They're up to no good...

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez recently paid a visit to Tehran to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This is one meeting which I hope NSA bugged and wiretapped six ways from Sunday.

Best to know what these folks are up to.

EDIT: Looks like "up to no good" was an understatement.

The latest from Chavez...

Hugo Chavez seems to think oil is heading towards $100 a barrel.

That is, of course, assuming that the United States stands still. The other option, of course, is for the U.S. to start seriously pushing to use the 1.3 trillion barrels of oil that is available via oil shale and the couple hundred billion tons of coal for synthetic fuels.

That is the short-term solution. The medium-term solutions are more ethanol and nuclear power. Long-term, we need better solar cells and other technology for our power needs - and we need to get off Earth and into the rest or the solar system - and beyond.

Hugo's big mouth...

Hugo Chavez has a big mouth - we all knew that. But now he's insulting a cardinal.

Is Hugo trying to get his ass kicked? I mean, sooner or later, he is going to mouth off about someone who is not as charitable as a cardinal. Or maybe he'll nationalize the wrong company's assets - and Hugo will find that someone wants to kick his ass. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

It gets worse...

Hugo Chavez has declared he is open to the possibility of Venezeula becoming a nuclear power.

Why am I starting to feel more nervous?

Chavez breaks the 8th Commandment*...

Hugo Chavez has decided to steal the property of some American companies - and the theft could reach as much as $6 billion for one of the companies alone.

If I were the CEO of ConocoPhillips, I'd be thmubing through the yellow pages, looking for my local Assasins R Us. Or, at the very least, I'd be doing some Googling.

More tough talk from Hugo...

Hugo Chavez is talking tough again.

If there is a war in that area, you can bet he will start it... and at the same time, he'll claim he is the victim. The usual suspects will buy it.

If it looks like a duck...

The recent controversy over Venezuelan TV should be yet another indication that Hugo Chavez's proper title should be dictator. You can almost see the checklist.

And when his popularity falls, what might happen? My suspicion is that he'll go the route that Argentina's military dictatorship went: Start a fight to get a brief advantage in domestic opinion.

Chavez steals oil fields...

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has stolen other people's property again.

We're talking real monetary losses here. Some CEO may decide to do something rash.

Not that I would complain...

Chavez wins...

Which means we get to put up with that asshole for another six years.