Qaddafi and Qaddopi - Chavez calls Qaddafi “One of the great leaders of this century.”

As Obama frets,

Chavez is trying to help his pal, Qaddafi, whom, as Al Jazeera notes, he has called “One of the great leaders of this century.”

The Rosett Report » Don’t Let Qaddafi Retire as Tyrant Emeritus in Venezuela

While Libyans battle over ending Moammar Qaddafi’s 42-year tyranny, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has been itching to provide his services as a broker. Libya’s rebels have nixed this — they want Qaddafi gone, not “mediated” with. Such western heavyweights as the U.S. and France have dismissed the idea. (Note we are now on par with France).

...There’s been a lot of speculation about this — should Chavez mediate in Libya? Could he? Here’s a roundup from The Week ; and here’s a Friday article from Al Jazeera, “Chavez gambles on Gaddafi Diplomacy.” Some wonder if Chavez is trying to help his pal, Qaddafi, whom, as Al Jazeera notes, he has called “One of the great leaders of this century.” Some suggest Chavez is gambling on scoring a diplomatic coup, willing to risk failure in hope of bolstering his own image. Where most seem to agree is that a Chavez-brokered deal might give Qaddafi a face-saving way to hightail it out of Libya, perhaps to Venezuela. That possibility seems broadly accepted as a good thing. “Let Gadhafi pitch his tent on one of the beautiful islands off of Venezuela’s Caribbean coast,” advises the Christian Science Monitor.

....All this hideous expertise is of enormous potential use to Hugo Chavez, the would-be president-for-life of Venezuela — another oil-rich nation in which the regime is plundering its own people, consorting with terror networks (such as Hezbollah), stirring up trouble in its region and making common cause with terror-based regimes (such as Syria and Iran). Chavez has made no secret of his interest in obtaining nuclear technology. In 2009, together with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he declared his intention to create a “nuclear village.” In 2010, while visiting Tripoli, no less, Chavez said Venezuela is intent on building a nuclear reactor, and “Nothing will stop us.” Not that there is necessarily a lot of loyalty among tyrants; Chavez’s pals in Iran are calling for the ouster of Qaddafi. But these are hardly objections of principle; they are matters of convenience — just one more thing for Chavez to broker his way through.

[Read the full article at the above link]