Robert Amsterdam

Holy cow - you've got imagine that any government who lands a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has got to cringe a little bit with the hyperbolic statements he tends to make afterward. This one comes from the Wall Street Journal report on the Venezuela-China agreement to build two oil refineries ... a creeping relationship we've been warning about for a while.

"China is showing the world that it isn't necessary to harm anyone to be a great power. They are soldiers of peace," he said, according to a Venezuelan government statement. Asked about his absence from talks this week on the sidelines of the United Nations in New York, Mr. Chavez said: "It's much more important to be in Beijing than in New York."