Idi Amin Redux
Chavez sets groundwork for crackdown. 
Having previously declared that all who oppose him are “traitors”, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced that if there are any accusations of fraud after the upcoming referendum on granting Chavez an unlimited grip on power, he will retaliate by cutting of oil supplies to the United States.
Such preemptive threats rarely come from anyone other than someone already planning to ensure that the “vote” is rigged to produce the “correct” results. Why be concerned about deterring accusations of fraud if any such accusations could easily be shown to be baseless by transparent, verifiable election procedures? The only likely explanation is that the fix is in and Chavez is trying to ensure that no one will dare to expose it.
Meanwhile, Chavez’ admirers in the United States who complained loudly at at length when some in the Bush administration used “for us or against us” language have remained curiously silent as Chavez invokes similar language. In point of fact, while some have grudgingly acknowledged a debased moral parity between Chavez and the hated Bush and gone out of their way to concoct ways to accuse the American government of “totalitarianism”, they apparently remain free to speak their criticisms of the “dictator” Bush while Chavez’ critics are beaten and shot.
Given his escalating rhetoric, it appears clear that Chavez intends to accelerate his crackdown in the aftermath of his rigged referendum. He believes that the U.S. government can be deterred from responding by threat of an oil embargo during the onset of winter and he has begun a concerted program of equating all dissent as being driven by traitorous loyalty to the United States. We’ve seen this kind of ramp-up towards real totalitarianism before from notorious figures like Idi Amin.
And we have, unfortunately, also seen before the parade of what Stalin called “useful idiots” — Americans who are so obsessed with their domestic political vendettas that they seek to blind themselves and others to the real demons that arise. The movie Last King of Scotland tells the story of one idealistic young man who learned the truth about Amin too late because he allowed himself to be blinded by his sharing of Amin’s dislike for the British. The evidence about Chavez now stares us all in the face. Who will not accept it until it is too late for Venezuela because they share Chavez’ hatred of the United States?
