[Marxism] US-Iran alliance in Iraq?

[Walter Lippmann]

The idea being circulated by some that the Islamic Republic is now
colluding with the Great Satan is utterly absurd, but that doesn't
seem to stop the Iranophobes from beating the same old dead horse.

http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2007-July/014359.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/68249

CHAVEZ IN MOSCOW LAST WEEK
In his speech, Chavez said he wanted to intensify energy cooperation with
Russia, while criticizing the United States and U.S. oil companies for
having turned Venezuela into a "colony of the United States." He also
defended Iran's nuclear energy program and said his country might consider
starting one of its own in the future.

If Putin was concerned about getting too close to Chavez during the visit,
Mayor Yury Luzhkov suffered from no such inhibitions. Speaking ahead of
Chavez at the ceremony, Luzhkov lashed out at what he called today's
"unipolar world," as well as criticizing Hollywood. Perhaps charged up by
his confirmation for a fifth term on Wednesday, Luzhkov defended Russia's
"right to live its own life."

"The Almighty ordained us to live as equals on Earth," he said, adding that
Hollywood was imposing on the world "a culture that does not always reflect
mankind's deepest needs."

Luzhkov also criticized U.S. academic Francis Fukuyama's work "The End of
History," a theme Chavez expanded upon.

"No, this is not the end of history," Chavez said. "It is the opposite: This
is a return to history."

"He who has eyes to see, let him see," Chavez said in a marathon speech that
invoked everything from the Bible to Lenin and Marx. U.S. intellectual Noam
Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" was
also mentioned.

Chavez, who was re-elected in December on pledges of more radical reforms,
also defended the Venezuelan state's assumption of control of operations in
his country's Orinoco river belt oil producing region. After PDVSA,
Venezuela's state-owned oil company, took control of multibillion-dollar
projects owned by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, the two oil companies
refused to sign a new agreement.

"If they want to leave, the door is open," Chavez said Thursday.

At the same time, he said he was keen to intensify energy cooperation with
Russia and praised LUKoil, which is beginning work on projects in the
Orinoco belt, for agreeing to his terms. LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov was also
scheduled to meet with Chavez on Thursday, Interfax reported.

"Everybody understands why they are meeting," Alekperov's deputy Leonid
Fedun said. "Venezuela has set out tough conditions, but we are continuing
with our dialogue."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/68133

MEANWHILE, SOME SEEK TO PUBLICIZE PERCEIVED DIVISIONS IN IRAN:
http://www.themilitant.com/2007/7124/712402.html


================================
WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
================================