Thug wants to hug

Hugo Chavez, not a man usually credited with having good ideas in these parts, has a doozy of a bad idea for his coming trip to Europe:

King Juan Carlos sparked a furor in November by shouting "Why don't you shut up?" at Chavez when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the Ibero-American summit in Chile.

Ties have improved since then and the Spanish government said last week that Chavez will meet the king on a visit to Spain next week.

"I'd like to give the king a hug, but you know, Juan Carlos, that I am not going to shut up," a smiling Chavez said on his weekly television show before setting of to Russia for the first leg of his tour.

Now, I don't know a lot about diplomatic protocol, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to hug royalty unless you happen to be related to them. Even then, it might be kind of dodgy. And I can say with some certainty that the King of Spain probably doesn't want a hug from Hugo. I know I wouldn't.