Sticks and Stones

Today, Venezuela ramped up the size of the military force on the Colombian border in an effort to show President Uribe of Colombia that President Chavez is tough, and means business. What Chavez didn’t realize is that the world now thinks of him as a posturing, menacing bully who is throwing a tantrum over an issue that is irrelevant to his country.

Chavez claims he acted in the interest of defending Venezuela from potential Colombian incursions, even though the entire episode was conducted in a jungle along the Colombian and Ecuadorian border, a jungle which does not have a line cutting through it and is totally lacking in border security, much to the chagrin of Colombia because Ecuador harbours FARC terrorists who move freely across the Amazon into Colombia. The real reason for this audacious force deployment is sheer braggadocio. And it comes at a time when the famously socialist politics of South America lacks a clear, distinct leader.

CIA’s World Factbook reveals that Colombia’s armed forced are technologically and numerically superior to Venezuela’s military, which makes Chavez’s posturing breathtakingly stupid. Not only is he endangering the lives of his soldiers, he is ruffling up South American politics needlessly. At a time when the continent needs to build on its successes and work out several current issues, including deforestation in Brazil, Argentina’s energy problems, and growing political tensions, Chavez’s foolhardy actions distract the the leaders of South America from addressing the real issues they face.

With Fidel Castro gone as the figurehead of South American politics, Hugo Chavez is attempting to step up into the now vacated position. To do this he needs a scapegoat, preferably one easily denounced for differing from the socialist norm popular across the continent. He needs a scapegoat that is successful despite choosing not to act in accordance with Fidel Castro. He needs a scapegoat with friendly relations with his enemies.

He needs Colombia, a nation struggling to combat vicious and illegal terrorism from FARC, a nation expertly steered by an internationally lauded Harvard-educated President towards successful democracy and capitalism. He needs to vilify Colombia, to threaten it with unfeasible military action, so as to cement his role as the figurehead of socialist South America. To do so, he will trample all over Colombia, he will denounce it as an American ally (which in South America appears to be a bad thing, as it is for Israel in the eyes of nearly all of the Middle East), and he will work to undermine its successes.

Reyes was a vicious terrorist whose actions within FARC threatened the safety of Colombians. It seems entirely irrelevant to Chavez that the assassination of Reyes was a very good thing. But for Chavez, who illegally supported FARC in its efforts to overthrow the legitimate government of Colombia, the assassination of Reyes was not a good thing, because the operation led to the discovery of a laptop linking Chavez directly to FARC.

As Fidel Castro exits, a new demon enters: Hugo Chavez. Venezuela’s rejection of his constitutional alterations is one hopeful sign. All of us at Sticks and Stones want to see more hopeful signs from democratic Venezuela, before Chavez eradicates democracy itself.

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We were delighted with the recent declaration of independence by the fledgling nation of Kosovo, and glad that the major European countries and the US lost little time in recognising it. The reactionary reaction from the Serbs was as predictable as it is contemptible (strange how all of a sudden Serbia is so interested in international law, isn’t it?), especially with recent announcements that display a certain childishness inappropriate to international discourse. The idea of a democratic pro-Western moderate Islamic European (says their declaration: “we believe our future lies with the European family”) country is a promising one to say the least.

One country, however, that has conspicuously failed to recognise Kosovo is another young state, whose declaration of independence was met with even worse threats and acts of violence: Israel. It is not hard to see why this might be from a political angle. Supporting Kosovo would alienate Russia, whom Israel has been trying to court as part of their bid to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear, though I personally don’t see that bearing fruit. Nor does it want to create a precedent whereby disputed peoples declare independence unilaterally, as the Palestinians have thought of doing in the past, while in the middle of peace negotiations - indeed, the comparison has been made.

This is the wrong attitude to take, for several reasons. For one thing, the above reasons are deeply flawed: Russia has never been a friend to Israel, and certainly isn’t on their side when it comes to Iran; and Abbas knows better than to declare independence not only when major powers will not recognise it, but when he has a willing partner in negotiations, which was not the case with Serbia. Rather, Israel should display camaraderie with its true friends, which includes Kosovo.

Hashim Thaçi, Kosovar prime minister, recently revealed the following to JTA: “I love Israel. What a great country. Kosovo is a friend of Israel. I met so many great leaders when I was there—Netanyahu, Sharon — I really admire them.” If nothing else, it seems exceedingly churlish and cynical for Israel to act in the way that it has.

But even from a political standpoint, a friendly Muslim state in SE Europe can hardly be a bad thing. Israel should not only be rushing to support such an effusive admirer, but should, along with Jews all over the world, be pouring investment into Kosovo to capitalise on this unique opportunity to improve Islamo-Jewish international relations. Kosovo has not forgotten Israel’s generosity, both in terms of aid and support during the crisis at the end of the last millennium, and nor should Jerusalem.

Israel would do well, as it approaches its 60th anniversary, to think back to the days of its own newly-declared independence. If Jews needed a Jewish state back then, how much more do they need a friendly Muslim one today?

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