What should be done about this act of war?

Question

Venezuela to seize foreign oil projects

By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, AP Business Writer 9 minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez ordered by decree on Monday the takeover of oil projects run by foreign oil companies in Venezuela's Orinoco River region.

Chavez had previously announced the government's intention to take a majority stake by May 1 in four heavy oil-upgrading projects run by British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_oil_nationalization

We need to attack this snake and cut off his head now. He needs a tomahawk suppository.

Answer 1

Decapitate the Venezuelan govt.

Answer 2

Sovereign countries have an absolute right to nationalize and expropriate. Exercising this right has high costs because future trade and investment will be curtailed. The solution is simple: stop buying oil from Venezuela and there will be no profit in the expropriation.
For investors, the risk of nationalization is part of the cost of doing business in foreign countries. I think that the managers that run the major oil companies are sophisticated enough to know the risks and invest accordingly. If the managers make too many mistakes the stock market will punish them. The managers can cover the loss by pushing the price of gas to $5 a gallon a few months ahead of schedule to keep investors happy.

Answer 3

Chavez is just as bad as Bin Laden, if not worse. He is vehemently anti-American and his country is another country that we get our oil from that despises us. This act is showing that. Our country needs to get off its fanny and start coming up with new ways to power our vehicles and make our electricity. If we don't we are going to be at the mercy of these people. Our government definitely dropped the ball in this arena, but what are you going to do, big oil has lobbyists that are willing to spend millions on their interests. They care only about their huge profits and not about the country that is giving them billions so that they can have those huge profits.

Answer 4

I agree. This time we urge the UN to get involved economically if not militarily. If the UN refuses as it had with Iraq, Iran and North Korea, we expose them and publicly bash them. This could be an opportunity to root out the corruption in this international body. You are right indeed. Chavez is dangerous, maybe not to us directly, but he is capable of causing global instability, which is what the terrorists need right now.