Kowabunga

It looks like I am not alone in my viewpoint of Comrade Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela. This s form the Washington Post:

Insecurity, "malignant narcissism" and the need for adulation are driving Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's confrontation with the United States, according to a new psychological profile.

Eventually, these personality traits are likely to compel Chavez to declare himself Venezuela's president for life, said Dr. Jerrold Post, who has just completed the profile for the U.S. Air Force.

Chavez won elections for a third term last December. Since then he has stepped up his anti-American rhetoric, vowed to accelerate a march towards "21st Century socialism" and suggested that he intends to stay in power until 2021 -- a decade beyond his present term.

But Post -- who profiled foreign leaders in a 21-year career at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and now is the director of the Political Psychology Program at George Washington University -- doubts that Chavez plans to step down even then. "He views himself as a savior, as the very embodiment of Venezuela," Post said in an interview.

"He has been acting increasingly messianic and so he is likely to either get the constitution rewritten to allow for additional terms or eventually declare himself president-for-life."

Post sounds like he is on the same page as I am, or maybe it's the other way around. Comrade Chavez, in his crusade to turn Venezuela into a Cuba look-alike, is revealing his true colors. It was just a few days ago that Chavez stated he was ready for war with the United States, and made some very colorful, and wrong, accusations of what the U.S. is doing.

Meanwhile, Chavez is taking steps to seize the oil producing assets of ExxonMobile and ConocoPhillips. From FT.com:

Venezuela's state-owned oil company is taking over multibillion-dollar projects owned by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, Rafael Ramirez, the country's energy minister, said.

The action was being taken following a failure to agree the terms of a handover of operations in the oil-rich Orinoco belt, said Mr Ramirez.

The oil groups refused to sign an agreement on how the Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdVSA would take majority control of heavy crude oil projects in the Orinoco belt, which are valued at a total of at least $25bn.

The loss of its Venezuelan operations would be a particular blow to ConocoPhillips. Its operations in the Orinoco belt were valued at about $6bn and accounted for about 10 per cent of the company's reserve base and 4 per cent of its worldwide production.

Mr Ramirez said PdVSA was increasing its share in the four projects, which lie above some of he largest heavy crude oil reserves in the world, from an average of 40 per cent to 78 per cent.

Chavez has been pusing to "nationalize" (fancy word for confiscate) the oil industry projects in Venezuela. Some companies have managed to reach an agreement turning over majority control to Chavez. ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobile have both refused as offers are sub-market value. In other words, Chavez is taking control by offering pennies on the dollar for what these companies have invested in Venezuela.

Both companies are reported to still be in negotiations, however I suspect that they will be forced to the table and sign some losing agreement, or they will lose their entire investment.

Quite frankly, if I were the head of these companies, I would push for a total buyout and let Venezuela screw things up.

As for Chavez, it has been clear to me for sometime that he is a megalomaniac. It is good to know that there are people with some pull who are recognizing that as well.

Tags:

Chavez Venezuela Exxon Conoco