http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6560197.stm
Any thoughts about Chavez change of policy on the sugar/fuel projects ?
A chavez topic
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6560197.stm
Any thoughts about Chavez change of policy on the sugar/fuel projects ?
Re: A chavez topic
Self interest. He wants to be the big player in South America, with de facto control with the oil pipeline. Ethanol / biofuels takes away his lead, giving it more to Brazil.
Plus he needs the high oil prices.
An enemy that wishes to die for their country is the best sort to face - you both have the same aim in mind.
Science flies you to the moon, religion flies you into buildings.
"If you can't trust the local kleptocrat whom you installed by force and prop up with billions of annual dollars, who can you trust?" Lemur
If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.
The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter. Winston Churchill
Re: A chavez topic
Well said rory. i would like to add one more item. Brazil has a development accord with the U.S. for the biofuels (I dont know the specs of the agreement). I think all the things you said are true, with that one little thorn thrown in there, chavez truly is anti american and wants an independent bloc of south american countries outside the sphere of U.S. influence.Originally Posted by rory_20_uk
Self interest. He wants to be the big player in South America, with de facto control with the oil pipeline. Ethanol / biofuels takes away his lead, giving it more to Brazil.
Plus he needs the high oil prices.
apparantly Brazil didnt get the memo
There are few things more annoying than some idiot who has never done anything trying to say definitively how something should be done.
Sua Sponte
Re: A chavez topic
yep , though the change in policy is more to do with someone else entering the equation .Self interest. He wants to be the big player in South America, with de facto control with the oil pipeline.
If that were so then how was the old deal being done , the old policy involved Venezuelan investment in Brazilian State owned and private sugar/ethanol companies and those same Brazilian companies investing and developing Venezuelas sugar/ethanol industry .. Ethanol / biofuels takes away his lead, giving it more to Brazil.
It cannot be the .....the use of ethanol as a biofuel would use up valuable arable land and increase food prices....line either as Venezuela cannot produce sufficient sugar for its domestic market , and hasn't been able to for many decades , that is being dealt with by the modernisation of the carribean sugar industy by Venezuelan investment in return for cheap guaranteed imports .
It would certainly appear that the only reason for his change in policy is the US involvement .
Re: A chavez topic
So far this seems likely to be the best explanation.
Sad, really. It's not a wise basis for policy in realpolitik terms, and given our propensity for tossing out administrations after no more than 12 years, it doesn't even speak to securing a means of influencing U.S. policy over the long haul -- vindictiveness against one U.S. admin does not mean winning points with the successors, and even if it did, the successorts are only there for so long anyway.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Re: A chavez topic
Quoted for the truth. Little else matters to that man more then having a pissing contest with the USA. Not to mention that higher uses of ethanol would lower their profits, two birds with one stone and all.Brazil recently signed an alliance with the US to promote ethanol production.
Wine is a bit different, as I am sure even kids will like it.
"Hilary Clinton is the devil"BigTex
~Texas proverb
Re: A chavez topic
Realpolitik.
Dare I say it, the same kind of realpolitik Bush underwent when agreeing the ethanol agreement with Brazil in the first place.
It is politics after all.
GARCIN: I "dreamt," you say. It was no dream. When I chose the hardest path, I made my choice deliberately. A man is what he wills himself to be.
INEZ: Prove it. Prove it was no dream. It's what one does, and nothing else, that shows the stuff one's made of.
GARCIN: I died too soon. I wasn't allowed time to - to do my deeds.
INEZ: One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else.
Jean Paul Sartre - No Exit 1944
Re: A chavez topic
No, really?Venezuela is the region's only member of the oil-producers' cartel Opec and Mr Chavez opposes the use of ethanol.
Who does Venezuela export most of their oil to? Certainly Chavez would be concerned about another country making major alternative fuel deals with the US. Predictably, he wraps up his self-interest in typical anti-American rhetoric.
"Don't believe everything you read online."
-Abraham Lincoln
Re: A chavez topic
I would suspect this is a large part of it:
Brazil recently signed an alliance with the US to promote ethanol production.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks