøm takes a wider perspective, Revolution Overload.

CNN has a breaking news feed from Libya.

Finally, thanks to Graham Lloyd, here’s “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff.

Else Where In the World.

Judeosphere has a depressing piece on Hugo Chavez’s Anti-Semitic “News” Site.

Update 1: I shouldn’t have to spell it out, but one of my readers can’t quite see the connections.

The above antisemitic website, Aporrea.org, is run by Martín Sánchez, the Venezuelan Consul General in San Francisco and by Gonzalo Gómez an active member of the governing party, PSUV.

Given the nature of consular officials it is highly unlikely that Sr. Sánchez would have commenced this endeavour (or continued with it) without the approval of his government and its uppermost leaders.

Further, give the the nature of the populist authoritarian regime run by Hugo Chavez, it is highly unlikely that they would run anything which is counter to the broad policies of the regime.

For example, if hypothetically they had posted articles praising capitalism and American imperialism then Sr. Sánchez and Sr. Gómez would probably be out of their jobs before you could say “Arroz”.

Add to that, the fact that President Chavez is apparently an avid reader of Aporrea.org, according to Vheadlines:

“Aporrea.org is on a roll after it discovered that President Chavez has been reading some of the commentaries published on the right hand side of its web page.

Before opening his twitter service and during a break in a Council of Ministers meeting, Chavez mentioned criticisms written by Aporrea.org contributors regarding internal elections.”

The ADL has an informative piece on it too.

Finally, for those blind to anti-Jewish racism here’s an article on Venezuela and antisemitism:

“The president of the Jewish community in Venezuela on Monday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of promoting anti-Semitism and giving the phenomenon legitimacy.

Speaking at the World Jewish Congress conference in Jerusalem on Monday, Abraham Levy Ben Shimol said “you probably hear of many anti-Semitic incidents, but where we live, the anti-Semitism is sanctioned; it comes from the president, through the government, and into the media. Since the government is very involved in the day-to-day lives of its constituents, its influence is much more effective.””

Scraps Of News.

PC World’s very own Gerald Ratner moment.

Watch out for Facebook “friends” when they put the bite on you.

Slower than a child, for now, could it be the shape of things to come?

Rebuilding Harwell, probably destined for a new Nuclear power station?

Oil is still dogging Brown.

The Sinking of the SS Athenia.

Flawed Leopard.

Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers, British double standards.

That Pat Buchanan and his view of Hitler, yanked.

Oh and Hugo Chavez meets some Holocaust denier and election fiddler, giving him a big hug.