Friday, September 28, 2007

Chavez and Ahmadinejad: How long will the honeymoon last?

There’s a news report where Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez have further solidified their support for each other as they seek to fight “Yankee* imperialism”.

Chavez, like his buddy Fidel Castro, has in the past questioned President Bush’s intelligence. There’s a part of me that wonders just how smart Chavez is. After all, he’s in bed with Ahmadinejad, an Islamic extremist who wants Israel wiped off the map. Like other Islamic extremists, Ahmadinejad probably wants to eventually see a world where the international religion is Islam. Simply put, you either convert or die.

I wonder what Chavez would do if put into a “convert to Islam or die” situation.

This deal reminds a lot of Germany and Russia’s non-aggression pact they signed prior to World War II. Just a few years later, after the pact served its purpose, Germany invaded Russia.

* I always get a chuckle when foreigners call Americans “Yankees”. They apparently don’t know that this slur was used in the Civil War as a derogatory term for people from the northern United States and is still in use today. Back at college, a southern roommate of mine told me that his girlfriend (also from the south) had one strict dating policy: no Yankees.

If you’re not from America and are reading this, if you happen to be visiting southern America or happen to meet an American from a state like Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, etc., don’t call them a Yankee. Not only will they likely find it insulting, but, well, depending on their disposition, they could construe it as grounds for a fight.

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