Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez talks to the press during the opening of
a Socialist Christmas Bazaar in Caracas November 20, 2010.
REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
Posted on 11/27/2010 2:08:00 PM PST by NormsRevenge
(Reuters) - Russia gave Venezuela a $4 billion credit to buy weapons when President Hugo Chavez visited Moscow last month, adding to billions the socialist leader has already spent on re-equipping the army.
Venezuela and Russia have forged deep ties in energy and defense, with Russian investment flowing into the OPEC member's oil fields at the same time as Chavez has become one of Moscow's most important weapons customers.
Washington views with suspicion Chavez's purchases of tanks, fighter jets and air defense systems in the last few years but the soldier-turned-president says he is merely modernizing Venezuela's aging kit.
"We were in Russia not long ago and the Russian government has now given us a $4 billion credit to help us with defense equipment," Chavez said on Saturday at a ceremony to celebrate 90 years of Venezuela's air force.
"We are simply doing the task of defending the fatherland from the threat of empire and its allies."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez talks to the press during the opening of
a Socialist Christmas Bazaar in Caracas November 20, 2010.
REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks during his weekly broadcast 'Alo Presidente' at Miraflores Palace in Caracas November 14, 2010. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talk during a meeting in Havana November 9, 2010. Picture taken November 9, 2010. REUTERS/Courtesy of Cubadebate
Obama will send an aircraft carrier down toward Venezuela; Chavez will say we’d better not enter Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone; Obama will recall the carrier. Thanks NormsRevenge.
Mike
Who is the guy on the right, a barber?
Communism needs the military to keep it going.
So the Russians are meddling in our hemisphere, once again, but we have a clueless academic moron for president, so nothing will happen to respond.
is this the same “state of the art” equipment that did so well for Iraq?
guns for oil, like that was something new...
his barber? Hardly! No, its Chavez’s personal trainer.
Russia off-loads 2nd-rate weapons at inflated prices to power-hungry Chavez. Russia “loan” is credit, only redeemable for Russian-made weapons. Principal motivation for Putin to do this is to keep US distracted on Southern flank, while Russia makes trouble in Eastern Europe and ME. 70s redux.
The expanded USSR continues on our southern flank.
Query Google News and you get ZERO hits on:
“Socialist Christmas Bazaar”
make that Bizarre instead of Bazaar . ;-)
>>>>>>>>>>>I don’t understand why Putin is trying to reassemble the cold war? To what purpose? How can Russia gain from it. It can’t be all about selling weapons? Maybe it’s just payback for the US winning the cold war. Putin is dangerous though...
Mike>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What about Venezuelian oil?
Mike
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