Quote du Jour: 'Why don't you shut up?'

I just couldn't pass this one up:

Shut up, Spain's king tells Chavez

Spain's King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to "shut up" as the Ibero-American summit drew to a close in Santiago, Chile.

The outburst came after Mr Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist".

Mr Chavez then interrupted Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's calls for him to be more diplomatic, prompting the king's outburst.

Latin American, Portuguese, Spanish and Andorran leaders were meeting in Chile.

'Democratically elected'

Mr Chavez called Mr Aznar, a close ally of US President George W Bush, a fascist, adding "fascists are not human. A snake is more human."

Mr Zapatero said: "[Former Prime Minister] Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people."

Mr Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, despite his microphone being turned off. The king leaned forward and said: "Why don't you shut up?"

According to reports, the king used a familiar term normally used only for close acquaintances - or children.

Later, Mr Chavez responded to the king's rebuke.

According to the Associated Press news agency, he said: "I do not offend by telling the truth. The Venezuelan government reserves the right to respond to any aggression, anywhere, in any space and in any manner."

The theme of this year's 22-nation summit was "social cohesion".

Random News & Views Roundup

Busy day here but here are a few tidbits that caught my eye.

- Bush has approved 4,400 more troops for the Iraq war because he and whoever has been advising him (coughcoughCheneycoughKissingercough) totally misunderestimated what might be needed for their Grand Surge Plan™.

U.S. military commanders in Iraq have said in recent days that the number of additional U.S. troops needed to carry out Bush's security plan for Iraq could approach 30,000, taking into account units needed to support the 21,500 extra combat troops. The United States now has some 140,000 troops in the country.

Memories of cakewalk and being greeted as liberators and flowers and candy stroll through my brain.

- So much for those talks held with Iraq's neighbours and the US on Saturday. Meanwhile, Saturday's death toll includes 40 Iraqis Killed, 104 Wounded and American soldiers are being accused of shooting at a family in Sadr city, killing the father and 2 young daughters, and...

In Diyala, American forces on Friday shot and killed three Iraqi Army soldiers in a military pickup truck after they failed to obey an American order to stop, Iraqi military officials said.

I'm sure there's Good News somewhere in Iraq today, but you'll have to look for it yourself. Try the Department of Defence site.

- In Latin America, Hugo Chavez called Bush a "political cadaver" (ouch - that's a bit more harsh than "lame duck") while Bush was trying to convince people there that he "care[s] about the human condition". Where, exactly? I'm not sure.

- Oh yes, I'd be remiss if I didn't remind people that bin Laden is celebrating his 50th birthday in his undisclosed location today. bin who, you ask?

- Dan Froomkin asks, Where's Karl Rove?. Well, at the very least we know he's not at bin Laden's birthday party.

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "While he has kept a low profile in Washington since the midterm election losses took some of the edge off his reputation as a political genius,

Poor Karl.

"He [Rove] said that the biggest Bush legacy will be what he terms the 'Bush doctrine.' . . .

Along with all of the blood and carnage that goes with it.

- Conrad Black, what a clown. And a tip of the hat to Canadian Cynic for finding this amusing story about a defence fund hoax site that the Lord With the Enormous Ego thought was real!

- Good post by Mike over at Rational Reasons about the overuse of the anti-semitism charge and how that phenomenon is destructive when it comes to fighting real anti-semitism.

- Read Michael Scheuer's A catalogue of errors in Afghanistan.

The future for the West in Afghanistan is bleak, and it is made more discouraging by the fact that much of the West's defeat will be self-inflicted because it did not adequately study the lessons of history.

Exactly.

- Check out this interview with Noam Chomsky about "War, Neoliberalism and Empire in the 21st Century. Interesting stuff.
 

Quote du Jour: Give Bush the Gold Medal for Hypocrisy

Oh that rebel, Hugo!

"You've got to give the U.S. president the gold medal for hypocrisy, because he's said now he's worried about poverty in Latin America," Chavez told reporters soon after landing in Buenos Aires.

"Now he's discovering ... after so many years that there's poverty in Latin America, precisely when the U.S. empire is the principal culprit," said Chavez, who routinely insults Bush.

As does most of the world's population...along with hordes of Brazilian protesters...