PING – Hugo is at it again!
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HugoPing Archive
Posted on 07/27/2006 10:33:07 AM PDT by Pokey78
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Russia had helped his country break a U.S.-imposed "blockade" by agreeing to sell Caracas fighter planes and helicopters worth billions of dollars.
Neither Chavez nor Russian leader Vladimir Putin gave details about any new deals signed Thursday, but Russia's defense minister said last week that Moscow had agreed to sell the oil-rich South American nation about 30 Su-30 fighter jets and some 30 military helicopters.
Putin said Thursday that Moscow and Caracas would prove "reliable partners" and - in comments clearly aimed at Washington - said their cooperation should not be viewed as being "aimed against any third country."
The head of Russia's state arms-trading agency, Sergei Chemezov, said Venezuela over the last 18 months had signed contracts for arms purchases including 24 military planes and 53 helicopters for more than $3 billion, the Interfax news agency reported.
The helicopter and fighter plane deal announced last week by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will cost Caracas $1 billion.
Chavez, who has become an increasing thorn in Washington's side because of his anti-U.S policies, is also hoping to set up Kalashnikov weapons and ammunition plants in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader spoke Thursday of the "astonishing progress in military-technical cooperation" - a euphemism for arms sales - and repeated his thanks to Putin for supplying Caracas with weaponry.
In opening remarks at his Kremlin meeting, Chavez said the fighter jets were critical because it was unable to purchase replacement parts for its aging fleet of U.S.-made F-16s.
The United States in May announced a ban on U.S. arms sales to Venezuela.
"We would like to thank you for delivering us from a blockade," Chavez said. "We were almost disarmed."
He also thanked Russia for supporting Venezuela's push for a non-permanent U.N. Security Council seat - which the U.S. government is lobbying to block.
Chavez has used surging oil revenues to modernize Venezuela's military, signing multibillion defense deals with Russia and Spain. Venezuela also has agreed to buy 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.
The United States underlined its opposition to the arms sales Tuesday, saying they were not helpful to regional stability, and urged Moscow to reconsider.
Russia's defense minister flatly dismissed the U.S. demands.
Moscow-based defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said that Russia, which has sold anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and Iran in defiance of U.S. criticism, saw Venezuela as a lucrative partner.
"Chavez wants to thumb his nose at the U.S. and the Russians are delighted to get his money," he said.
The Venezuelan arms deals are one of the many irritants in US-Russian relations that have chilled markedly in recent years amid U.S. criticism of Putin as backsliding on democratic reforms and using Russia's oil and gas reserves as instruments of political pressure.
However, Washington has shown little inclination to confront Russia with anything more than harsh statements.
Chavez, a leftist former army lieutenant colonel who has frequently warned that the United States could invade, is on an international tour that will take him onto Iran, Qatar and Vietnam.
On his way to Russia, the Venezuelan leader visited neighboring Belarus, where he met with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is dubbed "Europe's last dictator" in Washington and shares Chavez's strong anti-U.S. views.
I think little Hugo is all upset that nobody is paying attention to him...
yitbos
I thought Chavez was in Tehran today.
Sooner or later, the U.S. might have to open up a full can on Putin & Company.
They oppose us at every turn and economically fornicate with just about every known enemy of ours.
lay all today's problems at Billy BJ's feet.....he diddled while the world went crazy and our country is suffering for it now.....
we need to build up our military capacity.....I think we need to streamline our military pension system so we won't be like GM and many other entities that are buried by "obligations".....
we need to stop selling bases and start stock-piling arms and fuels ....
Ah, yes. Russia. The wannabe but also-ran "superpower". All Russia does is create havoc in the misguided belief that that makes it relevant. Pathetic really.
Real superpowers can feed their own people.
This is what happens when you cede to terrorists........WWIII.
Thank you Bill Clinton and gang for not protecting your country. The Clinton curse is more apparent than ever.....
We should start selling a HUGE arsenal to Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Hungary. Cruise missiles, anti-missile defense, helos, ships... you name it. We should also start a full scale covert electronic warfare program against Hugo. Tap into banks, military installations, their oil system, etc... planting code bombs, changing numbers/dates and just generally wreaking havok on his ability to function in any way. Cripple the little puke.
Weaken him now before he gets out of hand.
& Russian Putin thanks Venezuela for the $BILLION$
Look a little further south in S. America and you find a lot of Arabs. Paraguay has the largest population, or so I'm told.
Knowing the Russians Chavez was probably ripped off.
The region is called La Triple Frontera. It is a hotbed of drug production, Al Qaeda and Hizbollah activity, outlawry, smuggling, etc. What government there is there is open to corruption by criminal and terrorist elements. The perfect place to establish a jihadistan.
Slap a bunch of cruise missiles and planes in the Ukraine and Poland. That will get Putin's red panties in a bunch.
"Slap a bunch of cruise missiles and planes in the Ukraine and Poland. That will get Putin's red panties in a bunch."
And throw in that we are helping Poland build "peaceful nuclear power reactors." We'll assure the world community like Russia does that we will take back the processed plutonium but will find a clever way not too also like the Russians have. We'll tell Poland not to pay like Russia did to Iran and then when Poland defaults (like Iran) they get to keep the plutonium.
Putin and Russia haven't changed a BIT since the wall went down. One of my best friends is from Ukraine... she can tell you all about it. Russia is almost certainly going to go back to Communism. And while Leftist in the US and Europe will simultaneously blame the USA for it and quietly celebrate it at cocktail parties, no one in the west will openly admit the real reason for it: Russians, like Muslims, LIKE dictatorship. They NEED dictatorship. They LIKE oppression. ... But that would be insensitive to say that So instead we'll just blame George Bush.
I recall an article in Atlantic about the three country border area... It didn't sound good.
You are right on. Putin is no friend of ours and it's a further example of Bush's naivete that he claimed Putin was some kind of soulmate. Reagan would have never made such a mistake. Now the Russians are stirring up trouble in our backyard and helping arm our enemies.
Radical Islamists are only part of the threat. What about the Chinese? Does anyone really think they are arming to the teeth for nothing? I think we are facing the most dangerous period in our country's history. And where are our allies? You can count them on one hand.
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