Chavez Stirring The Pot

Hugo Chavez is not only stirring things up with Argentina and the Falkland Islands. He's also trying to get things stirred up in Africa. Speaking at an African Union summit, he is calling for Africa to join with Latin America (read Venezuela and Cuba) against the US.

Chavez, whose repeated criticism of America has raised hackles in Washington, called on an African Union summit to cooperate with Latin America in everything from oil production to university education to counter "colonial" meddling in developing nations.

Citing the example of Venezuela and Bolivia, he urged Africa to seize greater control of its energy resources. He described the low royalty payments made by some foreign oil companies as "robbery."

"We should march together, Africa and Latin America, brother continents with the same roots … Only together can we change the direction of the world," he told the opening day of the AU summit, to applause.

"The world is threatened by the hegemony of the North American empire," said the former paratrooper, following speeches from African leaders which had criticized colonialism.

Africa's abundant natural resources — ranging from precious metals to iron ore and oil — should make it a wealthy continent if it were freed from outside exploitation, Chavez said.

"Africa has everything to become a pole of world power in the 21st century. Latin America and the Caribbean are equipped to become another pole," he said.

He's also trying to buddy up to Iran, who's president is also attending the summit. This is the direct result of the internal disarray the world sees in the US right now.