Least you forgot this factoid while you wonder about way more important things such as the US and European economic crisis, Chavez is still vociferous in his backing of the butchers of Tripoli and Damascus. He dared to receive an emissary from Gaddafi asking him to help in selling Libyan oil one way or the other (thus we can infer that Gaddafi mercenary army is running out of cash), and said that he would never recognize the rebel movement of Benghazi (as if Moammar had ever been democratically elected) [sigh!....]. To add insult to injury he dispatched his foreign minister to the TV to support Assad and state as if nothing that the West was operating a war of aggression on Assad already benefiting form the Libyan training, accusing the West of sabotaging the democratic initiatives of Assad to open participation in Syria. For good measure he reminded us that Syria is at the front of the Arab Reunification, whatever that may mean. Too bad there was no real journalist in front to ask him how Assad progressed on said reunification....
Yes, I know, I know, all of these are really destined to internal consumption of the chavista lumpen, but still... Are Chavez in his henchmen that out of touch with the world? Don't they realize that Lybia and Syria are after all minor locales when the health of the Euro and Dollar is at stake? Is Tripoli really more important than Athens today? Is Chavez not aware that the sooner peace comes back to Libya with a dethroned Gaddafi the sooner the West recovery will/could restart and the price of oil go durably up for Venezuela? Someone should let Chavez know that if Madrid defaults tomorrow, if Gaddafi does not clear out of Tripoli soon, a new economic crisis will come and he will be swept away when oil prices go down to 80, or less.... He can scream all what he wants in favor of Gaddafi and Assad, he is useless and absolutely irrelevant because of his cowardliness in actually doing something real to help these criminals....