The Null Device

The scarily left-wing regime in Venezuela is tipped as a hot candidate for next target in the War On Terrorism after Iraq is knocked over; and now we have a convenient pretext: Venezuelan national arrested at Gatwick with grenade. Clearly this shows that we must now crack down on Venezuelan terrorism just like we did on Chilean terrorism in 1972.

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Hugo Chavez, leftist president of oil-rich Venezuela, No Logo anti-globalist posterboy and target of an unsuccessful (and some say US-organised) coup last year, gave US$1M to al-Qaeda shortly after September 11. Chavez is also trying to turn his country into another Cuban-style dictatorship, suspending elections and ordering troops to fire on pro-democracy protestors. Or so says a "high-ranked military defector". The truth or a convenient pretext for toppling an irksome left-wing populist regime? (Didn't they say similar things about Allende?)

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