Works Cited
"World's Most Dangerous Leaders : Hugo Chávez Your America Reader's Digest." Readers Digest. Web. 11 Sept. 2009.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Hugo Chavez- Melissa Incera
In my opinion, Hugo Chavez is currently the most dangerous leader in the world. He came into power as president of Venezuela in 1998, and has set himself a rather active agenda that he is avid to complete. His power in Venezuela alone is enough to compete with the big players in today’s world. He has complete control over the judicial system, Parliament and trade. His true danger lies in the resources he has in his possession. Venezuela provides a good deal of oil, not just to the US but around the world. In fact, the United States consumes 50% of Venezuelan oil. If this was to get cut off, the United States, in particular would suffer a great deal. Chavez has also made some valuable, but dangerous friends in the international world. Fidel Castro, Sandinista Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales of Bolivia are the most prominent of his Latin American allies. His assistance in helping them to gain power has indebted them to him, and they happen to share a lot of the same ideologies including a hatred of America. He has also demonstrated his loyalty to Bashar al-Assad and his support for Hamas, a group involved in terrorist actions in Isreal. New ties with North Korea have also been recently developed keeping him in touch with Kim Jung Il, who as the world knows, has nuclear weapons readily available. Most important are his ties with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his promise “to stand by Iran anytime and under any condition”. He is characterized by his hatred of the United States. After George Bush made a statement at a UN General Assembly meeting he proclaimed the next day, “the devil came here.” He has reinforced this passion by his selection in other anti-American allies. His influence in the Latin American countries especially only fuels these un-American sentiments and hatreds. Though he does not have nuclear weapons in his possession as far as the world knows, his selection of allies would ensure that he could rely on assistance if he ever decided to front a true attack. Though it seems he seems to be a threat only to American interests; that is not the case. If Chavez were to initiate an attack or to prevent oil from getting to the US, many more countries would soon be involved. This would bring very dangerous players into the game, such as Iran and North Korea and others still would rise to the US’s defense. Chavez has no intentions of giving up his power in Venezuela. If all continues as it has been, Chavez could rule the country as long as he pleases. This would allow for even more dangerous connections and resources to be acquired.
Works Cited
"World's Most Dangerous Leaders : Hugo Chávez Your America Reader's Digest." Readers Digest. Web. 11 Sept. 2009..
Works Cited
"World's Most Dangerous Leaders : Hugo Chávez Your America Reader's Digest." Readers Digest. Web. 11 Sept. 2009.
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He is unpredictable that's for sure. He said the other day he would recognize South Ossetia and Abkazia's independence--does this suggest he is willing to be reasonable if it suits his needs?
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Melissa that Hugo Chavez is the most dangerous leader in the world today. It is true that he is the most threatening to the United States, but that also makes him a huge threat to the whole world because the U.S. is one of the leading countries of the world. As Melissa said, after a speech by George Bush he said: ““Yesterday," he intoned, "the devil came here. Right here." He made the sign of the cross, then added, "And it smells of sulfur still today."”[1] That quote alone is enough to send chills down my spine. If a man of that much power has so much hate towards the president of the United States, who knows what damage he could cause to the U.S. and the entire world? Chavez makes a point to form alliances with enemies of the U.S. What could his intentions be in doing that? After his election in 1998, Chavez changed the governing of Venezuela from consensus to confrontation. He even had his constitution rewritten just to strengthen all of his powers. “In August 2004, the president survived a recall vote by padding electoral rolls and intimidating opponents. Now politicians from opposition par ties seem increasingly unwilling to run against him or his candidates.”[2] If other potential leaders are too afraid to stand up to him, what would happen if he began to do even worse things to threaten the safety of the world? Would there be anyone brave enough to stand up to him?
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, I believe that Hugo Chavez has to potential to be the most dangerous leader in the world. It is clear that he has a strong hate towards the United States. Many would argue that although he is a huge threat to the U.S., he is not the most dangerous leader to the entire world. I would argue that if he hates the U.S. so much and forms alliances with enemies of the U.S., he probably is not a very big fan of any countries that are allies of the U.S. or support the U.S. in any way. Therefore he has the potential to be a threat to more than just the U.S. Also any threat to the U.S. is some sort of threat to the world because the U.S. has such a big part in leading the world. Another reason Chavez is the most dangerous leader of the world is that he has already proven to be controlling and intimidating to anyone who has tried to take his power away. I believe Hugo Chavez is the most dangerous leader in the world today and hope he proves me wrong, for the world’s sake.
I do agree that if Hugo Chavez were to gain access to nuclear weapons or cut off oil from Venezuela, that the United States could possibly be greatly effected. However i do not feel that for these reasons he is the most dangerous leader in the world. Coming from the perspective of an American citizen it is easy to feel the threat and potential danger that Chavez could impose on our nation. If the question were which global leader was the most dangerous to the United States i might agree that Chavez is the most dangerous. However since the question is which leader is the most dangerous in the world, i would disagree because Chavez does not pose an imminent threat to the rest of the world. Chavez unlike Iran's Ahmadinejad and North Korea's Kim Jung-Il does not have a nuclear weapons program for which at any moment could launch a nuclear attack on any particular country. North Korea however, which withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 in my opinion poses the greatest threat to the world. According to the BBC Kim Jung-Il feels that he remains under military threat from South Korea, and South Korea's allies which mainly include the United States. Along with continued nuclear and missile testing, Kim Jong-Il and the North Korean government has showed a willingness to use these weapons on whoever they deem necessary. "On June 24, in response to reports that U.S. naval forces were tailing a North Korean flagged ship headed to Myanmar, the North Korean government issued a statement saying that if “the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.”' (Issue Brief) This statement alone is enough to strike fear into people and prove that Kim Jong-Il is the most dangerous leader in the world.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
"BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | US ready for N Korea direct talks." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 13 Sept. 2009. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8251950.stm
"Issue Brief: North Korea’s Nuclear Test and its Aftermath: Coping with the Fallout." Nuclear Threat Initiative: Home Page. Web. 13 Sept. 2009. http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_north_korea_nuclear_test.html.
Melissa (and anyone else who said Chavez) is definitely right in stating Hugo Chavez is the most dangerous leader in the world. As Americans, it only makes sense to agree. According to a Reader’s Digest article about the world’s most dangerous leaders, Chavez is a “direct challenge to the United States.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared him one of the most dangerous men in the world. As mentioned in Melissa’s article, oil is an incredibly important import for the United States, and Chavez would want to cut that off, which would a huge blow, considering each day we use create about one and a half million barrels. The article also states, “His goals are a direct challenge to the United States and its allies: to forge alliances with America's foes, including the world's most unsavory regimes and terrorist groups; to undermine U.S influence by leading an anti-American coalition of countries; to spread oil wealth throughout the region to buy support and promote leftist governments; and to build an outsize military, supposedly to resist an American invasion.” This statement in itself is convincing enough because none of the other leaders researched have as strong of plans and desires to tear down America as Chavez does. He also wants to construct a military that overpowers that of the States incase of invasion. If Chavez takes stabs at one of the most established, richest, and advanced countries on the planet, and succeeds, what happens to the rest of the countries?
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