Chavez & Amadi-Nejad Against 'Imperialism' Vs Saudi Global Role.

Visiting Iran, President Hugo Chaves and President Ahmadi-Nejad on Sept. 5 pledged to unite against the US and other Western powers they perceive as imperialistic. Chavez was on an 11-day tour which had taken him to Libya on Sept. 1, Algeria, Syria and Iran. He was to visit Belarus, Russia and Spain in the trip he described as a bid to build a "multi-polar world" and counter US influence.

Chavez said Iran was "a true strategic ally" to his country and defended Iran's right to a nuclear programme. He praised Iran for standing up to alleged attempts by "Western forces" to destabilise it after the June 12 vote. Chavez said: "Iran had been strengthened" - referring to the mass street protests by the Iranian opposition at vote rigging. During their Sept. 5 meeting Ahmadi-Nejad said the two states had "important missions to help the oppressed and revolutionary nations and to expand the anti-imperialist front in the world". But fellow supremacists later severely criticised Ahmadi-Nejad for having taken Chavez into the inner sanctum of the holy shrine of Imam Redha (in Iran spelt Reza) in Mashhad.

By contrast, Saudi Arabia projects itself as a stabiliser of the global oil market and is opposed to Iranian attempts to get OPEC to lower production so that oil prices are raised. Saudi Arabia now has a crude oil production capacity of 12.5m b/d. Producing about 8.3m b/d, Saudi Arabia has the largest spare supply capacity in the world (see omt11QatrExprtSep14-09).