The people of Venezuela have chosen Chavez:

54.4 percent of voters supported the proposal [to lift Presidential term limits], with 45.6 percent voting against it, electoral officials said late Sunday, based on preliminary results with nearly complete returns. While Mr. Chávez’s support ebbed from the 63 percent he secured in a presidential election in 2006, he remains by far Venezuela’s dominant political personality.

In theory, the Venezuelan people will be able to vote Chavez out in elections in 2013. We'll see if Chavez permits that possibility. I must admit my doubts about that. But as of today, the Venezuelan people have spoken, and they want Chavez.

Speaking for me only

WaPo reports:

In a long interview Thursday on Telesur, a state-owned station that rarely challenges him, Chávez laid out the mortal dangers facing Venezuela and his importance to what he calls a revolution. He said the opposition was "injecting poison" into the veins of the young, spreading lies about his governing and plotting against him. Rocket launchers and explosives had been seized, he said, though he assured viewers that the threat had been neutralized and Venezuelans should remain calm.

Chávez then described how, in talks with Cuba's Fidel Castro, his mentor and friend, he had come to the realization of just how vital he is to the revolution's success. "Fidel put it very simply: 'I know how this revolution can be reversed,' " Chávez recounted. "I said, 'How?' 'Well, if something happens to you.' We discussed it on various occasions." Chávez said that if he was eliminated, his leftist movement would be irreparably divided.

A dangerous, authoritarian, thuggish demagogue? Of course. But it is up to the Venezuelan people now.

Speaking for me only

Last week, the silly Dick Morris let his Hillary hate run away with him as he pronounced her irrelevant. Here is the way Morris put it:

So what is Hillary’s mandate? Of what is she secretary of State? If you take the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan out of the equation, what is left? One would have to assume that the old North Korea hands in the government would monopolize that theater of action. What, precisely, is it that Hillary is to do? The question lingers.

Next week, Clinton goes to China. Dick Morris may not have heard of it, but I am sure most of you have. Secretary Clinton spoke about her upcoming Asia trip yesterday (h/t andgarden. The video of her speech is here.

AP:

The U.S. and Iran have a chance to "work out a way of talking" that could lead to understandings on a range of issues, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday. In a hopeful assessment of prospects for improved relations with Tehran, Clinton told reporters at the State Department that the U.S. remains opposed to Iran getting nuclear weapons. She added that the Obama administration hopes the two nations can work out "a better understanding of one another."

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I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Bolivia's new constitution that strengthens the rights and power of indigenous people, went into effect today. It was passed by the voters in January.

President Evo Morales and thousands of supporters celebrated Bolivia's new constitution as it took effect on Saturday, saying the new document will enshrine indigenous rights and end centuries of oppression.

The constitution, the first approved in Bolivia by popular vote, promises more power for the poor, Indan majority; recognizes communal justice; grants some regional autonomy; and declares coca a part of the nation's heritage.

President Morales told the DEA recently to take a hike. (link fixed)[More...]

If you have not seen Sixty Minutes correspondent Bob Simon's piece "Time Running out for a Two-State Solution" stop everything you are doing and watch it now.

It is that good. And it is that heroic. In the piece, Simon boldly lays out the truth about what Israel's encroachment on Palestinian land -- and what the lack of a peace deal -- means for the future of the country:

"Without a separate Palestinian state the Israelis would have three options, none of them good. They could try ethnic cleansing, drive the Palestinians out of the West Bank, or they could give the Palestinians the vote. That would be the democratic option but it would mean the end of the Jewish state. Or they could try apartheid - have the minority Israelis rule the majority Palestinians, but apartheid regimes don't have a very long life."

[More...]

Israel has declared a ceasefire in Gaza.

Troops would remain in Gaza for the time being and if Hamas held fire, the military would "consider pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us". If militant rocket fire into Israel continued, Israel would respond with force, the Israeli leader added.

Hamas isn't pleased:

Israel must withdraw completely, lift its economic blockade of Gaza and open border crossings, the spokesman said.

Sure, the US embargo of Cuba should be lifted. But that does not change the fact that Cuba has suffered 50 years of tyranny during the Castro regime, which came to power on January 1, 1959.

Like most rational people, I find US policy towards Cuba to be incredibly stupid and counterproductive. Unlike many people, I do not care for pretending that the Cuban regime is not repressive and a disaster for the Cuban people.

This year, I hope to see change, in US policy towards Cuba and in the Cuban government's policy towards its own people. Realistically, I doubt I will see either.

Speaking for me only

From what I gather in the news about Israel's air strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip:

• There was a cease fire but it ended earlier this month.
• Most of the 225 killed were militant Hamas policemen, since a principal target was Hamas police headquarters, although hundreds were injured and there were some civilians and children who died. Most of the strikes were on security compounds and militant bases.
• Israel had been planning the attacks for some time due to Hamas's refusal to stop sending rockets into Israel
• The Bush Administration blames Hamas. Condoleeza Rice blames Hamas because it kept sending rockets into Israel

  "We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there. The ceasefire must be restored immediately and fully respected."

• This can't be good news for Obama, who will take office with Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan already on the front burners. And neither he, nor any American president, may have much control over what goes on between Israel and Hamas.

Daniel Levy at Huffpo adds his perspective. Your Thoughts?

Reza Azlan, writing at The Daily Beast, posits that legalizing opium could save Afghanistan:

America's drug war in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure. So why not legalize opium production and let Afghanistan become the Saudi Arabia of morphine?

He makes some good points. Among them:

It is time to admit that the struggle to end poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a losing battle. The fact is that opium has long been Afghanistan’s sole successful export. Poppy seeds cost little to buy, can grow pretty much anywhere, and offer a huge return on a farmer’s investment. Only the Taliban has ever managed to significantly reduce opium production in the country (as it did during its late-1990s rule)—a feat managed by executing anyone caught growing poppies. It is no exaggeration to say that we have a better chance of defeating the Taliban than putting a dent in Afghanistan’s opium trade. So then, as the saying goes: if you can’t beat them, join them.

It won't happen, of course. Instead, Congress will redouble its efforts to pass "narco-terror" laws which will end up being used here at home against people who wouldn't know a terrorist if they found one in their soup. (Another example of a failed bill that could make a comeback here.)

Bump and Update: The Swiss voted to make permanent the experimental plan of providing heroin to addicts through doctor's prescriptions. The measure passed by 68%. (But they rejected an initiative to decriminalize pot):

****

Swiss to Vote on Prescription Heroin Policy Sunday

Tomorrow, the Swiss head to the polls. On the ballot: whether to make an experimental program allowing doctors to prescribe heroin permanent.

In 1998 Switzerland introduced an experimental 10-year heroin prescription programme. Today around 1,300 patients across the country are on the programme.

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Some folks are arguing that there are a great deal of differences between Obama and Clinton on Iran. This is false, as was demonstrated when this silliness came up during the primaries. Consider this:

Before the Kyl-Lieberman amendment was introduced, Obama cosponsored a bill that called for the IRGC to be designated as "a Foreign Terrorist Operation." Obama was one of 72 cosponsors of the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which states (in part):

Iran Counter-Proliferation Act: The Secretary of State should designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a Foreign Terrorist Organization ... and the Secretary of the Treasury should place the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224.

More . . .