abcnews.go.com March 7

— SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices held strong on Friday after President Bush accused Baghdad of playing a "willful charade" and said he would push for a U.N. vote on a new resolution authorizing the use of force to disarm Iraq.

U.S. light crude for April delivery climbed nine cents to $37.09 a barrel.

Traders said steeper futures price gains for later months delivery reflected uncertainty over the timing of any war.

May crude rose 19 cents to $35.73, while June was up 27 cents at $34.03.

"Market sentiment is bullish but confused about the timing of a military strike. There may be two to three weeks delay as governments try to find some common ground for action," said Sydney-based independent oil analyst Simon Games-Thomas.

At a news conference, Bush said he would within days force a vote seeking U.N. authorization to invade Iraq.

"We're days away from resolving this issue at the security Council," Bush said. "It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam Hussein."

Washington, backed by Britain, has met stiff opposition for a new U.N. resolution paving the way for war from Russia, France and China, which hold veto powers on the Security Council and have called for more time for weapons inspections to continue.

The United States and Britain have moved about 300,000 troops into the Gulf region ready to launch an invasion of Iraq, which they allege has stocked biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix is due to deliver later on Friday his latest assessment of the inspections mission and Iraq's cooperation with the searches.

Bush needs nine votes of the 15-members of the U.N. Security Council, but to date has only three certain backers -- Britain Spain and Bulgaria.

VENEZUELA LIFTS FORCE MAJEURE

Iraq is the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, selling roughly two million barrels per day overseas, and traders worry that a military strike may stop supplies.

In addition, they fear oil flows may be disrupted from other producers in the Middle East, which pumps about 40 percent of globally traded crude.

The threat of war comes as world fuel stocks are running below normal levels, partly due to an continuing anti-government strike in Venezuela, which slashed the country's oil exports at one point to a trickle.

Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest exporter of crude and refined oil products, supplying 13 percent of imports into the United States.

President Hugo Chavez on Thursday lifted a force majeure -- invoked when a supplier cannot meet its contractual obligations -- on Venezuela's exports, the strongest signal yet that South America's biggest producer was restoring petroleum operations.

The force majeure has been in operation since soon after the strike to topple Chavez began on December 2.

"We have decided to suspend the force majeure on all of (state oil company) PDVSA's operational activities...we guarantee operations to the entire world," Chavez said.

He said crude production had been restored to 2.658 million bpd plus an additional 150,000 bpd of condensate, or super light crude. Rebel PDVSA workers on Wednesday pegged production at 1.1 million bpd.

Venezuela pumped 3.1 million bpd in November before the strike, with oil shipments abroad running at 2.7 million bpd.

Before the strike, Venezuela was the third largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which raised its production limits in January by 1.5 million bpd to largely offset the loss of Venezuelan supplies.

OPEC, which is dominated by Middle East producers, has pledged to make up for any losses in Iraqi supplies due to war. The cartel will meet in Vienna on Tuesday.

www.orlandosentinel.com By Kevin G. Hall | Knight Ridder Newspapers Posted March 7, 2003

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- The presidents of Colombia and Brazil will meet today under heavy U.S. pressure to isolate the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the region's cocaine-financed guerrilla movement that is labeled a terrorist organization by the Bush administration.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe wants Brazil's support for Plan Colombia, a joint U.S.-Colombian military effort to quash cocaine trafficking and the guerrilla groups funded by cocaine.

For Brazil, Latin America's largest and most influential nation, that would mean an end to years of neutrality and an unpopular yielding to Washington's will.

Brazilians are worried about cocaine trafficking in their country, however, and a leader of the FARC -- the guerrilla's group's initials in Spanish -- is thought to have protected Brazil's top trafficker until the trafficker was captured in April 2001.

Uncomfortable with a growing U.S. presence next door in Colombia, Brazil so far has balked at branding the FARC a terrorist organization.

"It is not convenient for Brazil to classify the FARC as terrorist or not," a Brazilian diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Brazil keeps no such list of terrorist groups, so it is not necessary to add them to a list. This could make more difficult future efforts by Brazil to mediate the conflict in Colombia."

Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is already trying to broker an end to Venezuela's political turmoil, leading a Group of Friends trying to stave off a civil war. A longtime leftist, da Silva and his closest foreign-policy aides feel the previous Brazilian government should have worked to discourage the U.S. military buildup under Plan Colombia.

The United States has spent more than $2 billion since 2001 in military aid to curb cocaine flowing from Colombia, the largest producer of cocaine and grower of coca, the plant from which the narcotic is made. U.S. military advisers are also now training the Colombian military to protect an oil pipeline owned by the U.S. Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Colombia's Ecopetrol.

Uribe, under constant U.S. surveillance because of recent assassination attempts, took office last year promising to wage war on rebels.

On Feb. 13, the FARC downed a small aircraft carrying contract personnel working for the Pentagon. American Thomas Janis of Montgomery, Ala., was executed along with a Colombian pilot. FARC rebels confirm they are holding three Americans working for a division of the U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

The FARC announced on its Web site Monday that it would not negotiate with the United States for their release but is willing to negotiate with Uribe's government.

A Colombian diplomat in Brazil, speaking on condition of anonymity, responded, "The door to dialogue [with the FARC] is always open when they show the will for peace by stopping terrorist acts."

The diplomat referred to the Feb. 7 bombing of a chic Bogota nightclub, which killed 35 and injured more than 100. The attack, and several other recent ones, was blamed on the FARC. Guerrillas have responded to the heightened military activity with an urban terror campaign.

209.41.172.174 March 7 2003

A report in The Straits Times Singapore has suggested that plastics could become the victim of the war in Iraq and political unrest in Venezuela.

According to the Singapore Plastic Industry Association (Spia), the prices of petrochemicals have surged by about 25 to 30 per cent in the last five months.

The price of crude oil has been climbing steadily since mid-November last year when they were about $25 a barrel, reaching a two-year high last Thursday of $39.99 a barrel.

The price of polypropylene surged from $660 to $860 per tonne over the same period.

"We have been trying to absorb the increases so far but from this month onwards, we would probably have to raise our prices," said Toh Cheng Wan, managing director of Chuan Durn Plastic Industries.

yellowtimes.org Printed on Friday, March 07, 2003 @ 02:42:18 EST   ( ) By Bill Douglas YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (United States)

(YellowTimes.org) – "The most important question one can ask oneself is: 'Is the universe a friendly place?'" -- Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein recognized that from the answer to the question "Is the universe a friendly place?" one could extrapolate the direction of every subsequent life decision. One's entire reality would evolve from the answer to that one all-important question.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others in the present U.S. government administration pulled strings to avoid military service in Vietnam. Why? Apparently not because they didn't oppose the red menace in Vietnam; after all, they supported others fighting that war. Therefore, the unavoidable answer to that question is cowardice. A coward sees the world as a very threatening place. Herein lies the danger to all the people of the world. When coward are in charge, they will direct the institution they lead to use all of its resources to "protect themselves from harm." This perceived harm could be economic, political, or military. And they perceive harm coming from every corner, from under every bed, and from anyone and everyone who challenges their fearful view of the world. In a coward's world, "you are either with us, or against us."

The only way the coward can feel truly and ultimately feel safe is to destroy preemptively all possible challenges to their perceived safety. They don't savor competition and challenge, but rather see it as a direct threat. They have no vision of a win-win scenario because everyone is a potential enemy of their way of life. Therefore, all programs of social uplift must be dismantled because leveling an unfair playing field in the economic realm could pose a threat to their inherited place of economic ascendance.

In the cowardly world of George W. Bush, free speech must be controlled. Public television and public radio must be de-funded because if they are not beholden to the corporate entities that share the Bush view of the world, they may allow views of the world that directly threaten Bush's safety and peace of mind. Because in a "you're either with us or against us" world, any diversity of opinion is inherently "against us." Long-time allies who express dissenting opinions are immediately suspect, and implicitly supporting the enemy.

On the political/military field, we must crush and/or make subservient every nation on earth. Only a castrated world can pose no threat to the coward. To have influence and control over the world's oil will effectively castrate much of the planet and render it a non-threat. In the coward's mind, the entire world is a very dangerous place. Divergent opinions from other nations are a threat. In fact, diversity itself is a threat.

The facade of diversity is acceptable. Black and brown faces may appear in the coward's very white world. However, those black or brown faces must walk lockstep within the mindset of that world; otherwise, they too are "against us."

This is a Brave New World that humanity is embarking upon. It requires great courage, and an inherent faith in the goodness of humanity and nature. It will require us to let go of control of our lives so that we don't destroy our ecosystem by manic attempts to reign in the forces of nature to serve our will. It will require that we trust other's goodwill to do what is right in the world without us controlling all that they do. To actually foster democracy in other lands will inherently cause us to "lose control" of the decisions those people make such as electing populists like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to lead them. It will require faith. Faith is the opposite of fear. When one has faith, one does not fear even the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

We live in a time when those who have little faith are controlling our nation. They are driving the force and will of our nation in the direction of control and conquest to allay their bottomless fears. What they cannot see is that there is no absolute safety, and, in fact, the pursuit of that absolute safety is a manic course that will only make the world more and more unsafe.

America mourned the death of 3,000 innocents on 9-11. That mourning was carefully directed into a manic rage of fear. This manic rage enables good people to justify the slaughter of untold thousands in the name of our safety. The revulsion of a world that will witness this slaughter in Technicolor broadcasts will create a very dangerous mood for America to endure.

Of course, the American media will try to protect U.S. citizens from the images of mayhem and horror that several hundred missiles unleashed upon the crowded city of Baghdad will undoubtedly cause. But the U.S. media, try as it might, will not be able to prevent the rest of the world from witnessing this horrific crime against humanity. The world will watch ... and the world will judge. And the ill will that results will provide the cowards with ample grounds to cause their citizens to fear more and more.

And the song will play on. The truth is that our fear is destroying us. Twenty thousand Americans kill themselves every year from depression. This dwarfs the 3,000 lost to terrorists. Could it be that we and our media are the most effective terrorists, terrorizing ourselves into believing that the world is not, and never will be, a friendly place? Where we will go as a nation and a world hinges on one all-important question: "Is the universe a friendly place?" Be careful how you answer it.

[Bill Douglas is the founder of World Healing Day, now celebrated in 50 nations worldwide each year. He is the author of "The Amateur Parent-A Book on Life, Death, War and Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe." Bill has written for publications worldwide on health, environment, and human rights issues, and his 9-11 commentary, "America's Broken Heart," was published on the site of the Society of Professional Journalists. Bill's book is available at www.smartaichi.com.]

Bill Douglas encourages your comments: Wtcqd2000@aol.com

YellowTimes.org is an international news and opinion publication. YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted, or broadcast provided that any such reproduction identifies the original source, www.YellowTimes.org. Internet web links to www.YellowTimes.org are appreciated.   Related articles at YellowTimes.org · ''The death and resurrection of Hugo Chavez'' · ''Coup-operation, the American way'' · ''Our wish for justice to prevail'' · ''The illusion of choice'' · "Hugo Chavez and Venezuela's poor versus everybody else" · "Who's to blame in Venezuela?" · "How oil plays a role in an invasion of Iraq" · ''The dangers caused by a policy of preemption''

· All articles by Guest Editorial

Most read story from Guest Editorial: ''A letter from an American prison''

www.veninvestor.com

"This revolution is peaceful, but it is not unarmed. The revolution is willing to defend its maxims in any territory. Sirs: I'm staying until the year 2021. Whoever is desperate, well, you'll have to wait a little while. I'm only staying until 2021 and with my sword drawn, I will defend this revolution which is of the sovereign people. Afterwards, I'll hang in a hammock in the plains of Arauca, or here in Punto Fijo, to sing the songs of Ali Primero."    - Hugo Chavez, while visiting a refinery yesterday     Good day,   Opec has a "dirty little secret" according to an analyst interviewed by Dow Jones.  Opec has limited production capacity, and Venezuela is not producing the oil that the government claims. "They can't handle the Venezuelan situation. In spite of claims that production is ramping up, we just haven't seen that," said John Kilduff, an analyst at Fimat USA Inc, that tracks and forecasts oil markets. The problem is "serious enough that it may not be able to keep the world humming at the pace it's accustomed to."  Saudi Arabia's claims that it can meet orders are false, and "[t]he only reassuring statistic is that combined strategic reserves around the world would be enough to put 12 million barrels a day on the market for about 45 days," reports Dow Jones.    The Miami Herald reports that the Venezuelan suicide-bomb suspect arrested last month with a hand grenade after arriving at London's Gatwick airport had "spent time in Afghanistan, Sudan and other countries linked to international terrorism, according to Venezuelan sources close to the investigation." This has "renewed fears not only over security loopholes at Venezuelan airports but the possibility that Islamic terrorist organizations may be using the country as a base" Furthermore, [t]he suspect's travels and known activities are consistent with links to al Qaeda or other extreme Islamic groups, according to specialists in international security issues."  A senior Venezuelan source told the Herald that passport copy showed that Hazil Mohamad Rahaman, 37, had traveled to Yemen, as well as twice, in 2000 and 2001, to Franfurt, Germany, where the World Trade Center attacks were planned, as well as attacks against the US missions in Kenya and Tanzania.  The suspect said that he applied for political asylum in Germany using a false Palestinian id. In addition, the Herald reports that Ramaham disappeared from Caracas three years ago, and then returned on January 20 and stayed in a hotel. "He bought the grenade -- presumably on the black market...for 200,000 bolivares (around $125)."  The grenade was found in his sole luggage, a backpack, that was rejected for its size and had to be checked. "When it was discovered, the grenade was wrapped in aluminum foil inside an infrared massaging device, which in turn was apparently concealed in a lead-lined wooden box." After Sept. 11, according to a former DISIP (secret police) agent, "Washington asked the Venezuelan government to check on the whereabouts of around a dozen terrorist suspects thought to be on Margarita. They were there, the agent said, ``but I've not seen any subsequent action to deal with them.''   Seven US House representatives asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the Venezuelan case. (to read the charter, please read www.oas.org)  The letter, written and delivered by Florida Republican Lincoln Díaz-Balart, asks that the secretary of state invoke the charter against Hugo Chavez, given that the government has violated Article 20 of the charter:   The objectives of the programs and actions will be to promote governance, stability, good governance, and the quality of democracy with special preference given to strengthening political institutions and the wide range of social organizations which make up civil society. At the same time, and noting that democracy is not just a juridical structure and a political regime, but a way of life founded on liberty and the constant economic, social, and cultural improvement of its people, such programs will pay similar attention to strengthening a democratic culture and promoting democratic principles and practices and the values of liberty and social justice in child and youth education.   US oil policy featured in news, due to a Senate Democrats report issued yesterday, claiming that even though the Bush administration last year "added 41 million barrels of oil to the reserve, kept in salt domes along the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. energy companies cut back comparably on their own oil inventories, resulting in no net increase in nationwide oil supplies," according to the Washington Post.  In addition, "Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham rejected the notion that the government's decision significantly affected energy prices. He said the amount was too small to have an impact." In "India tanks up on Iraq oil" The Telegraph from Calcutta, India reports: "With no oil being available from nearby Venezuela, US companies had to go farther out to the Gulf and Russia to buy, which meant a higher demand for ships as the cargo had to be carried over longer distances."   Newspapers across the US also offers features describing the plight of Venezuelans, both in Venezuela and the US. The Mercury News and AP offer "Supply Shortages Hit Venezuela Hospitals", Christopher Toothaker reports: " Supply shortages in public hospitals - a problem in this impoverished country for years - have sharpened since President Hugo Chavez imposed strict controls on foreign exchange in January."  The Oklahoman provides the story of a Venezuela couple in "Venezuelan strife gives couple appreciation for U.S. comforts", which reports that "Mike Giordano, 28, remains in Venezuela while his wife, Alison, has returned to Edmond because they're worried about the political chaos gripping the South American nation."  

In local news...

In his customary inflammatory tone, Chavez threatened to "recover" the governships held by opposition leaders. Furthermore, he said he planned to remain in power until 2021. Visiting a refinery, he said that Venezuela is currently producing 2.5 million oil barrels per day. * The commission that will choose 20 candidates for the National Electorate Council was sworn in by the National Assembly board yesterday. The commission includes six government National Assembly reps, five opposition reps, and ten representatives from civil society. * Army General  Raúl Isaías Baduel denied the presence of FARC leaders in Venezuelan territory. * The first bilateral meeting scheduled for today between the government and opposition to debate an electoral solution was postponed until Thursday by the government representatives, due to a prior "commitments.  These bilateral meetings are to replace the negotiations table, which will not meet this week since OAS head Cesar Gaviria is at an "important meeting" in Bolivia. * A fire left 75% of Caracas without electricity for more than 40 minutes yesterday.    Opinions   Today, I've included several opinion articles. As the Venezuelan crisis becomes a global topic and more people realize that Chavez is dragging down the world economy down with him, more editorials slant towards the opposition and the need to remedy the crisis. The International Herald Tribune offers "Chavez is creating a political abyss" by Moises Naim,  who claims that Venezuela "has become a nightmare for its people and a threat not just to its neighbors but to the United States and even Europe." Naim also describes how Venezuela has defied all the assumptions shaped in the 1990's about how how the US could influence any country's politics, and also the precept  "that global economic forces would force democratically elected leaders to pursue responsible economic policies. Yet Chávez, a democratically elected president, has been willing to tolerate international economic isolation - with disastrous results for Venezuela's poor - in exchange for greater power at home."  The Washington Times editorial, "Chavez and the Media," states: "Regardless of how Mr. Chavez and his supporters regard the objectivity the press in Venezuela, the president would make a big mistake to limit its freedoms. After all, Mr. Chavez can use speeches and state-owned outlets to counter any perceived subjectivity or inaccuracies. Weakened accountability could well result in serious human rights abuses in Venezuela, as seen in other places in the world."   In "Venezuela's democracy must not be forgotten," by the San Antonio Express, Jonathan Gurwitz writes that "the beauty of Venezuela, its democratic tradition, its rule of law, its respect for individual rights, and its vibrant economy are all in peril today as its leftist President, Hugo Chávez, threatens to turn Venezuela into the Iraq of the Western Hemisphere."   USA Today provides an interesting interview with US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, about the crucial topic of energy alternatives: "As the USA moves closer to war with oil-rich Iraq, gas prices are on the rise. So are concerns about terrorist attacks that might involve radiological materials available from widespread sources. In addition to tackling these pressing concerns, the Bush administration has proposed spending $1.7 billion over five years to start developing hydrogen fuel cells that could power cars, eventually eliminating U.S. dependence on foreign oil."   In the Naples News, "Bonnie Erbe: Country remains passive toward failing economy" Bonnie Erbe wonders why "the American public seems to be as blithely tolerant of an economy that has been almost purposefully tipped away from the brink of recovery and toward (if not over) the brink of recession for more than a year now."  She also claims that "President Bush's war strategy is directly responsible for higher gas prices, higher oil and natural gas prices to heat our homes, increased airline ticket prices, higher food prices (which must be shipped and trucked into grocery stores,) higher UPS and Fed Ex shipping costs (both companies have instituted fuel surcharges to ship packages) and more for, well, just about everything we eat, drink, drive to, and need to live." In "Brazil blocking conference to deal with Latin crises", The Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer reports that "there is a big bad boy who is blocking plans to solve Latin America's multiple crises -- Brazil," which is "paralyzed by 19th century fears of U.S. imperial designs, which have long driven it to instinctively reject almost anything coming from Washington or supported by Washington, regardless of its merits."   Commentary   The following is the letter I wrote to the New York Times, regarding the editorial by Moises Naim. (Republished by the International Herald Tribune). I encourage you to also write the New York Times with your views on Naim's editorial to letters@nytimes.com.  Please include your name, address, and phone number at the end of your piece. Also, if you send me a copy, I will publish it in the Daily, (without your info). Remember that your letter can be no longer than 150 words.   To the Editor,   I am writing concerning Moises Naim's op-ed, "Hugo Chavez and the Limits of Democracy" (03/05/03). Mr. Naim describes the dangers of letting democracy merely mean elections, using Venezuela as an illustration of flawed thinking regarding developing countries.  A shocking reality for Venezuelans is that the United States, the OAS, the United Nations, and the European Union - supposed global leaders - stood motionless as the lines between activism and treason were erased.   You don't hire a demolition crew to construct a building. Chavez was adept at destroying all institutions in Venezuela - both good and bad. During the next decade, politicians will have to rebuild the country from scratch. That will not include Chavez, who should accept that his appointment with Venezuela ended.  He is grasping to power like an acrobat hanging from a tightrope. Eventually, he will let go, but not before dragging the country further into despair.   Alexandra Beech   Events

On March 6, Dr. Margarita Lopez Maya of the Universidad Central de Venezuela will offer a talk titled "Venezuela on the Brink: Popular Protest and Civil Society in a time of Conflict" at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM at The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Lucha Democrática, Resistencia CiviI de Venezolanos en el Exterior (RECIVEX) , SAVE Venezuela and PROVEO would like to invite all Venezuelans to participate in the "Global Day in Repudiation of the Violence and Abuses of the Hugo Chavez Regime", which will take place on March 9 in cities around the world, including Washington DC and London.

For upcoming events, please check www.11abril.com, www.proveo.org, www.aveny.com and www.veninvestor.com.   I hope you are safe, content, and peaceful, wherever you are, Alexandra Beech