[Peace-discussion] The Wall Street Journal and Venezuela's Audacity

Sat, 5 May 2007 02:54:13 -0500

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The Wall Street Journal and Venezuela's Audacity

By: Stephen Lendman
Venezuelanalysis.com
Friday, May 04, 2007

The Wall Street Journal's main Hugo Chavez antagonist is its self-styled
Latin American "expert" Mary Anastasia O'Grady who makes up for in
imagination and vitriol what she lacks in knowledge and journalistic
integrity. She, however, wasn't assigned to write the May 1 Journal attack
piece reporters David Luhnow in Mexico City and Peter Millard in Caracas got
to do titled "How Chavez Aims to Weaken US." Of course, when it comes to
Venezuela, the issue is oil and Chavez's having the "audacity" to want his
people to benefit most from their own resources, not predatory foreign oil
companies the way it used to be when the country's leadership only served
the interests of capital ignoring essential social needs. No longer.

Chavez, of course, announced months ago his government would complete
renationalizating his country's oil reserves when state oil company PDVSA
became the majority shareholder May 1 in four Orinoco River basin oil
projects with a minimum 60% ownership in joint ventures with foreign
partners. The plan was broadly denounced in the US major media with Journal
columnist O'Grady writing April 16 "Chavez (was) brimming with bravado as he
shredded (the) oil contracts (telling) foreigners to step aside because he's
in charge now (but the move will likely) end up hitting the 'commandante of
the revolution' in the pocketbook (because of) corruption, incompetence and
mismanagement" meaning Venezuela will now run all its own oil operations and
forge its own future, not Big Oil O'Grady wants sole right to do it. No
longer indeed, and O'Grady's not pleased. She's also dead wrong in her
outlook for Venezuela's oil future run by PDVSA with foreign partners, but
don't ever expect her to admit it.

So is the New York Times agreeing April 10 with O'Grady and other corporate
media Big Oil cheerleaders. The Times used charged language condemning
Chavez's "revolutionary flourish (and his) ambitious (plan to) wrest control
of several major oil projects from American and European companies (with a)
showdown (ahead for these) coveted energy resources...." The Times went on
to claim this action would undermine Venezuela's growth hinting Big Oil's
threat to leave might get Chavez to back down enough to get them to stay. It
never happened as this writer suggested April 12 in an article titled "Wall
Street Journal and New York Times Attack journalism." The article made it
clear oil exploration and production in Venezuela is so profitable that even
with a smaller share of the profits US, European and other Big Oil investors
wouldn't dream of leaving. Whine plenty, leave, not likely, and now we know
they won't.

AP's Natalie Obiko Pearson reported April 26 that "Four major oil companies
(stopped whining April 25

and) agreed to cede control of Venezuela's last remaining (majority-owned)
privately run oil projects to President Hugo Chavez's government" with
ConocoPhillips coming around May 1 showing it, too, was all bark and no
bite. Those agreeing through signed memorandums of understanding were
Chevron,

BP(Amoco) PLC, France's Total SA, Norway's Statoil ASA, ConocoPhillips, and
with most antagonistic of all to the idea ExxonMobil finally doing it
privately as was almost certain to happen and then did.

AP reported ConocoPhillips has the most Orinoco basin exposure in two of
four projects, Ameriven and Petrozuata with a (former) 50.1% stake in the
latter.

It was inconceivable the company would abandon them, and on May 1 it
announced it would stay on. The one remaining issue to be resolved is
compensation with foreign investors having until June 26 to negotiate terms
for their reduced stakes. Expect more Big Oil whining followed by
capitulation again to Venezuelan Energy Ministry's expected offer of fair
and equitable takeover terms.

On April 26, PDVSA's web site reported a total of 10 foreign oil companies
agreed to transfer majority control of their "Oil Belt" operations to the
state-run oil company. Further, the company expects to achieve a daily
capacity of 5.85 million barrels in 2012 and said its January 1 taking
control of 32 oil fields will advance the country "toward full national
sovereignty over (its) natural energy reserves."

In response to these actions, and on the day it took effect, the Journal
went on the attack again with more ahead certain to be as false and
misleading. Its writers called Chavez a "self-proclaimed Maoist (wanting to)
reshape the global oil business by sidelining the US and making China his
country's chief strategic energy partner" for investment and export.

The Journal also accused Chavez of using "oil as a political weapon" since
taking office in 1999 offering discounted oil "to dozens of Latin American
countries" as his weapon of choice plus forging alliances with US "economic
rivals like China and political rivals like Iran."

Hugo Chavez, in fact, is a self-proclaimed social democrat charting his own
independent course toward progressive "21st century socialism" along the
lines Latin American expert James Petras calls the "pragmatic left" in
contrast to the more "radical left" of Colombia's FARC guerrillas; elements
of "teachers and peasant-indigenous movements in Oaxaca, Guerrero and
Chiapas in Mexico;" many "small Marxist groups in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
and elsewhere;" and Venezuela's "peasant and barrio movements," among
others. Other Latin American leaders Petras calls "pragmatic" leftists
include Bolivia's Evo Morales, Cuba's Castro and many "large electoral
parties and major peasant and trade unions in Central and South America"
including Mexico's PRD party, El Salvador's FMLN, Chile's Communist Party,
"the majority in Peruvian (Ollanta) Humala's parliamentary party;" and
others including "the great majority of left Latin American intellectuals."

Unlike what the Wall Street Journal and rest of the US corporate media
report or imply, Chavez and others on the "pragmatic left" aren't aiming to
destroy capitalism, just tame it. They also plan no wholesale renunciation
of accumulated IMF, World Bank and other international lending agency debt,
only calling for it to be on more equitable terms; restructuring it to make
their nations' debt burden fair; and aiming to become free from its
repressive yoke as Venezuela did paying it off completely with Chavez
announcing May 1 his country is pulling out of the IMF and World Bank,
formally breaking free from the kind of debt slavery these institutions
impose on countries they lend to guaranteeing their people continued
impoverishment.

It's an important move that may encourage other countries to follow as
Ecuador's President Raphael Correa already did ousting the country's World
Bank representative saying "we will not stand for extortion by this
international bureaucracy." Look for more IMF-World Bank resentment to
surface ahead as Chavez's and Correa's courage may embolden other leaders to
move in the same direction or at least begin by openly voicing public
discontent as a first step to possible policy change to follow.

Hugo Chavez offers them a new choice having announced in March he intends
creating a Bank of the South social democratic alternative to the repressive
neoliberal Washington Consensus IMF-World Bank model.

So far Bolivia and Argentina have agreed to be part of it with Chavez hoping
other Latin countries will join as well by contributing 10% of their capital
reserves for this enterprise he hopes will be operating by summer.

Additional parts of Chavez's plan involve forging stronger ties to other oil
importing nations like China to reduce Venezuela's dependency on a hostile
US. He also announced April 29 the nation hopes to gradually sell its seven
US-based Citgo refineries replacing them with a new Latin American-based
network in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Dominica.

It's part of his plan to provide the region a stable oil supply and 100% of
the energy needs for Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) members and Haiti.

He further offers discounted oil to Latin American and other nations, not to
buy support as the Journal claims, but to build progressive ALBA trade and
other good neighbor alliances with regional nations the opposite of
WTO-style Global North exploitive one-way deals. The Fifth ALBA Summit held
in Barquisimeto, Venezuela just ended April 29 at which heads of state from
Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti signed strategic ALBA
agreements with delegations from Ecuador, Uruguay, Dominique and St. Vincent
and the Grenadines also attending along with social movements from other
states.

Chavez aims for more than just fair and equitable trade and other
commercial, industrial and energy deals, and Summit leaders made progress
toward them.

They agreed to alliances in ALBA Education, Health, Culture, Food, and
Telecommunications that may ahead extend Venezuela's and Cuba's social
agenda to other ALBA countries and Haiti.

The May 1 Wall Street Journal article says "Chavez wants to replace the US
as Venezuela's main partner and client in the oil business (and) The big
winner could be (big, bad US rival) China" that spells bad news for
Washington and Big Oil. It continued saying the country has the largest
proved reserves outside the Middle East, and if Chavez succeeds he'll force
the US to be even more dependent on that volatile region than it already is.
Further, Journal writers take aim at PDVSA demeaning it as a state-run
company claiming it has "little focus" because Chavez turned it into a
"poverty-alleviation ministry." As a result, the Journal says it became
inefficient and its production fell from 3.1 million barrels a day when
Chavez first took office in 1999 to 2.4 million barrels a day now according
to US government Energy Information Administration (EIA) figures that look
to have been cooked to bring them down.

They're disputable with differing ones coming from alternate sources
including the 2006 CIA World Factbook listing Venezuela's daily production
at slightly under 3.1 million daily barrels, around the same figure PDVSA
reported then including extra-heavy crude from Orinoco belt production. In
May, 2006, Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Raphael Ramirez
indicated the International Energy Agency (IEA) recognized the nation's
daily oil production at over 3 million daily barrels while the government
reports it now at 3.3 million compared to 2.6 million or less claimed by
international oil analysts and EIA deliberately understating oil output the
way Washington and the West distort everything positive about Venezuela
under Hugo Chavez.

The Bush administration and US corporate media, flacking for Big Oil, is all
over Hugo Chavez with the Journal's May Day article staying true to form. It
ends saying Venezuela "was historically one of the US's most reliable energy
allies" pumping all out to guarantee America a steady supply when it was
most needed as it did in WW II, the 1973 Arab oil embargo and the 1991 Gulf
war. It then blamed Chavez for changing that instead of reporting Washington
was at fault for soured relations that hit rock bottom during the aborted
two-day April, 2002 coup against him the Journal can't admit the US
instigated and supported.

All it can say, with a heavy-handed dose of sour grapes, is that "Mixing oil
and politics may not help Mr. Chavez in the long run" as he'll need "private
companies' expertise to develop the heavy crude in the Orinoco region"
without ever conceding he already has it and a long line of takers ready to
step in if any now there foolishly leave. They won't, but don't expect to
see that opinion reported anywhere in the Wall Street Journal as they'd then
have to admit everything they wrote earlier was false and misleading. They
don't have to. You just read it here.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@ <mailto:lendmanstephen%40sbcglobal.net> sbcglobal.net.

http://www.venezuel
<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2030>
analysis.com/articles.php?artno=2030

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<P>The Wall Street Journal and Venezuela's Audacity<BR><BR>By: Stephen=20
Lendman<BR>Venezuelanalysis.<WBR>com<BR>Friday, May 04, 2007<BR><BR>The =
Wall=20
Street Journal's main Hugo Chavez antagonist is its self-styled<BR>Latin =

American "expert" Mary Anastasia O'Grady who makes up for =
in imagination and=20
vitriol what she lacks in knowledge and journalistic integrity. She, =
however,=20
wasn't assigned to write the May 1 Journal attack piece reporters =
David=20
Luhnow in Mexico City and Peter Millard in Caracas got to do titled =
"How=20
Chavez Aims to Weaken US." Of course, when it comes to Venezuela, the =
issue=20
is oil and Chavez's having the "audacity" to want his people to =
benefit most=20
from their own resources, not predatory foreign oil companies the way =
it used=20
to be when the country's leadership only served the interests of =
capital=20
ignoring essential social needs. No longer. Chavez, of course, =
announced=20
months ago his government would complete renationalizating his =
country's oil=20
reserves when state oil company PDVSA became the majority shareholder =
May 1=20
in four Orinoco River basin oil projects with a minimum 60% ownership =
in=20
joint ventures with foreign partners. The plan was broadly denounced =
in the=20
US major media with Journal columnist O'Grady writing April 16 =
"Chavez (was)=20
brimming with bravado as he shredded (the) oil contracts (telling) =
foreigners=20
to step aside because he's in charge now (but the move will likely) =
end up=20
hitting the 'commandante of the revolution' in the pocketbook =
(because of)=20
corruption, incompetence and mismanagement" meaning Venezuela will =
now run=20
all its own oil operations and forge its own future, not Big Oil =
O'Grady=20
wants sole right to do it. No longer indeed, and O'Grady's not =
pleased. She's=20
also dead wrong in her outlook for Venezuela's oil future run by =
PDVSA with=20
foreign partners, but don't ever expect her to admit it. So is =
the New=20
York Times agreeing April 10 with O'Grady and other corporate media =
Big Oil=20
cheerleaders. The Times used charged language condemning Chavez's=20
"revolutionary flourish (and his) ambitious (plan to) wrest =
control of=20
several major oil projects from American and European companies (with=20
a) showdown (ahead for these) coveted energy resources...." The =
Times=20
went on to claim this action would undermine Venezuela's growth =
hinting Big=20
Oil's threat to leave might get Chavez to back down enough to get =
them to=20
stay. It never happened as this writer suggested April 12 in an =
article=20
titled "Wall Street Journal and New York Times Attack journalism." =
The=20
article made it clear oil exploration and production in Venezuela is =
so=20
profitable that even with a smaller share of the profits US, European =
and=20
other Big Oil investors wouldn't dream of leaving. Whine plenty, =
leave, not=20
likely, and now we know they won't. AP's Natalie Obiko Pearson =

reported April 26 that "Four major oil companies (stopped whining =
April=20
25 and) agreed to cede control of Venezuela's last remaining=20
(majority-owned) privately run oil projects to President Hugo =
Chavez's=20
government" with ConocoPhillips coming around May 1 showing it, too, =
was all=20
bark and no bite. Those agreeing through signed memorandums of =
understanding=20
were Chevron, BP(Amoco) PLC, France's Total SA, Norway's =
Statoil ASA,=20
ConocoPhillips, and with most antagonistic of all to the idea =
ExxonMobil=20
finally doing it privately as was almost certain to happen and then=20
did. AP reported ConocoPhillips has the most Orinoco basin =
exposure in=20
two of four projects, Ameriven and Petrozuata with a (former) 50.1% =
stake in=20
the latter. It was inconceivable the company would abandon =
them, and=20
on May 1 it announced it would stay on. The one remaining issue to be =

resolved is compensation with foreign investors having until June 26 =
to=20
negotiate terms for their reduced stakes. Expect more Big Oil whining =

followed by capitulation again to Venezuelan Energy Ministry's =
expected offer=20
of fair and equitable takeover terms. On April 26, PDVSA's web =
site=20
reported a total of 10 foreign oil companies agreed to transfer =
majority=20
control of their "Oil Belt" operations to the state-run oil company. =
Further,=20
the company expects to achieve a daily capacity of 5.85 million =
barrels in=20
2012 and said its January 1 taking control of 32 oil fields will =
advance the=20
country "toward full national sovereignty over (its) natural energy=20
reserves." In response to these actions, and on the day it took =
effect,=20
the Journal went on the attack again with more ahead certain to be as =
false=20
and misleading. Its writers called Chavez a "self-proclaimed Maoist =
(wanting=20
to) reshape the global oil business by sidelining the US and making =
China=20
his country's chief strategic energy partner" for investment and=20
export. The Journal also accused Chavez of using "oil as a =
political=20
weapon" since taking office in 1999 offering discounted oil "to =
dozens of=20
Latin American countries" as his weapon of choice plus forging =
alliances with=20
US "economic rivals like China and political rivals like =
Iran." Hugo=20
Chavez, in fact, is a self-proclaimed social democrat charting his=20
own independent course toward progressive "21st century socialism" =
along=20
the lines Latin American expert James Petras calls the "pragmatic =
left"=20
in contrast to the more "radical left" of Colombia's FARC guerrillas; =

elements<BR>of "teachers and peasant-indigenous movements in Oaxaca, =
Guerrero=20
and<BR>Chiapas in Mexico;" many "small Marxist groups in Argentina, =
Bolivia,=20
Chile<BR>and elsewhere;" and Venezuela's "peasant and barrio movements," =

among others. Other Latin American leaders Petras calls "pragmatic"=20
leftists include Bolivia's Evo Morales, Cuba's Castro and many "large =

electoral parties and major peasant and trade unions in Central and =
South=20
America" including Mexico's PRD party, El Salvador's FMLN, Chile's =
Communist=20
Party, "the majority in Peruvian (Ollanta) Humala's parliamentary =
party;"=20
and others including "the great majority of left Latin American=20
intellectuals." Unlike what the Wall Street Journal and rest =
of the=20
US corporate media report or imply, Chavez and others on the =
"pragmatic left"=20
aren't aiming to destroy capitalism, just tame it. They also plan no=20
wholesale renunciation of accumulated IMF, World Bank and other =
international=20
lending agency debt, only calling for it to be on more equitable =
terms;=20
restructuring it to make their nations' debt burden fair; and aiming =
to=20
become free from its repressive yoke as Venezuela did paying it off=20
completely with Chavez announcing May 1 his country is pulling out of =
the IMF=20
and World Bank, formally breaking free from the kind of debt slavery =
these=20
institutions impose on countries they lend to guaranteeing their =
people=20
continued impoverishment. It's an important move that may =
encourage=20
other countries to follow as Ecuador's President Raphael Correa =
already did=20
ousting the country's World Bank representative saying "we will not =
stand for=20
extortion by this international bureaucracy." Look for more =
IMF-World=20
Bank resentment to surface ahead as Chavez's and Correa's courage may =

embolden other leaders to move in the same direction or at least =
begin by=20
openly voicing public discontent as a first step to possible policy =
change to=20
follow. Hugo Chavez offers them a new choice having announced in =
March he=20
intends creating a Bank of the South social democratic alternative to =
the=20
repressive neoliberal Washington Consensus IMF-World Bank =
model. So=20
far Bolivia and Argentina have agreed to be part of it with Chavez=20
hoping other Latin countries will join as well by contributing 10% of =
their=20
capital reserves for this enterprise he hopes will be operating by=20
summer. Additional parts of Chavez's plan involve forging =
stronger ties=20
to other oil importing nations like China to reduce Venezuela's =
dependency on=20
a hostile US. He also announced April 29 the nation hopes to =
gradually sell=20
its seven US-based Citgo refineries replacing them with a new Latin=20
American-based network in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Haiti and=20
Dominica. It's part of his plan to provide the region a stable =
oil supply=20
and 100% of the energy needs for Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) =
members=20
and Haiti. He further offers discounted oil to Latin American and =
other=20
nations, not to buy support as the Journal claims, but to build =
progressive=20
ALBA trade and other good neighbor alliances with regional nations =
the=20
opposite of WTO-style Global North exploitive one-way deals. The =
Fifth ALBA=20
Summit held in Barquisimeto, Venezuela just ended April 29 at which =
heads of=20
state from Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti signed =
strategic=20
ALBA agreements with delegations from Ecuador, Uruguay, Dominique and =
St.=20
Vincent and the Grenadines also attending along with social movements =
from=20
other states. Chavez aims for more than just fair and =
equitable trade=20
and other commercial, industrial and energy deals, and Summit leaders =
made=20
progress toward them. They agreed to alliances in ALBA =
Education,=20
Health, Culture, Food, and Telecommunications that may ahead extend=20
Venezuela's and Cuba's social agenda to other ALBA countries and=20
Haiti. The May 1 Wall Street Journal article says "Chavez wants =
to=20
replace the US as Venezuela's main partner and client in the oil =
business=20
(and) The big winner could be (big, bad US rival) China" that spells =
bad news=20
for Washington and Big Oil. It continued saying the country has the=20
largest proved reserves outside the Middle East, and if Chavez =
succeeds he'll=20
force the US to be even more dependent on that volatile region than =
it=20
already is. Further, Journal writers take aim at PDVSA demeaning it =
as a=20
state-run company claiming it has "little focus" because Chavez =
turned it=20
into a "poverty-alleviation ministry." As a result, the Journal =
says it=20
became inefficient and its production fell from 3.1 million barrels a =
day=20
when Chavez first took office in 1999 to 2.4 million barrels a day =
now=20
according to US government Energy Information Administration (EIA) =
figures=20
that look to have been cooked to bring them down. They're =
disputable=20
with differing ones coming from alternate sources including the 2006 =
CIA=20
World Factbook listing Venezuela's daily production at slightly under =
3.1=20
million daily barrels, around the same figure PDVSA reported then =
including=20
extra-heavy crude from Orinoco belt production. In May, 2006, =
Venezuelan=20
Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Raphael Ramirez indicated the =
International=20
Energy Agency (IEA) recognized the nation's daily oil production at =
over 3=20
million daily barrels while the government reports it now at 3.3 =
million=20
compared to 2.6 million or less claimed by international oil analysts =
and EIA=20
deliberately understating oil output the way Washington and the West =
distort=20
everything positive about Venezuela under Hugo Chavez. The =
Bush=20
administration and US corporate media, flacking for Big Oil, is =
all over Hugo=20
Chavez with the Journal's May Day article staying true to form. =
It ends=20
saying Venezuela "was historically one of the US's most reliable=20
energy allies" pumping all out to guarantee America a steady supply =
when it=20
was most needed as it did in WW II, the 1973 Arab oil embargo and the =
1991=20
Gulf war. It then blamed Chavez for changing that instead of =
reporting=20
Washington was at fault for soured relations that hit rock bottom =
during the=20
aborted two-day April, 2002 coup against him the Journal can't admit =
the=20
US instigated and supported. All it can say, with a =
heavy-handed dose=20
of sour grapes, is that "Mixing oil and politics may not help Mr. =
Chavez in=20
the long run" as he'll need "private companies' expertise to develop =
the=20
heavy crude in the Orinoco region" without ever conceding he already =
has it=20
and a long line of takers ready to step in if any now there foolishly =
leave.=20
They won't, but don't expect to see that opinion reported anywhere in =
the=20
Wall Street Journal as they'd then have to admit everything they =
wrote=20
earlier was false and misleading. They don't have to. You just read =
it=20
here. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached =
at <A=20
title=3Dblocked::mailto:lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net=20
href=3D"mailto:lendmanstephen%40sbcglobal.net">lendmanstephen@<WBR=20
title=3Dblocked::mailto:lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net>sbcglobal.<WBR=20
title=3Dblocked::mailto:lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net>net</A>. <A=20
title=3Dblocked::http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D203=
0=20
href=3D"http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D2030">http:/=
/www.venezuel<WBR=20
title=3Dblocked::http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D203=
0>analysis.<WBR=20
title=3Dblocked::http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D203=
0>com/articles.<WBR=20
title=3Dblocked::http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D203=
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title=3Dblocked::http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=3D203=
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