Word: oiling
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...Latin America also sees a certain hypocrisy in the U.S. position. Yes, Chávez has been a pain in the rear to U.S. oil companies, and he has cozied up to Iran and staged military maneuvers with Russia in the Caribbean. But Chávez, unlike U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, at least still lets U.S. oil firms have stakes in Venezuelan petro projects. And no one recalls any Venezuelan names on the list of 9/11 hijackers. Whatever the geopolitical calculus of Washington's coddling of Riyadh may be, Latin Americans still see the U.S. as giving Saudi Arabia...
...thing, it's a good idea for the U.S. to have a better rapport with one of its major oil suppliers. Chávez, who said last weekend he's willing to meet with Obama, likewise seems to realize that his favorite Yanqui enemy, George W. Bush, is gone, and that a new relationship might be possible with his major oil customer. And as the Castro example demonstrates, it's hard to isolate a Latin American head of state when the rest of Latin America doesn't sign on - and most nations in the region are not willing to freeze...
...unlike Castro, he's likely to do so on the basis of a democratic mandate, as his decisive win in Sunday's referendum suggested. Many poor Venezuelans see his Bolivarian revolution, despite its polarizing effects on the country, as a safeguard against the looming economic pain of falling oil prices. Analysts like John Walsh, a senior associate at the independent Washington Office on Latin America, may worry that indefinite re-election would allow Chávez to accumulate excessive power, but Walsh credits Chávez with actually "restoring a modicum of confidence in Venezuela's election system...
Iraq's ability to weather the global slowdown at the moment rests in the huge currency reserves it earned in recent years selling oil as prices soared. Iraq has roughly $30 billion in surpluses from previous years. That has allowed the country to maintain minimum standards of services and governance despite depression-scale unemployment (no reliable data are available, but some experts estimate unemployment may be over 20%). Iraq's GDP is growing steadily despite the global financial crisis. Last year, GDP grew in Iraq an estimated 7% to 9%. This year, GDP is projected to rise...
Virtually all of Iraq's income comes from oil production, and through its state-run oil company, the country has been working assiduously for more than a year to increase its output. But the government's dilapidated oil facilities have essentially maxed out their production capacity; U.S. and Iraqi officials say any significant rise in production would require massive involvement by foreign firms, which continue to haggle with the government of Iraq over business terms, with little sign of progress toward possible deals...