Chavez Drops Out of U.N. Party
Stewart Stogel
UNITED NATIONS – With just two days before the annual United Nations 2009 General Assembly kicks off, some headline-grabbing VIPs, including the controversial Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, have decided to stay home.
Chavez has "quietly" decided to cancel his U.N. appearance, according to the U.N. protocol office, and Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who traditionally has made the U.N. visit an opportunity to meet NATO allies and deliver a "status" report to the international community, also has decided to stay home this year.
Chavez, the fiery Latino strongman best known for calling President George W. Bush "the devil" in a U.N. speech, has decided to stay in Caracas this year.
In June, Chavez found himself allied with Washington in the unusual position of supporting ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in the U.N. General Assembly.
The General Assembly voted unanimously to support Zelaya, urging all members to refrain from any diplomatic recognition.
That vote was one of the few times Washington found itself siding not only with Venezuela but with Cuba also.
Zelaya, still battling to return home before November elections, is expected in New York later this week.
Karzai, as late as August, had intended to make the New York trip, but in the last month, his relationship with the Obama administration has deteriorated significantly. Most of the problems reportedly revolve around alleged vote rigging in the recent presidential elections and the manner of the recent U.S. military buildup.
President Barack Obama publicly has called the declining military situation in Afghanistan "serious" and his main foreign concern.
Now, he is snubbed by the man he still calls "an ally."
Karzai also has been under repeated media scrutiny involving corruption in his government, especially concerning the activities of brother Mahmoud.
 Col. Muammar al-Gadhafi |
The business "dealings" of the Karzai brothers and their relationship with key U.S. officials, including former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, also have been the subject of numerous media reports.
State Department sources confirm that it, too, has been "looking into" the activities of the Afghan government and certain U.S. officials it refused to identify.
The decision to pass on the U.N. gathering and the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh later in the week is yet another example of the worsening relationship between the new White House and the Afghan president who had prided himself on being close to President Bush.
Other members of the so-called "diplomatic rogue's gallery" expected to show at the U.N. include: Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Libya's Muammar Gadhafi, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega of Iran-Contra fame.