why venezuela doesn't matter...



http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/2006/02/foray-into-iraq.html
"In reality, Chavez's ability to challenge the United States is severely
limited. The occasional threat to cut off oil exports to the United States
is fairly meaningless, in spite of conversations with the Chinese and
others about creating alternative markets. The United States is the
nearest major market for Venezuela. The Venezuelans could absorb the
transportation costs involved in selling to China or Europe, but the
producers currently supplying those countries then could be expected to
shift their own exports to fill the void in the United States. Under any
circumstances, Venezuela could not survive very long without exporting
oil. Symbolizing the entire reality is the fact that Chavez's government
still controls Citgo and isn't selling it, and the U.S. government isn't
trying to slam controls onto Citgo.

Washington ultimately doesn't care what Chavez does so long as he
continues to ship oil to the United States. From the American point of
view, Chavez -- like Castro -- is simply a nuisance, not a serious threat.
Latin American countries in general are of interest to Washington, in a
strategic sense, only when they are being used by a major outside power
that threatens the United States or its interests. The entire Monroe
Doctrine was built around that principle.

There was a fear at one point that Nazi U-boats would have access to Cuba.
And when Castro took power in Cuba, it mattered, because it gave the
Soviets a base of operations there. What happened in Nicaragua or Chile
mattered to the United States because it might create opportunities the
Soviets could exploit. Nazis in Argentina prior to 1945 mattered to the
United States; Nazis in Argentina after 1945 did not. Cuba before 1991
mattered; after 1991, it did not. And apart from oil, Venezuela does not
matter now to the United States."


regards...

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