"Don't Mess With Me, Girl"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice not to "mess with" him after Rice recently described Venezuela as a menace to regional democracy.

Why should we care if some South American "President" gets angry at Rice? Venezuela is one of the world's top oil exporters, that's why.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple him and has accused the United States of plotting the coup d'etat that ousted him in 2002. Chavez, a former soldier turned politician, has promised to create "socialist revolution" in Venezuela and promote regional integration to roll back U.S. supported economic reforms. The man looks and sounds to be from the same mold as Cuba's Castro. Panama's Noregia also comes to mind.

So it seems we have yet another Latin American dictator -- elected democratically, of course -- that is intent on making enemies of the United States, a fist waving hothead who has control over a major source of the world's oil supply. According to some sources, his rise to power is a classic story of intrigue, intimidation, bribery, threats and murder.

A man like this can respond only to greater strength, greater power, greater muscle. He is like the Muslims who won't talk to, won't listen to, or even acknowledge the presence of a female. There are millions of men in the Muslim world who refuse to even talk when a woman is present. To them, women are to be treated as nothing more than property, with no voice whatever in any decision making process, or allowed to partake in any conversation, unless specifically invited to do so. They have been raised from infancy to believe this without question. Men with this attitude certainly exist and can readily be found in positions of power almost anywhere you look in the non-western world. In the non-western nations where progress towards equality has been made, it has generally been made at the point of the American or English bayonet.

This is a fact that the Bush administration fails to understand or intentionally ignores. Bush sends women around the world to represent the United states and it's interests, including to these nations where women have no voice, no stature, no power. These women, such as Condaleeza Rice, are backed by American military muscle, and are granted audience with the leaders of these nations because they fear us. They appear to listen and communicate with these women because they don't want the American military invading their nations, or have America force UN-backed sanctions and blockades against them.

They appear to listen and agree with the Bush appointed women. They nod, they converse, they even smile and promise to do or consider whatever sounds good while the cameras roll. But once these women leave, it's back to normal. The disgust, hatred and contempt felt toward any man -- or nation -- who would let a woman do the talking returns with a vengeance, and any possible progress is lost.

This is the world that Arab leaders and men like Venezuelan President Chavez operate in. They believe that when leaders of nations speak, it must be the leaders themselves, or men of strength and stature representing the leader, someone who can be talked to, deals made with, agreements signed. Face-to-face meetings like those conducted by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin are what is admired and desired. Ignore this reality, and you have a tinhorn dictator like Chavez spitting in Rice's face.

This attitude will not go away because the the American government has decided to rub western style feminism in their faces. It is generational, and will take years to disappear. If we want to make progress with these nations and their leaders, we need to -- at least for now -- accept the reality that using women, no matter how skilled or talented, will not get the job done, and that "gunboat" diplomacy is fast fading away as a useful American tool.