Israel Matzav

Thuggo Chavez backing off Security Council seat

Captain's Quarters (citing a BBC report) is reporting that Venezuelan strongman Thuggo Chavez is backing off his country's bid for a UN Security Council seat - provided rival Guatemala does the same and a third country gets the seat. Guatemala has already rejected Bolivia - which has close ties to the Chavez regime - as a compromise choice.

The Captain explains what Chavez is thinking:

Well, this came a little more quickly than I would have expected. Chavez has some political problems at home, and probably feels that he has better things to do at the moment than to continue his nose-tweaking of the Bush administration. Chavez may also have decided that his speech at the UN caused too much political damage for Venezuela to win the seat, and further efforts only amplify the embarrassment.

Chavez still wants to control that seat, if possible. He wants Latin America to choose Bolivia, whose government closely aligns itself with Chavez' neo-Castroism. So far, Latin America has no desire to allow Chavez to play kingmaker, especially since he seems rather unstable and threatened at home politically.

The Captain anticipates that Guatemala will agree to quit the race, and says that the smart money is now on Costa Rica. That would be good news for Israel.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:21 PM