Newspaper Article of the Day

From the December 6th Gulf Times (Doha):

President Hugo Chavez has blamed "criminal" capitalism for global climate phenomena including incessant rains that have brought chaos to Venezuela, killing 32 people and leaving 70,000 homeless.

Worst hit is the coastal area of the South American Opec member nation where millions live in precarious hillside shantytowns and mudslides have been toppling rickety houses. . .

Taking up a familiar theme, Chavez, the most vocal leader in Latin America’s ALBA bloc of left-wing governments, lashed the "arrogance" of rich nations. ALBA is urging radical change and far-reaching targets at the Mexico talks.

"The environmental imbalance capitalism has caused is without doubt the fundamental cause of the alarming atmospheric phenomena," he wrote in his weekly opinion column. "The world’s powerful economies insist on a destructive way of life and then refuse to take any responsibility."

Though such talk has won praise from some campaigners, Venezuela is an unlikely climate champion given it is a major global oil exporter and also a famously consumerist society.

If capitalism is so "criminal," shouldn't Citgo give away free gas?