Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Their favourite dictator

By Ben-Peter Terpstra - posted Thursday, 19 November 2009


Most outrageously, Chávez attacked Angela Merkel, a European moderate, for being a Nazi (National Socialist) although his tax-and-spend policies are possibly closer to Hitler’s than hers. And then there was former African-American Secretary of State, Republican Condoleezza Rice, whom he labelled “Condolence” and a “Little Girl”.

The dictator, oddly enough, enjoys targeting women with filthy jibes.

And Chávez uses international events to distract from local bloodbaths. To the Martini Marxist, Venezuela is his personal ant farm: “During the first seven years that Chávez was in power, 100,000 people were killed in Venezuela, a country with scarcely more than twenty million inhabitants.”

Advertisement

On average, a Chávez year in power equals 15,000 crime-related deaths. And: “As a sobering comparison: by August 21, 2008, over five years after the war in Iraq commenced, the total number of American casualties was 4,148, and in Afghanistan the number was 574.”

Even in Australia (outside the ABC, I mean) the Australia-Venezuelan Solidarity Network is selling beautiful lies about Chávez.

No wonder Arab dictators adore him so. “But Chávez has a particularly strong group of fans in Hollywood. Danny Glover (whose movie projects Chávez now bankrolls), Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte, Naomi Campbell (‘the supermodel turned Latin American specialist,’ as Tony Allen-Mills wittily put it), Peter Coyote, and Kevin Spacey, among others, all fawn over the Great Leader.”

Like Gore, Chávez is above debate because “eagles do not hunt flies”. People with opposing views are “dwarfs”. Or “fags”. Or “limp-dicks”. Or “squealing pigs”.

The cult of personality is a force to be reckoned with, to be sure. Unlike Bolivar, Venezuela’s founding father, however, Chávez is completely non compos mentis.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

First published in Quadrant Online on October 26, 2009.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

5 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Ben-Peter Terpstra has provided commentary for The Daily Caller (Washington D.C.), NewsReal Blog (Los Angeles), Quadrant (Sydney), and Menzies House (Adelaide).

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Ben-Peter Terpstra

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 5 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy