Putin and Chavez suck

don- yes they could. They were so happy when Dan Rather left, but they needed to shut down all the major news efforts besides Fox. That would have put them up there with Putin and Chavez.

Finally - an apparent acknowledgement that there is only one mostly conservative news outlet in this country!

sure nanci, at least the rest of them are willing to be critical instead of serving as an amen chorus. that's my point, when you are a true tyrant, you tolerate no disagreement. GWB is not a true tyrant.
Although Rove would work with Putin pretty well, they speak the same language.

Well, Putin of course is a KGB man from way back- so we should not be surprised by what he is capable of doing. The poisoning of a Russian dissident with a radioactive poison in London bears his fingerprint. It strains credibility that that assasination could have happened without his OKAY.
Chavez? well, he is a "cholo"- a South American who is mostly Indian in racial and cultural makeup. he is resentful of the long history of upper class, spanish speaking economic abuse. but none of that excuses what he is doing. his power grab is in fact more naked than that of Putin. Putin likes to work behind the scenes, but Chavez is willing to destroy the rule of law in front of a camera.
Really, the politics of the whole thing do not matter. We could be talking about Pinochet, or the Argentinian generals who pushed the labor union organizers out of airplanes into the ocean from 500 feet up. tyranny is not a left wing or right wing thing, it just is what it is.

What it is, is taking political steps to guarantee that you cannot be replaced no matter what you do.

Watch Putin. I believe him to be dangerous. That is my opinion.

I AGREE

Niether of these two clowns will last long... they rarely do. In both countries their own people will eventually put them out... or kill them. People can only take so much of that dictator crap before they react or revolt. Time will tell, as it always does. Nice article. I'm glad someone else is thinking about tis stuff.

As for Chavez, he was recently at a state dinner somewhere and he kept telling the King of Spain, Juan Carlos Borbon, that he was a "fascist". Juan Carlos, who as a younger man worked pretty hard to get rid of the legacy of true fascism (Generalissimo Franco) in Spain, got annoyed and asked him "why don't you just shut up!"

Which under the circumstance, was about the only appropriate thing to say.

When the Cracker in Chief is deposed and sanity returns to the oil market and regulation to the finance market oil will drop to true market levels of $50-60 per barrel Vlad and Hugo might become a bit more cooperative. As it is these bozos are on the US sponsored payroll and are free to flip us the bird at will compliments of Bush oil policy.

interesting

Absolutely agree with you.

Is it any of our business what those two do in their own country? It is the business of their people None of our business.

The United States needs to git their butts off the Imperian Throne and quit trying to tell other countries what to do or how to act. This is the United States of AMERICA not the United States of the WORLD.

How other governments are run is none of our business just as how we run ours is none of their business. I know of no reason we can't trade with governments that are not like ours. In fact we do.

Michael- yes, you have a point. American governments in the past have been too willing to depose dictators- or for that matter, also too willing to interfere in elected governments because we did not like them.
I am delighted to look at the news this morning and see that CHAVEZ LOST!!!! The election returns are in, and the Venezuelan people decided that they did not like the idea of giving a blank check to Chavez. He still will be president for the next 5 years, and smart money says that he will find other ways to try to subvert the rule of law there.
Unfortunately in Russia, Putin won by a landslide, apparently assisted with a good bit of ballot box stuffing. It seems that the Russian people continue to favor trading freedom for security. As Thomas Jefferson pointed out long ago, that never works.

Could not agree more; Chavez and Putin suck. However, there are lesson to be learned here; the first is the perils of socialism, the second is the perils of the unfettered capitalism that results in people like Putin and Chavez.

On another point, I fail to understand the hysteria toward FOX. Is the existence of another viewpoint THAT threatening?

Why am I not surprised at the Orwellian irony of an attack on free speech trailing an article condemning governments that attack free speech?

No, Fox is not that threatening Greg. On balance I would much rather live in the USA with Fox one of the television news and commentary choices than in either Russia or Venezuela, where the press is under attack from the government. In Russia particularly, reporters who are successful at bringing out corruption stories are at high risk of being found later with a bullet in the back of the head. Fox engages in a bit of high energy dissing, but it is all aimed at swaying voters, not circumventing them.

I am just glad that Chavez lost. That guy is a common thug, and not much more.He is the embodiment of why we need to get off of foreign oil. I cannot wait until that guy leaves office.

why we need to get off of foreign oil

AMEN

But let's amend that to "get off oil".

((( It's so important, to know your weaknesses and our strengths as a World leader. I will continue to pray for fuel to be an alternative and, our great country to open new strengths in methods 'without fuel consumption' we already know works! )))

Facism is the most effective method of establishing Socialism.Socialism leads to Tyranny after clearing up the mess caused by a period of Anarchy, through the need to re-establish 'order' after the inevitable 'revolution'. Example: French revolution ended with Napoleon, Russian ended with Stalin, China ended with Mao Tse Tung etc etc. Chavez is no different. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely' as Lord Acton said.

Addenda: The 'president' of Iran Afterdinnerjad is detested in Iran, therefore to keep threatening Iran is about as stupid as it gets!

Kenneth- you allude to an aspect of the topic that I alluded to in a rather clumsy way. I asked the question "Do we have the power to depose them". A better question would be "how can we be constructive in the effort to coax more people in our world to accept the rule of law, and for more rulers to accept the idea that governing a nation is a temporary rather than a permanent job". Unfortunately I do not have a great answer to that question, but I agree that sometimes we can pressure a nation in a way that just makes people support their despot out of misplaced patriotism, or just obstinate resentment of "outsiders".

Interesting piece, Chris...

thanks Diana.

by the way Michael, yes I do have to admit that Pakistan is a mess politically. The USA seems so afraid of having a replay of Iran's revolution and a resulting 30 years of crazed Mullahs that we really have a problem with putting pressure onto the rule of law side of things in Pakistan. At this point, Musharraf is "our son of a bitch".

You're right. Unfortunately, stopping either of them is beyond the reach of anyone but their own people for now. Certainly it is not worth using military means to stop them. Too much war already.

Chris - Thank you for your comments. Both Putin and Chavez are worrying. Both are thugs and dangerous because like all bullies they feel inferior, and are frightened of 'being found out'. Iran has the same problem, but in a way is more frightening. I absolutelyagree with all you say. The problem with 'Islam' is the same as with Christianity. The teachings of Christ and Mahomet are the same, but designed for diferrent peoples for different times have been virtually lost and destroyed, through a criminal process of 'politicisation' in Europe this is quite easy to see, with the crusades and the 'inquisition' demonstrating the exact opposite of Christ's teaching, the same with 'Islam' where the Koran has been distorted by the process of 'abrogation' and fantasy. The 'Mid East' has been humiliated and belittled by Europe since the 15.Cent. Ottoman Empire, which attempted several re-invasions of Europe, successfully repulsed by European armies. It is vital to understand that the Sunni and Shiites have been 'at war' with each other for 1000 years. The criminal and tyrannical forces who have perverted and subverted the sacred teachings of Mahomet and set up tyrannies are naturally on the defensive. Our interference in this area for over 200 years in this arena, smacks of worse than crass stupidity, crowned by the arch criminality of not just Blair and Bush, they are just the latest example of purblind idiocy. The problem now is terryfying and will never ever be 'solved' by war or any kind of violence, or passivity! think about it. Until we learn to understand each other, we will be the victims of influenves we neither know about, understand or rven believe exist. Getting depressed about it wont help either. The urgent5 pursuit of enlightened scientific research could help, but not that alone. 'Bringing pressure' on other peoples will get us nowhere fast.