Have a Little Faith

There have been some interesting developments on the international political scene in the last couple days. Namely, two key stories give me hope for progress in the future. The first is the failure of Hugo Chavez to guarantee President for life status. The second is the startling admission of a mistake by the Bush administration.

Hugo Chavez is a pompous ass who has been vilified by the Bush administration into some kind of South American Saddam Hussein. The truth of his position is far less threatening to America, yet still counterproductive for the Venezuelan people. Simply put, his concern with his own personal image and power, especially through antagonizing America, has overshadowed the positive reform promises that allowed him to take power in the first place. Most recently, he attempted to pass a constitutional revision that would negate the need for him to run for reelection and convert Venezuela into a socialist state. Surprisingly, the measure failed a popular vote. Even more surprising was the grace with which Chavez accepted this decision. There is no guarantee that he will leave power as gracefully, and he still controls most of the power structure in the country, but his gesture of respect for a democratic decision is hopeful for the future.

As for the Bush administrations pronouncement that the Iranian nuclear weapons program has been inactive since 2003, I am honestly shocked. No, I'm not shocked that Iran isn't building nuclear weapons, I've been claiming that for years. What surprised me was that the Bush crowd would allow a report to be released from inside their administration that clearly countermands the fear-mongering rhetoric of the last half decade. Only weeks ago Cheney was still spewing bullshit about the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. And now a National Intelligence Estimate (based on the consensus of ALL of the US's intelligence agencies) says that not only is Iran not building a nuclear device, but they most likely would be unable to build one until midway through the next decade!!! Ok, a round of applause for the intelligence community publishing something intelligent. And another round of applause for Bush's teams honesty on this one. One can only hope that this is the beginning of a new look at our relations with Iran.

While I'm on that topic, I have a bone to pick. Why is Iran our enemy and Saudi Arabia our friend? Don't get me wrong, I know all about the Iranian hostage crisis, the squabbles between Iran and Israel, and all the rest. But think about it. Iran is a quasi-democratic state that respects human rights, for the most part but we're no angel ourselves, and possesses huge supplies of oil. The issue with Israel could be resolved through concerted diplomatic efforts and they would be a valuable ally in a geostrategic position. Ok, so their President is an idiot (really, no gays in Iran?) but most of his rhetoric is designed to get attention and nothing more. Even his 'Holocaust denying' is BS that is not reflective of the true beliefs of the country. But Iran is our enemy, a key spoke in the terrifying Axis of Evil. And don't tell me that we haven't had a precedent for forgetting slights from other countries. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is our best buddy. They are horrifyingly non-democratic, some of the worst human rights abusers on Earth, even more antagonistic to environmental issues than we are, and among a list of other problems, just recently decided to lash a woman after she was raped. Brilliant. What's the price of this friendship? Oil. Same as Iran could offer. Call me crazy, but I'd like to see a reevaluation of our system of choosing allies and enemies.

Oh, and on a final note, kudos to the President of Sudan for pardoning Gillian Gibbons. I never thought I'd be happy with a decision made by Omar al-Bashir, but its always encouraging to see a leader admit a gaff. Sudan should be embarrassed by that entire situation. I know that she never should have been charged, but for Bashir to contradict the law would have been to dangerous in an already tumultuous country. A pardon was the right move, if not the answer to the larger problem.