Hugo Chávez, at the Latin-Arab Summit, annoying many, but with many more to annoy
Chávez managed to annoy not just his host, Brazilian president Inacio Lula da Silva, but also Jalal Talabani , President of Iraq. Via Chrenkoff,

During a closed session in the Arab-South American conference in Brazilia an argument [erupted] between Chavez (president of Venezuela) and Talabani (president of Iraq) over the Chavez’s denunciation of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. This denunciation came after Talabani gave a summary of the situation & conditions in Iraq. President Talabani then replied by saying: The U.S. Military is in Iraq based upon a U.N. resolution and Iraq will do its utmost to regain its sovereignty and freedom. Then President Talabani turned to Chavez and asked him to join him in a cup of coffee to discuss the Iraq situation in an atmosphere of calm and mutual respect.

While the Summit was marred by a lot of useless propaganda, it might lead to progress. I am a firm believer in free trade. The question is, will Lula manage to stay on track and actually accomplish significant progress, or will it all stay in the “let’s have a meeting and put out more propaganda” stage?

It certainly doesn’t surprise me that there was such a thing as an Arab-Latin Summit, considering that about 10 million South Americans are of Arab descent.

Hugo, however, will continue to annoy people. If my theory that he sees himself as líder supremo of South America (as his hero Simón Bolívar consolidated his rule over what is present-day Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru) is correct, he’s just warming up.

Don’t miss Venezuela News and View’s post on Wonderland Venezuelan Economics

It is essential to note that the price of oil can change while the rate of public expenditure keeps increasing with the mad dash in social programs; which explains the continuous devaluations since Chavez came to office.

Still more annoyance to come from that front.