So today Hugo Chavez has grabbed the headlines away from Ahmadinejad by calling George W. Bush "El Diablo," the Devil. It's the same meme as Ahmadinejad's Great Satan.

Chavez is a clown with an inferiority complex. By himself he is no more than a one—day headline. His purchase of jet planes from Russia hurts Venezuela, and only props up his own ego. It poses no real danger to the United States. Maybe those jets could be used as target practice for the US Air Force.

The problem is that the UN is simply filled with Clowns with Inferiority Complexes. Ahmadinejad is the most threatening right now, and he really will have nukes in a couple of years. Chavez is a loudmouth, but Ahmadinejad is a true fanatic with years of experience sending others to martyrdom: He just sent 500 Hezbollah guerrilas to Paradise. While the Israelis mourn their dead, Hezbollah is afraid of not being allowed to sacrifice some more of their martyrs, as long as they kill others in the process. These guys are clowns, and their inferiority complexes are plain to see. They just take it one crucial step beyond the Chavez—type loudmouths.

Europe is suffering from a massive inferiority complex. That is why they constantly incite hatred against the United States — and only slightly more nuanced — against the Jews. French candidate for president Sarkozy is currently under media attack for saying nice things about America.

The French feel persecuted by the success of the "Anglosaxons," never mind how many times we save their sorry hides. As for the Arab world, it is one great psychic wound of dripping inferiority feelings. And the Left around the world consists of people who think they are driven by compassion for others, and are in fact motivated by self—pity. Their inferiority feelings are what drives them to hate their own country with such venom.

So Hugo Chavez is a one—day story, but add his resentment and hatred to Europe's, the Arab world's, the International Left, and freako Ahmadinejad, and we've got a problem.

One answer is to take their words more seriously. If Venezuela wants to shaft the US, we really don't have to treat them well. They need to sell their oil, it's a fungible commodity, there are lots of suppliers. It would sure help if we could tap our own supplies more freely, but the price is already coming down. That means Chavez and his ilk have no monopoly power. Let's slap him down as an example, "pour encourager les autres." It doesn't have to be public. Just treat Venezuelan diplomats with the contempt their leader has earned for them.

The news will get around. Because we believe in free speech, we are the only imaginable superpower that allows itself to be treated with contempt. But there has to be a limit.

Let's make Hugo the first to feel the consequences.

James Lewis   9 20 06