He inhabits the Axis of El Vil and wants very badly to get a promotion to the Axis of Evil.
But unless he seriously does something to harm us, we can't afford to deal with him. We have more serious problems than some loony tinpot budding dictator who lacks the cojones to actually do anything to harm us.
Like I wrote some time ago, ignore him and he'll alienate his own people:
So while Chavez will continue to puff up and "defy" the United States, we should go about our business and pay him no mind. Say nice things in public about Venezuelans in general. Ignore Hugo as much as possible. And encourage NGOs, the EU, and the UN to support civic institutions inside Venezuala. This is one state that we can afford to take the time to encourage an Insert-Your-Color-Here Revolution.
Let him rant. Let's not make him a hero in Latin America by reacting to his bluster. We aren't about to devote 200,000 troops and five years to take him out so let's not even pretend we might or start issuing threats. In the end, we'd have to back down and give Hugo a victory.
We have real problems to deal with, remember? Just smile and nod at the crazy man and keep walking by him.
Strategypage has long argued for the same thing and still does:
Two things keep Chavez in power, his promises of "pie in the sky" to the country's poverty-stricken masses and his ultra-nationalist anti-Americanism. Sooner or later the message that the U.S. is behind all of Venezuela's problems will begin wearing thin, particularly as Chavez spends more and more money of weapons procurement and buying influence abroad. This will certainly lead to internal problems, which will spark increased police state measures. These, in turn, will only create more discontent. The optimal American policy toward Chavez should be one of amused indifference, which will probably irk him more than any active measures to unseat him.
Even as Chavez impoverishes his own people, the Venezuelan oil company Citgo sells gas a bit cheaper, it seems, than other companies. And Hugo goes around selling cut-rate oil to poor Americans to reap political gains here.
Actually, we in America should probably help out. So how about we take a page out of the idiotic "we're sorry" movement and have Americans wearing tuxedos and fur coats filling up their big SUVs at the local Citgo and holding signs thanking the Venezuelan people for their generosity.
Somebody out there should set up a site to collect them!
And our government should pay for advertisements in Venezuelan publications and on TV and radio thanking the people of Venezuela for their generosity to America!
