Saturday, April 18, 2009

Omnifarious Obama...

Obama and ChavezPresident Barack Obama meets Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez again, this time he appears to be saying 'what is this, is he blowing me a kiss?' Click on the first picture to see another image of how many see Obama's moves. In the second photo - note the finger - it's more of a 'What the f... is this?' [AFP Link] They were meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago and although the meeting seemed friendly enough Chavez set the tone when he gave the U.S. President the book "Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina": The Open Veins of Latin America (1971) by Eduardo Galeano. This is the Uruguayan author's best known book and analyzes the (nudge nudge) "brutal exploitation of Latin American resources by the U.S. and European powers. That book, now a classic, was published at the beginning of an especially turbulent period of Latin American history." "By multiplying seldom heard voices, Galeano refutes the official lies that pass for history—his work represents an eloquent, literary incarnation of social justice." [From Scott Witmer's intervew with Galeano: Writer Without Borders.] Chavez gives Obama Galeano's Las Veneas Abiertas de América Latina

Only yesterday Chavez was hosting The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) a leftie fest that was held intentionally to coincide with the two-day Summit of the Americas. They decided the Summit's draft final statement was "insufficient and unacceptable", especially as Cuba was (still) excluded despite Obama wanting to establish "a new beginning" with them. The ALBA statement read, "We contend there's no consensus for adopting that draft statement and we propose an exhaustive debate". In keeping with his normal hyperbole Chavez also said that the first order of discussion in the debate should be how...

"capitalism is bringing about the end of humanity and the planet."

[AFP on Google News][Agency Photos]

Update: a new bestseller is an Open Opus...

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2 comments:

Paul said...

I wish I could read Spanish because the translation of Spanish works into English always read as if written by Borges or Gabriel Garcia Marquez - everything seems to be written as a memory whilst being set in today - see, I can do it as well!

Re the Capitalism quote at the end of your post, will be it Capitalism or man's reluctance to share that brings about the end of days?

Span Ows said...

I imagine it's the same for anyone else trying to understand Shakespeare!

Capitalism is a long way down the list of what's going to be the ned of us all.