The American linguist Noam Chomsky, a prominent source of intellectual inspiration for President Hugo Chávez, made a new appeal on Wednesday for the release of María Lourdes Afiuni, a judge arrested two years ago by the secret intelligence police.

If you find it a little surprising that Chomsky's views on international affairs would be reported in the Paper of Record, and if you'd be inclined to believe the Times finds his views newsworthy only because Chomsky is criticizing Chavez (which they've done before)... well, you might  not be the only one. Here's what Chomsky said about it to the Guardian:

Despite his appeal for Afiuni's release, Chomsky has been critical of the media's coverage of the case. On Wednesday he suggested the case had received so much media attention only "because Venezuela is an official enemy" [of the United States]. "I am involved in these appeals all the time but I get no calls unless it is an enemy of the US," Chomsky said. "This is more a comment on the media than on the case."

Chavez governs like the host of a reality show, cameras always rolling as he presides over summits, hectors opponents and warns of diabolical American plots to unseat him.

Wherever would he get such ridiculous ideas.

Debate in Washington about Hugo Chávez --to the extent that it exists--generally centers on whether the Venezuelan strongman is a genuine threat to the United States or a buffoonish nuisance who is best ignored.

This narrow debate over Chavez's rule in Venezuela is something FAIR has documented on the country's top op-ed pages.

Of course, Diehl's point is that Chavez is a genuine threat, so anyone who takes the other position--that he's  merely an annoying buffoon--is naive.

Margolis argues that when Iranian protesters used Twitter to criticize their government, it was seen as a "tool of revolution and freedom." Not so in Venezuela, though, where Chavez "has figured out how to twist this tool into one of repression."

"Far from embracing the democratic spirit of the Web," Margolis writes, Chavez ("the Venezuelan strongman")  want to use the technology to get people "to spy on each other." Margolis writes:

El Presidente has hired a staff of 200 to deal with tweeted "requests, denunciations, and other problems," which have resulted in actions against allegedly credit-stingy banks and currency speculators.

Banks and currency speculators? Well, that sounds chilling indeed.

Margolis adds that Chavez is "considering going a step further, and ruling that all Venezuelan websites must move from U.S.-based servers to domestic ones--which would, of course, make them far easier to control. Big Brother would be proud." That would seem to be a reference to a current debate in the Venezuelan parliament, so it's unclear how Chavez might "rule" that this happen. And it's worth reiterating that, as Chavez supporters have noted for years, the private media in the country are intensely critical of his politics, and were instrumental in supporting the coup that briefly removed him from power.

If Chavez wants to use media as a "tool of repression," he's not doing a very good job.