Go figure. One would wish for something consistent in philosophy, rather than pure expedience chasing profits.

Chavez is enormously popular with Venezuelans, except for a few CIA bloggers and others supported by the US propaganda machines, the State Department and DoD. But with logic characteristic of US conservatives, he's an enemy.

And, meanwhile, in Pakistan is a military dictator beloved by US conservatives insisting on democracy throughout the world. These pseudo-elections so characteristic of Bush, eg Afghanistan and Iraq, are for people who take their orders from the dictator and military.

Elections in Pakistan: Real or a Hoax?

""A few days before Pakistan's recent elections, the Jang newspaper quoted an Islamabad-based Western diplomat as saying: 'We'll see a hung parliament, and most likely the Prime Minister will be from one of the pro-government parties'. One can only speculate if this was a remarkable example of clairvoyance, or if this was more a reflection of how Washington and Islamabad had planned for the outcome to be.

Whereas domestic observers pointed to numerous irregularities in the electoral process, the US was quick to give the elections a clean chit. Writing for the Dawn newspaper, Masood Haider (Oct 12) reported: "The United States said on Friday it accepted the election results in Pakistan as being a credible representation of the full range of opinion in the country". That voter turnout was estimated to be as low as 12 to 15 per cent by Pakistan's Tehrik-i-Insaaf (or around 20% by the PML-N) obviously did not appear to concern US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. Neither did it seem to worry him how a wide range of election participants and observers had criticized the conduct of the polls and the entire electoral process."

"At some polling stations in Punjab, indelible ink was missing, allowing some voters to cast more than one vote. At other locations, polling stations were changed at the last minute, or valid electoral lists were missing thus preventing legitimate voters from casting their votes. Many voters complained that their names had been omitted from the electoral lists even though they had voted in the previous elections and had not changed residence. Others complained that when they arrived at polling stations they were told that their votes had already been cast. In Kasur district no responsible authority knew where a particular polling station was.

"The HRCP also noted that in Sindh, non-Muslim voters were forcibly prevented from casting votes. At some polling stations in Punjab non-Muslim voters' names were missing from the lists. Ahmadis boycotted the polls because they had been unjustifiably put on a separate list. In the north-western tribal areas poll-watchers said not a single woman had cast ballots as of mid-morning, after vows from tribesmen and Islamic party candidates to prevent women from voting."