A sad time for Venezuela, a sad time for the US and Israel

I am sorry about all this pessimism. I hope to find good news, distracting news, and/or funny news and post that. In the meantime, I want to convey my sadness at Hugo Chavez's win in Venezuela. Lest we forget, C4A already cited some of the reasons (there are so many!) why Chavez is bad for Venezuela, irrespective of his Bush hatred and Pat Robertson's call for assassination. (go read it!) Sadly, too many people buy into the Chavez-as-hero myth, simply because Chavez called Bush the devil. Sandmonkey wrote about Daniel in Venezuela's post concerning Chavez's recent win, and I largely agree with him. Go read it! Daniel in Venezuela feels his country is irreversibly gone, and he is a stranger in his own land. I would feel that way as well, if Chavez were president of the US. The man backs world terrorism, is a rabid anti-semite, and of course is incredibly corrupt and backs the most insanely inefficient government in Venezuela. (documentation to support these assertions are in my August post I wrote) Yet he is a hero of the world left. What a joke. (it should be noted that something new has come to light - Chavez said he will fire all civil service workers who disagree with him - what a great guy!) Then, there's the American joke, Robert Gates. He is a man C4A has already chronicled on several occasions, here and here. When Gates was questioned during the confirmation hearing, he said that he is against the US doing anything against Iran, unless it's in American interests, and only then, at the last minute. However, he also admit that he believes Iran would not hesitate to use the nukes on Israel! (reference) This is the new American secretary of defense, ladies and gents...um...hooray? This is not a new philosophy, as the US did not enter WWII until American interests were threatened - it did not undertake to save Jews during the Holocaust. In fact, not only did the US literally do nothing to save the Jews of the Holocaust, neither did the UK. No one really cares about the Jews...but then neither does the Israeli leadership! After all, Israel is headed by the corrupt and incompetent Ehud Olmert, who believes that Israel should be giving up more territory during its time of peril! (reference) He also calls for no more IDF arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank, unless there is explict approval from either the GOC Central Command or the commander of IDF forces in the territories. (reference) Then there is the insane 'hudna' nonsense Olmert decided on - whereby Israel does not fire back when the Palestinians fire missiles, thereby abdicating its responsibility as a state to defend its citizenry. (reference) This led the Raccoon to believe that we should all be preparing for a nuclear holocaust, as Israeli leaders are not doing anything to prevent Iranian nukes, and neither are American leaders. He believes, perhaps rightly, that nothing will be done until an actual nuke is used against Israel, and then Israel, with its second strike capabilities, responds by wiping out Iran. (go read his analysis) He may very well be right. It is with all these thoughts in mind that I am planning my trip to Israel in January. Unless something is done to reverse this course, I may be going on a trip to Israel not unlike my trip to the oberservation deck of the WTC that I took several times in my youth. UPDATE: LGF goes through the Iraq Study Group's recommendations (that came out today), and shows it advocates selling Israel down the river in exchange for fluffy promises and puppies. (ie, nothing) It is not a good time for Israel right now, what with the combination of global antisemitism and incompetent, corrupt, and inept Israeli leaders.