The Axis of Oil-Fuelled Bigotry

Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both ruthless totalitarian rulers known for their bigoted ideas and brutal methods, met yesterday:

The two presidents—whose countries are members of the OPEC oil producing cartel—earlier attended the ceremony to start building a methanol facility with an annual capacity of 1.65 million tons on the Islamic Republic’s Gulf coast.

”Iran and Venezuela—the axis of unity,” read one of many official posters at the site near the port town of Assalouyeh, showing the two leaders hugging each other and shaking hands.

Ahmadinejad—who came to power two years ago pledging to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution—hailed the event as a step towards boosting ”brotherly” ties of the two ”revolutionary” nations. Iran is embroiled in a worsening nuclear standoff with Western powers.

Chavez, who last week pushed two U.S. oil giants out of his country as part of his self-styled socialist revolution, said: ”This is the unity of the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean Sea.”

The despots are advancing. I suppose the Socialist Left will celebrate with champagne and strawberries.