AK-103 Assault Rifle
AK-104 Assault Rifle
Posted on 11/11/2005 8:30:32 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
CARACAS - Venezuela will receive the first of 100,000 Russian-made assault rifles starting next month in a deal struck earlier this year.
Russia will deliver 30,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and three helicopters to Venezuela by year's end, Russian and Venezuelan officials said during talks Thursday.
The first 15,000 rifles will arrive Dec. 15, with an identical shipment to follow on Dec. 30, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.
They will be the first weapons under a deal for 100,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov AK-103 and AK-104 rifles signed in May by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's government. The remaining 70,000 rifles will arrive in March, Zhukov said.
President Bush has expressed concern that the guns could fall into the hands of other groups, such as leftist Colombian rebels, and become a destabilizing force in South America.
AN INTERNAL AFFAIR
But Venezuelan officials call that prospect ridiculous and say the rifles will be used to replace outdated FAL rifles used by the Venezuelan military. They have urged the U.S. government not to meddle in Venezuela's internal affairs.
Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel said the military agreements ''are absolutely normal'' and are a sovereign matter of Venezuela.
Three helicopters bought from Russia will arrive by the end of the year, Rangel said.
Russia agreed to sell Venezuela's military 10 helicopters in March, including Mi-17s, Mi-35s and one Mi-26T, for $120 million. A Venezuelan general announced a deal for five additional Mi-17 helicopters in June for $81 million.
NEW PARTNERSHIP?
Both Rangel and Zhukov said they expect trade to increase dramatically in the coming years between the two nations as they increase cooperation and trade in areas from the oil industry to mining.
Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, and has sought foreign firms' involvement in various oil projects.
Trade between Russia and Venezuela neared $65.5 million in the past 10 months, and in the future could increase fivefold, Rangel said.
The Venezuelan vice president extended a formal invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit the South American country, saying the two governments have ''excellent relations.'' Chávez visited Moscow last year.
In the oil industry, Venezuela is teaming up with Russian oil firm Lukoil to calculate heavy oil reserves in the east of the country, and state-run Russian energy firm Gazprom recently won two natural gas licenses for zones off Venezuela's western coast.
''We're going to strengthen ties in oil and gas,'' Zhukov said. He also said Russia planned to start assembling buses, tractors, generators and other equipment in Venezuela.
Chavez is also buying weapons from the "Benign" Peoples Repbublic of China and from rogue states.
Sadly, Putin has taken Russia in a direction where it will be ripe to return to Communism, and away from true Christianity.
I don't think so. Russia and China are too "Buddy Buddy" right now.
Before WWII, so were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Alliances between countries do change over time, and sometimes overnight.
The Russian Empire expanded in the Far East by annexing Chinese territory, land that is rich in natural resources--resources that China's growing economy has need of. So, the Russians will sell those resources to the Chinese, in the short term at least.
The ethnic Chinese in these areas may at some time in the future demand greater independence from Moscow and closer relations with China. I think this is a ticking time bomb for the Russians. China will simply sit back and wait patiently, keeping their cards close to the chest.
Does this mean Russia is "exporting its gun culture," a la the U.S. to Toronto?
Which, of course, will....
The FAL is a beautiful and classic military weapon, .308, accurate to way out there. British squaddies in Iraq wished they had it back when their tricky, cute and o-so-moderne bullpups started to crap out.
Yea, Russia is our friend - like a broken leg every week.
Two words:
Monroe Doctrine
I was on a business trip in El Salvador and I saw tons of people carry the FAL. Many of them were dirt poor farmers. I thought it was very cool.
The bear never sleeps....
We know about Putin arming Iran, Syria, Hamas in Gaza & Hugo's Venezuela. A little closer to home, in Castro's red Cuba, what anti-American evil deeds are Putin's Kremlin henchmen up to 90 miles off Key West?
Actually you mean one single act of war.
They will fight one another once the US/Britian/Israel/Australia/Japan/S.Korea/Taiwan/India alliance becomes less of a threat to them. Also, they will wait until the Islamoradical threat is neutralised.
At least Venezuela has national sovereignty.
Too bad the red carpet at the Mexican border has caused the USA to lose her national sovereignty.
Russia isn't anyone's friend right now.....
But they ARE willing to sell to the highest bidder....
AK-103 Assault Rifle
AK-104 Assault Rifle
Venezuela: Citizen Reserves to Defend Against 'External Aggression'
...The AK-103 rifles are to replace the Belgian-made light automatic FAL rifles that the Venezuelan armed forces have used for half a century.
The Chávez administration, refuting allegations that it is starting an arms race, says it is merely replacing obsolete equipment.
But a retired navy officer commented to IPS, "The question one could ask is what will they do with the 120,000 or 150,000 FAL rifles that must be in the country. Will they go toward arming the reservists?"
Chávez said he had ordered joint civil-military maneuvers and other activities because "in the context of an asymmetric war, participation by the people is indispensable in defending the country and our national sovereignty."...
Ebay.
Gazprom to deliver Russian natural gas to USA
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/356/13883_gazprom.html
its just cash
oil
gas guns
uranium
sell it all...
sad world
<< Yes, Russia should be our natural ally. But it's beginning to look as if it doesn't want to play ball.
How would the Russians like it if we shipped 30,000 weapons to the Chechnyan terrorists? >>
Probaly quite a lot more than they liked it when the Cli'ton/Blair/NATO Neo-Axis picked up where Hitler left off and with his Balkans' islamanazi hiers and successors and sacked Sovereign Sebia!
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