Iran-Venezuela Link

Remember back in December my post on Loony Leaders?

Well nevermind - other people like The Wall Street Journal and Varifrank have caught up.

From the WSJ

Details on the Iranian "factories"--beyond a high-profile tractor producer and a widely publicized cement factory--remain sketchy. But what is clear is that the importation of state agents from Hugo-friendly dictatorships hasn't been a positive experience for Venezuelans. Imported Cubans are now applying their "skills" in intelligence and state security networks to the detriment of Venezuelan liberty. It is doubtful that the growing presence of Iranians in "factories" across Venezuela is about boosting plastic widget output. The U.S. intelligence agencies would do well to make a greater effort to find out exactly what projects the Chávez-Ahmadinejad duo really have in mind. Almost certainly, they are up to no good.

From Varifrank

Venezuela and Iran are now close allies, in both name and action. Any action we take against Iran will now very likely cause a reaction by Venezuela in the form of “boycott”. Venezuela and Iran have now decided to use the time honored tool of “trade war” to influence the world and its policies.

There are a lot of possible outcomes to this, but this is not going to end well no matter how it goes.

Loony leaders.
As of today I have updated my position on ANWR. My old position was that until the price of oil became high enough to change people's habits (smaller cars, smaller houses, less travel) then we should not be exploiting our own resources and leave Alaska for later. Once the price went high enough to make other forms of energy worth researching, and conservation a daily practice, all AK would do for us is allow more waste. It's not like we would exploit it and save it for a rainy day. Well that rainy day came before the price went up. Now we need leverage. Exploit away.