The U.S. made a mistake in openly working to block Venezuela’s effort to be on the UN Security Council in 2006.

 

Let's face it… the Bush administration's attempts at major negotiations have failed. Iran and North Korea are moving forward with their nuclear ambitions, Lebanon has still not returned 2 Israeli soldiers, we've actually rewarded India for developing nuclear weapons, Iraq is a quagmire, Sudan is a terrible genocide, the Kyoto treaty is non-existent, and the Doha talks have fallen apart. Fine, fine work by "the Decider." This diplomatic failure is not only embarrassing, but also troublesome. And the failure to work with Venezuela, and compromise with Chavez, is yet another problematic embarrassment.

 

There are two major impacts to Panama's rise to the UN Security Council. First is obviously oil. Spending on renewable/eco-friendly resources has dropped in both the corporate and governmental arenas, and we continue to be reliant on oil from places that are at best troublesome and at worst oppressive. Venezuela is admittedly shaky on human rights and Chavez's tactics are questionable. However, American cooperation could force change if, and only if, we had some foreign policy fingerprints on their economic decisions. We don't and our belligerence towards Chavez has allowed us and our ideals/policies to become demonized by the Chavez administration. If we openly traded with Venezuela, and allowed them some token significance, our influence could stabilize human rights in the region while allowing us to get our precious black gold, significantly minimizing dealings with the Iran's and Saudi Arabia's of the world.

 

Finally, and what I consider to be most problematic, are Chavez's moves to create an actual "Axis of Anti-Americans" empire. Venezuela is now strengthening ties to Iran and Syria (they just agreed to a 1.5 billion dollar pipeline), courting Cuba and Belarus, and also talking with North Korea about possible ventures. We have essentially forced Chavez to the shadow lands of diplomacy. Having Venezuela on the Security Council would at least force Chavez's actions into the light of day and allowed other members of the Security Council to work against his troublesome dealings through some much needed peer pressure… and there would be peer pressure. The spread of South American Socialism is vastly over hyped. Allowing Venezuela a seat, in retrospect, would have been a small price to pay for a watchdog effect. Instead, U.S. policy was once again challenging, belligerent, and overly aggressive. It was almost as if Bush's feelings were hurt by Chavez’s "devil was here" remarks. And it’s too bad: as a former owner of the Texas Rangers, you would have thought Bush learned there is no crying in politics.