When oil prices reached their zenith, Venezuelan wanna-be dictator Hugo Chavez nationalized his oil industry, chased Western oil companies out and declared that he could run things better anyway. After production dropped sharply, Chavez tried partnering with other socialist states like Iran, China, and Belarus to reverse the decline. Now, IHT reports that with Venezuela near collapse, Chavez has come back to Western oil companies to rescue him from his own incompetence: