Chavez on the Move (Again)
By Douglas Farah
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has just completed another tour of his "strategic partners," including Russia and Iran. The trip comes as Venezuelan territory is increasingly being used by Colombian drug traffickers as a safe haven and way station to move cocaine and heroin to the United States, Europe and elsewhere, and Chavez's internal financial accountability is evaporating.
While in Iran, Chavez called Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad his ideological brother (again). This is his third trip to Iran in the past two years. Chavez gave other gestures of support, including the signing of numerous commercial deals that could help ease Iran's fuel crisis.
It is not an alliance based on shared religious or internal political values. It is based solely on the hatred of the United States and a willingness to do business together in a mutually beneficial way.
This, obviously, is not unique to this relationship. And if it were not for the Hezbollah link, it would not be particularly worrisome. My full blog is here.