Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Dies
Long time political leader of Hugo Chavez passed away this afternoon. Although being praised by many of his constituents, Chavez had a rocky relationship with foreign nations, including the US when he referred to George W. Bush as "the devil" multiple times during a UN speech made several years ago. Chavez' death opens up a possible opportunity for the US to strengthen relations with Venezuela and then possibly Cuba, an ally of Venezuela. It should also be noted that despite having an antagonistic relationship with the US, Venezuela is one of the leading exporters of oil to the US.
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I think this is a great idea, but also a bad one. I really see no reason to way we should just make allies with them for oil. I am getting tired of relying on other countries for oil and I hate knowing that we are restricted to staying partners with certain countries because of oil. Let's be real here, we have the ability to make cars run with out gas, so why don't we sell them? Before I get into a deep ordeal about that, I think this death maybe a good thing. If the people are not brain washed to hate Mr. Obama, I think it would be nice to have another country as an ally.
ReplyDeleteThis can either be a great victory or a disaster for both Venezuela and the U.S. If we can bring true democracy to Venezuela and make them a democratic ally that would be great. That would also set a president for many other countries such as Europe to do the same. The problem is that this is a very sensitive situation and we could end up worsening our ties with Venezuela and Cuba. I do however think that President Obama and Secretary Kerry will do a job in handling this situation. (As long as Congress does not get involved)
ReplyDeleteAubrey you make a good point that we should invest in greener and eventually gas independent cars. The problem is that no one, and now not even the government due to the sequester, wants to or can't invest in that. The problem is that the car companies are all buddy buddy with the oil companies and so whenever the car companies heavily invest in greener and even god forbid gas dependent cars, the oil companies "get mad" at them.
I personally fail to believe my BMW would be as fun if I had to plug it in every night, but that's just me and my love of driving everywhere 60 mph.
ReplyDeleteAs Sebastian stated, this could either go super well or absolutely horrendously. If the US is able to strengthen relations with Venezuela for real then waahoo we have another ally (and yes another potential source of oil). If not we have another country that hates us and we're even further from having a better relationship with Cuba.
Honestly a new US-friendly government in Venezuela would be great, but it probably wouldn't affect our oil trade whatsoever. No matter what Chavez called president Bush, he sure didn't turn away our cash when we offered it. It seems like the the Venezuelan government will remain socialist for the next few years or so, but I'm sure it will moderate its policy in the long run now that the cult of personality surrounding Chavez has disintegrated. This can only be a good thing for the millions of poor Venezuelans dealing with shortages and inflation, even if they don't know it yet.
ReplyDeleteWell any kind of U.S friendly government would be nice. I feel that America is the target of a lot of hatred that is extremely unnecessary, but moving on. Yes getting rid of oil for gas in cars would be awesome, bur at the moment, energy alternative cats tend to be extremely costly even if they take away the reliance on gas. One thing is sure though, someone needs to get serious about solving the oil crisis soon or else there is going to be a lot of conflict over it.
ReplyDeleteFrom this, I can really only take away that this is an opportunity. Whether it be an opportunity for the Venezuelan government to make a change or the U.S. government to try to make better relations, it is an opportunity. I hope in the future we will see change in the hostile relationship between us two and maybe with a new man in power it will happen. We will just have to see what the future brings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lauren about viewing this as an opportunity. Just saying that seems unfortunate considering that we are saying that a death would create an opportunity, yet that seems like what it is considering that we don't know what will come from this at the moment. All we can do is wait and see.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great opportunity for both of the countries to create a connection that would help both of the countries in many ways. Oil is a much needed resource for America and it would be great if we could build a connection that would be great. All we can do is wait and see if something happens or not.
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