I hope not. We wanted to take our honeymoon in Ecuador and the Galapagos, god dammit. This just figures.

Anyone have any real insights?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/FOREIGN/933500764/1001

3/3/2008 10:44:20 PM

Is there any chance we can stay out of this one?

3/3/2008 10:50:08 PM

^ Probably not if it is one of our closest allies (Columbia) battling against our number one hater (Venezuela).

Maybe you can take some comfort in this though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7274209.stm

Quote :

"But despite the threat of war by Mr Chavez, it is hard to see the situation escalating into a full-blown conflict with Colombia. The two presidents may remain political foes until they end their terms in office, but they are unlikely to become military ones, if only because most Colombians and Venezuelans do not have the stomach for it. "

Our friend Hugo after all is known for his love of hyperbole.

3/3/2008 11:37:25 PM

Saber rattling is one of Chavez's few tricks, but it works pretty well for him in terms of domestic popularity.

3/4/2008 8:54:58 PM

Ecuador has been getting more dangerous as of late. A good friend of mine was mugged in Quito and some other acquantances were robbed and sexually assualted. Go to Chili or Peru or Argentina.

3/4/2008 9:31:04 PM

holy treehugger. who goes to a third world shit hole on a honeymoon

3/4/2008 10:34:01 PM

The Galapagos Islands are amazing. There is nothing remotely "third world shit hole" about them.

3/4/2008 10:39:34 PM

[Edited on March 4, 2008 at 10:44 PM. Reason : .]

3/4/2008 10:43:14 PM

Quote :

"Is there any chance we can stay out of this one?"

Quote :

"^ Probably not if it is one of our closest allies (Columbia) battling against our number one hater (Venezuela)"

We really don't have many conventional troops to commit to this fight and any official incursion would be highly unpopular. You can bet your ass the CIA and SOF will be in there, but line Soldiers and Marines? I doubt it.

3/4/2008 10:54:29 PM

My money's against this become any kind of open military conflict, and very much against it becoming any sort of war to speak of. Chavez loves bold talk he can't back up, and Ecuador ain't got shit. Border clashes, maybe. The seeds of some future war, possibly. Nothing worse in the short term.

Quote :

"We wanted to take our honeymoon in Ecuador and the Galapagos, god dammit."

Galapagos is cool. Ecuador is not. Do Peru instead.

3/4/2008 11:13:04 PM

What about Argentina? You never hear anything bad about them.

Also, I think it's meaningful to note that this is yet another relic of the Cold War.

3/4/2008 11:22:57 PM

Quote :

"holy treehugger. who goes to a third world shit hole on a honeymoon"

I think you answered your own question. We don't want to sit on some fucking beach on an all-inclusive resort and pretend we're all fancy when we're in fact in a third-world shithole. I want to check out the galapagos and ecuador's world's highest biodiversity rate.

Quote :

"Go to Chili or Peru or Argentina."

Chile and Argentina are my next choices if I can't do the galapagos, but I REALLY want to go. I'm only planning on being in ecuador long enough to travel from there to the galapagos

3/5/2008 12:13:50 AM

^Oh, come on. You know checking out "biodiversity rates" is totally fancier than going to an all-inclusive resort.

3/5/2008 12:18:39 AM

Quote :

"Galapagos is cool. Ecuador is not too. Do Peru instead. as well"

I spent a summer in Cuenca and loved it. I didn't get to travel more than an hour or two outside the city, one trip into the jungle and a couple of nights in Quito, but I wouldn't deter you from going at all.

My one regret is that I couldn't swing the extra $$ to go to Machu Piccu. If you're down in that corner of the world, you need to go there as well.

3/5/2008 9:12:08 AM

Don't worry, Blackwater's already there snipin motherfuckers out

3/5/2008 4:58:13 PM

Holy shit DG just got owned by Bridget.

3/5/2008 5:29:34 PM

Argentina is nice. I was in the Mendoza/San Jaun region in Dec/Jan. The women down there are beautifull, but you're married so hopefully no regrets...
Next winter I'm going climbing in Bolivia and Patagonia, the latter is an expensive touristy shithole until you actually get into the wilderness from what I hear.

3/5/2008 9:04:16 PM

I suppose on the actual topic, it appears that the Columbian military is by far larger and better equipped than the Venezuelan and Ecuadorian armies combined in no small part thanks to American "Plan Columbia" money. Even if Venezuela moves around its tank battalions, Hugo Chavez doesn't have the force projection needed to properly launch an invasion. More likely he's simply using the military as a wall to provide FARC guerrillas with a safe haven within his borders.

Again, I doubt that war will happen. There's a chance that we might have an "incident" along the border, but no one is going to blatantly invade.

3/5/2008 9:56:02 PM

hey DG, you should submit this one to http://www.whitewhine.com

3/5/2008 10:01:06 PM

Quote :

"Saber rattling is one of Chavez's few tricks, but it works pretty well for him in terms of domestic popularity."

Oh I know I'm not the only one that smirked when reading this...

3/7/2008 3:42:15 AM