Name that mutual interest!!!

The AP reports that State Department press officer Eric Watnik has a wry sense of humor when it comes to Venezuela: The State Department, long at odds with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, greeted the populist leader’s landslide re-election victory by holding out the possibility of a more cooperative relationship with his government. “We look forward ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the author of The Ideas Industry.

The AP reports that State Department press officer Eric Watnik has a wry sense of humor when it comes to Venezuela: The State Department, long at odds with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, greeted the populist leader's landslide re-election victory by holding out the possibility of a more cooperative relationship with his government. "We look forward to having the opportunity to work with the Venezuelan government on issues of mutual interest," State Department press officer Eric Watnik said Monday. Chavez, meanwhile, saw his victory as a setback for the United States. "It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," Chavez told the crowd of supporters in Caracas. "Down with imperialism. We need a new world." Watnik's brief comments did not offer congratulations to Chavez nor did it make direct reference to him or what it regards as the increasingly authoritarian course he is pursuing.... On Friday, two days before the election, National Director of Intelligence John Negroponte outlined U.S. concerns about Chavez in a wide-ranging speech at Harvard University. He said Chavez's "meddling in the domestic affairs of other states in the region ? granting Colombia's FARC insurgents safe haven and other material support, for example ? already has made him a divisive force." He criticized Venezuela's attitude toward drug trafficking as "permissive," an allegation Venezuelan officials have denied. Venezuela's growing ties to Iran and other states, such as North Korea, Syria, and Belarus, "clearly demonstrate a desire to build an anti-U.S. coalition that extends well beyond Latin America," Negroponte said. (emphasis added) Readers are strongly encouraged to name issues in which Hugo Chavez and George W. Bush would share a mutual interest.

The AP reports that State Department press officer Eric Watnik has a wry sense of humor when it comes to Venezuela:

The State Department, long at odds with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, greeted the populist leader’s landslide re-election victory by holding out the possibility of a more cooperative relationship with his government. “We look forward to having the opportunity to work with the Venezuelan government on issues of mutual interest,” State Department press officer Eric Watnik said Monday. Chavez, meanwhile, saw his victory as a setback for the United States. “It’s another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world,” Chavez told the crowd of supporters in Caracas. “Down with imperialism. We need a new world.” Watnik’s brief comments did not offer congratulations to Chavez nor did it make direct reference to him or what it regards as the increasingly authoritarian course he is pursuing…. On Friday, two days before the election, National Director of Intelligence John Negroponte outlined U.S. concerns about Chavez in a wide-ranging speech at Harvard University. He said Chavez’s “meddling in the domestic affairs of other states in the region ? granting Colombia’s FARC insurgents safe haven and other material support, for example ? already has made him a divisive force.” He criticized Venezuela’s attitude toward drug trafficking as “permissive,” an allegation Venezuelan officials have denied. Venezuela’s growing ties to Iran and other states, such as North Korea, Syria, and Belarus, “clearly demonstrate a desire to build an anti-U.S. coalition that extends well beyond Latin America,” Negroponte said. (emphasis added)

Readers are strongly encouraged to name issues in which Hugo Chavez and George W. Bush would share a mutual interest.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the author of The Ideas Industry. Twitter: @dandrezner

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.