.e-thepeople.org

First, I should state that I supported the war against Iraq. I am a unique creature--a Democrat with a neo-conservative foreign policy.

This neo-conservative foreign policy is based upon the notion that since we are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, we should use the overwhelming strength and superiorty of the our military in a preventive and preemptive way.

I was generally accepting of this notion, until I read an article in which the author explore the possible consequences of such action.

If we become the world's policemen or, as the author puts it...the world's guarantors, then no other nation, or its people, will take action in situations for which they are responsible.

For example, by guaranteeing the security of Israel, it ensures that no Israeli government will make a territorial settlement with the Palestinians. Therefore there will be no peace in the Middle East. I am as supportive of Israel as anyone, and even I recognize that Israel will have to make some concessions in order for there to be peace.

By supporting the Mubarak regime in Egypt of the Fayd kingdom in Saudi Arabia, the US removes the pressure for democratization. With an external power guaranteeing stability, the people of Egypt and Saudi Arabia will never revolt or at least take part in democratic reform. Terrorism against America is easier, because we ultimately are at fault for their predicament. I know that some will state that without these regimes in Egypt and SA, these countries will become theocracies like Iran. Well, as least then we will know where they stand. Right now, we are allies with Saudi Arabia even though their people hate and kill us at every opportunity. So, how about this?

What if we just allowed history to take its course, without American Intervention?

What if, in the past, we let Vietname go communist without losing 50,000 Americans to achieve the same result. What if we let Europe deal with Yugoslavia in the 1990's.

Let the Iranian people deal with the Ayatollahs until they finally revolt.

Let Mubarak and King Fayd fall to the Islamists. Let Victor Chavez take on Venezuela's capitalists and landowners.

Let these countries and their people take responsibility for and control of their own destiny, free to make their own revolutions, and fumble toward liberal democracy of their own accord. At least then, they would have no one to blame but themselves and their government. The point is they would not blame the United States.

The US rails against the irresponsibility of the European and Asian powers for their failure to manage even their own backyards, and despises the anger of the Arab masses at America. However, our foreign policy is responsible for such failure and anger. With the best of intentions, the US encourages the very behavior it works against. The more we dominate and intervene, the more terrorists created, the more unsupportive fellow allies and enemies become.

Therefore, now is the perfect time for the United States to withdraw from the Korean peninsula. To withdraw from the Middle East after we have restored order in Iraq.

The prospect of an American imperium is on people's minds. Having demonstrated its power in Iraq, the US can abdicate without revealing weakness. Finally we can worry about ourselves, and we can let the world survive on its own for awhile with no America to blame. Soon they will be begging for us to help them, and soon they will all love America again.

"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."- Mark Twain

Caracas, May 8 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Brazil and Spain are among the countries seeking to pressure Venezuela's government and opposition to reach agreement on a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule and end a yearlong impasse.

Representatives of the Group of Friends, as the negotiators from six countries that also include Portugal, Mexico and Chile are known, declined comment after meeting with members of the opposition this morning. They were slated to meet with government negotiators later this afternoon and may meet with Chavez. They have tentatively scheduled a press conference for tomorrow.

There's definitely going to be an attempt to pressure the government,'' said Vitali Meschoulam, an analyst with political risk research company Eurasia Group in New York. But I doubt it will go beyond rhetoric.''

The Group of Friends is counting on a referendum to end more than a year of political strife in Venezuela, South America's largest oil producer. Chavez, who was deposed in April 2002 for two days in a coup, has faced repeated demands that he step down or submit to a referendum.

The two sides reached a tentative agreement brokered by the Organization of American States to hold a referendum. The accord was subsequently found lacking by Chavez's political party.

It's clear that Chavez is trying to delay the holding of a vote,'' Meschoulam said. There's no doubt about that.''

Polls show that Chavez would lose by a large majority if a referendum were held. Under Venezuela's constitution, a referendum can be held any time after Aug. 19, when Chavez passes the mid-point of his six-year term in office.

Venezuela's dollar bond due 2027 jumped for a third day, rising 0.25 cents on the dollar to 66.25, pushing the yield down to 14.22 percent, according to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. at the 4 p.m. market close in New York.

The Caracas Stock Exchange's general index rose for the first day in three, jumping 2.7 percent to 8783.69. Last Updated: May 8, 2003 16:13 EDT

Reuters, 05.08.03, 3:10 PM ET By Elizabeth Fullerton

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's decision to orient its oil policy towards the United States and away from the OPEC cartel is seen as more about mending bruised ties with its main trading partner than a fundamental policy shift.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said on Wednesday during a visit to Washington that the linkage between Mexico's oil policy and OPEC production decisions will weaken as North America becomes more of a single energy market.

"I think part of this is fence-mending with some of our natural trading partners who chose publicly and visibly to go their own separate ways with the war (on Iraq)," said Larry Goldstein, President of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York.

Mexico annoyed the United States, which buys 90 percent of its exports, by refusing to back a U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

Non-OPEC Mexico is the eighth biggest crude producer in the world and one of the top four oil suppliers to the United States, along with Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada.

Since 1998 Mexico has cooperated with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in raising and lowering supply to stabilize global oil prices.

Mexico had curbed its exports since the start of 2002 in cooperation with OPEC to boost prices from late 2001 lows but as of February this year it raised its export platform to 1.88 million bpd to compensate for lost supply from a Venezuelan strike and curb rising oil prices as a war on Iraq loomed.

"(Derbez's comments) could be taken as a message that Mexico is in a better position to increase its share of the U.S. market because of the situation with Venezuela and other global events," said Lisa Pearl, Associate Director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Mexico in March exported an average of 1.88 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude on average output of 3.317 million bpd. Mexican energy officials have said the nation is currently close to its export and production capacity limit.

PRAGMATISM RULES

Mexico has something of a tightrope to walk between cooperating with OPEC to keep oil prices -- and hence export revenues -- buoyant and not upsetting the United States or hurting its economy which is closely linked to Mexico's.

"Where they fit in this continuum between close ties with a consumer like the U.S. and close ties with other producers like OPEC depends a lot on price level," said Sarah Emerson, Managing Director at Energy Security Analysis Inc in Boston. "I think if the (oil) price fell to $10 (a barrel) again Mexico would line up with OPEC to try to reign in production worldwide. If the price is $30 Mexico is certainly not going to talk about its alliance with OPEC," she added.

Oil prices on Thursday were trading around $27 a barrel in New York. Prices have fallen since OPEC's surprise decision two weeks ago to raise its official output limits while claiming a large cut in actual supplies.

Mexico, which has over the past year mirrored OPEC's moves in its own oil policy, said it would define its oil export platform by June 1 in the wake of the OPEC move.

Analysts stressed that pragmatism prevailed above all else in Mexico's strategy towards OPEC.

"On a day-to-day basis Mexico hasn't been a supporter of OPEC policies," said Goldstein, noting the country had produced and exported what it wanted. "Only during crises has Mexico stepped up and supported on a temporary basis cuts in production."

Thursday, May 8, 2003 Posted: 1524 GMT (11:24 PM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN.com-AP) -- After months of talks, diplomats trying to broker a peaceful end to Venezuela's political troubles have little to show for their efforts -- save for a moribund accord to end verbal insults.

The so-called Group of Friends of Venezuela made up of diplomats from six countries was created in January to help the Organization of American States broker a solution to Venezuela's crisis.

But Chavez's government embarrassed OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria by backing out of an April 11 deal for a referendum on Chavez's presidency.

It was a blow as well to the efforts of the six Friends -- Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

Government negotiators now say that opposition delegates at the OAS talks don't represent all sectors opposing Chavez and suggest the OAS-mediated talks be replaced by debate in the Chavez-dominated National Assembly.

Lawmakers, they say, are better suited for the task because they were elected by the people, while the delegates at the OAS talks are chosen by political parties.

No-insult agreement ignored

The six months of talks between Chavez's government and Venezuela's opposition have produced only an agreement in February to end verbal insults and political violence.

And even that pact has been forgotten.

The mudslinging reached a new low after an opposition general strike curbed Venezuelan oil production and cost the economy US$6 billion but failed to oust Chavez.

When a protester was slain during an opposition May Day march, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel blamed the opposition and -- and added that government adversaries were obsessed with "necrophilia."

Interior Minister Gen. Lucas Rincon told cadets at a police academy graduation that opposition leaders were "brain-damaged" because of excessive expectations on fighting crime.

Carlos Ortega, a labor boss granted asylum in Costa Rica after leading the general strike, said Chavez was "not well in the head."

Chavez routinely assails what he calls a "fascist," "terrorist" and "coup-plotting" opposition. He has used vulgarities referring to body parts during nationally broadcast speeches to describe his enemies.

'It's the product of frustration'

It may be name calling, but it is a real obstacle to peace in this poverty-stricken nation that is a top U.S. supplier of oil, said Eliazar Diaz Rangel, director of the Caracas newspaper Ultimas Noticias.

The rhetoric is worse that in the 1960s, when Venezuela's military crushed a Cuba-backed leftist insurgency, Diaz Rangel said.

"Even in the difficult years when political crisis turned into combat, it didn't reach these levels," he said. "It's the product of frustration. ... This type of language is unprecedented in Venezuela, and I would go as far to say in Latin America as well."

Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed 1992 coup attempt, was elected president in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000. His opponents accuse him of mismanaging the economy, dividing the country along class lines and becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The president says a reckless opposition is more interested in his unconstitutional ouster than helping govern.

Caracas, May 8 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Brazil and Spain are among the countries seeking to pressure Venezuela's government and opposition to reach agreement on a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule and end a yearlong impasse.

Representatives of the Group of Friends, as the negotiators from six countries that also include Portugal, Mexico and Chile are known, declined comment after meeting with members of the opposition this morning. They were slated to meet with government negotiators later this afternoon and may meet with Chavez.

There's definitely going to be an attempt to pressure the government,'' said Vitali Meschoulam, an analyst with political risk research company Eurasia Group in New York. But I doubt it will go beyond rhetoric.''

The Group of Friends is counting on a referendum to end more than a year of political strife in Venezuela, South America's largest oil producer. Chavez, who was deposed in April 2002 for two days in a coup, has faced repeated demands that he step down or submit to a referendum.

The two sides reached a tentative agreement brokered by the Organization of American States to hold a referendum. The accord was subsequently found lacking by Chavez's political party.

It's clear that Chavez is trying to delay the holding of a vote,'' Meschoulam said. There's no doubt about that.''

Polls show that Chavez would lose by a large majority if a referendum were held. Under Venezuela's constitution, a referendum can be held any time after Aug. 19, when Chavez passes the mid-point of his six-year term in office.

Venezuela's dollar bond due 2027 jumped for a third day, rising 0.25 cents on the dollar to 66.25, pushing the yield down to 14.22 percent, according to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. at 2:10 p.m. in New York.

The Caracas Stock Exchange's general index rose for the first day in three, jumping 2.7 percent to 8783.69. Last Updated: May 8, 2003 15:03 EDT