$2 Billion Fund for Investment or Fudning Anti-US Milita?

The Latin American Tour of The Mighty Mouse (Ahmadinejad)





The Mighty Mouse started with Venezuela, then Nicaragua. His next stop is Ecuador (he is in Ecuador today) -- and he will also visit Bolivia. This cooperation ventures are all about fighting the "Great Satan". It's quite frightening that Iran is building allies as far as Nicaragua. Managua capital of Nicaragua is only 1449 miles (2332 km) from Austin, Texas. Let's put it another way, Managua is closer to Dallas, than Dallas is to Washington DC!

...The leaders announced they would open embassies in each other's capitals, strengthening ties between two countries that have had little interaction, yet share long and troubled histories with the United States.

Their paths crossed in the 1980s during the Iran-Contra affair, in which the United States secretly sold arms to Iran to free American hostages, then used some of the proceeds to back Contra rebels who fought Ortega's first, Soviet-backed government.
"Our two countries have common interests, enemies, and goals," Ahmadinejad said. "We may be far apart, but we are close in heart."

"The imperialists don't like us to help you progress and develop. They don't like us to get rid of poverty and unite people," Ahmadinejad said. "Iran, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and other revolutionary countries are together and we will resist together."

Ortega and Ahmadinejad later were to sign a cooperation agreement.
Today, the Iranian leader is to attend the inauguration of Ecuador's new president, Rafael Correa, and meet with Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, both outspoken critics of the Bush administration's policies in Latin America.

Venezuela and Iran, both oil-rich nations, had previously announced plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in their own countries, but Chavez and Ahmadinejad said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in other friendly countries.

UPDATE:

Paris, 14 Jan (IPS):In a desperate attempt aimed at creating a new international anti-American front, the Iranian fanatical President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad and his populist “brother” Hugo Chavez of Venezuela decided Saturday 13 January 2007 the creation of a 2 billions US Dollars fund to help poor nations of Latin America and Africa to “liberate” themselves from the US “imperialist yoke”.

"This fund, my brother", the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadi Nezhad, "will become a mechanism for liberation".

The Iranian President described it a "very important" decision that would help promote "joint cooperation in third countries", especially in Latin America and Africa.

However, the trip, which took Mr. Ahmadi Nezhad to Managua and Quito, where he also met with the Bolivian leader Evo Morales, became subject of ferocious criticism at home and satirical articles abroad.

“Our president goes to the festivities of the Latin Americans at a time that, in order to mobilize nations against the Islamic Republic, the American Foreign Affairs Minister comes to the region”, wrote Iran’s veteran satirical journalist Ebrahim Nabavi.

“Is there anyone to ask this gentleman does the entire trade with some of the poorest nations in the world equal the cost of the trip to Latin America? What are our bounds with Venezuela, Nicaragua or Ecuador and Bolivia? Are we neighbours? Do we share same faith? Do we have important trade exchange? What is the motive for such a trip for the president of a country facing international sanctions and military threats, if not Ahmadi Nezhad’s (and not the Islamic Republic) personal egocentrism?”, he wrote in the Farsi-language, pro-reforms internet newspaper Rouz.

Response to Rouz: He is not there for trade. The Might Mouse is there to establish Hizballah-like Militia and create a state within a state like they did in Lebanon. Venzuela is home to millions of Shi'ites of Arab descent. The NewsHour has more in-depth analysis of Chavez cozying up to Ahmadinejad. I've excerpted a few lines but it's worth reading it in full:

MARGARET WARNER: Michael Shifter, what is the theory behind this that he is pursuing, in terms of nationalizing these companies? What does it actually do for either the people of Venezuela or the economy of Venezuela if he takes over, say, the phone and the electric companies, which were only fairly recently privatized?
MICHAEL SHIFTER: Right, right. Well, I think the principal motivation, again, is political. I think it's hard to find an economic rationale. He wants to assert the sovereignty of Venezuela. That's a very big part of what he's all about, of what he's trying to push. He feels that the Venezuelans need to own their own industries.