Maravi

A new cold war has already started - Chavez

A new cold war has already started - Chavez
By Larry Moonze in Cuba
Sunday June 10, 2007 [04:00]

A NEW cold war has already started, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned. Addressing a news conference in Caracas on Wednesday in which he also reacted to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's attacks that freedom was under siege in Venezuela, President Chavez said Washington had already declared war on the world.

"The new cold war has already started although it should not be called cold as Washington has reactivated the so-called Star Wars to try to besiege Russia and go against China, Iran and whoever it is," he said.

President Chavez said the war that Washington had 'declared' on the world had different ramifications and presentations such as media, psychological, intelligence, counterintelligence and dirty wars.

"It is irrational to try to create the so-called antimissile shield, so Russia demonstrated that it cannot be," he said in reference to the anti-missile shield the US wants to set up in former Soviet States which has strained relations with Moscow.

Russia has threatened to point nuclear weapons towards Europe should the US go ahead with its plans. President Chavez said he had received an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Moscow on a date yet to be confirmed. He warned that the US' extreme right wing, the Republican Party was stepping up its plans in case it lost the next presidential elections.

"And it can try any crazy thing," President Chavez said. "We must be careful because the US government is declining and it can go into a spin and it will not get out of it."
President Chavez added, according to Prensa Latina, that, "the plane is falling but it is dangerous because it has a huge destructive power."

On Rice's attack during the Organisation of American States summit that has closed in Panama, President Chavez said the departure of Rice from the plenary session of the General Assembly of the OAS was a sign of imperial decadence.

He said US authorities failed to make a single country to play "the game of undignified proposals" to attack Venezuela at that meeting.

"She, herself (Rice) had to submit an initiative against Venezuela and bear the sign of failure and moral and political defeat on her face," said President Chavez.
In her speech, Rice said freedom was under siege in Venezuela and urged the OAS to defend it.

Rice said the US senate was calling on the OAS to address the closure of Radio Caracas Television by President Chavez' s administration.

"President (George W.) Bush and I agree. In keeping with Article 18 of the Democratic Charter, we urge the Secretary General (of OAS Jose Insulza) to go to Venezuela to consult in good faith with all interested parties and to present a full report to the foreign ministers through the Permanent Council," said Rice.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of conscience are not a thorn in the side of government. They are the beginning of justice in every society. The unfettered public discussion of ideas is the greatest guarantee for the rule of law and the surest protection against the whims of rulers. Disagreeing with your government is not unpatriotic and it most certainly should not be a crime in any country, especially in a democracy.

Labels: HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA

posted by MrK @ 3:35 AM