The Duck of Minerva

The Peaceniks at State

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by Rodger Payne

20 January 2006, 2208 EST

This headline today on Yahoo (from AP) made me laugh out loud: “U.S.: Venezuela Overspending on Military.”

And we were just discussing this kind of American hypocrisy.

Venezuela is planning a “buying spree” for military equipment that goes beyond the country’s legitimate needs, the State Department said Friday.

In recent days, the United States has sought to block proposed sales of military planes and other equipment to Venezuela by Spain and Brazil.

The transactions are part of what “we would consider an outsized military buildup in Venezuela,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

I’m guessing State would also protest if Cuba launched a missile strike at a home in Miami to kill an alleged anti-Castro “terrorist.”

Imagine what they’d say if a dozen innocent Americans were also killed in such an attack…

Filed as:

Rodger A. Payne is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He serves on the University’s Sustainability Council and was a co-founder of the Peace, Conflict, and Social Justice program. He is the author of dozens of journal articles and book chapters and coauthor, with Nayef Samhat, of Democratizing Global Politics: Discourse Norms, International Regimes, and Political Community (SUNY, 2004). He is currently working on two major projects, one exploring the role of narratives in international politics and the other examining the implications of America First foreign policy.

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