[DonaldC]

I guess we don’t have to worry much about Russia yet. hehe

[reagan_fanatic]

The Venezuelan participation in the exercises was finally reduced to two frigates, F21 and F24, and the transport ship T81, since the other units were not seaworthy

LOL!!!

[AU72]

Mikalevitch’s Navy.

[mylife]

Chavez tried to visit the ship “Admiral Chabanenko,” his bodyguards were not allowed to go aboard. A fistfight broke between the Russian sailors and the bodyguards

Ha Ha Ha!

[LiberConservative]

The access of Chavez to the flagship Russian “Peter the Great” was not allowed. In retaliation, Chavez refused to receive Russian President Medvedev at his arrival ...

That went well. LOL!!

[TheWasteLand]

Highly amusing. Thanks.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

MERRY CHRISTMAS IVAN.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Charlie Foxtrot.

[Tarpon]

Well if this isn’t an episode for keystone cops, then I guess they could always rerun the great Venezuelan socialist society story.

In Valenzuela, inflation is running at about 50%, the oil company is passing out weekly milk rations of two quarts — Venezuela if you recall is where all the US Socialist Democrats went on their Hugo boot-licking trips in the last few years. Venezuela is the Democrats template for success.

[denydenydeny]

The most unsurprising story of the year.

[mylife]

This is the best news I have heard all year.

Makes me hopeful that Chingalera head wont get ICBM’s

Stoopid pompous bastard

[Tribune7]

I would not laugh too hard considering we are starting the Obama years.

[DeaconRed]

Company Ten Hut!
Dismissed

[vigilence]

In my opinion the real reasons Ivan visited Chavez was a tit for tat because of our “intrusion” into their sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Our courting of Poland, etc and positioning ABMs there to protect from Mid Eastern (Iranian) threats rendered Moscow’s Mutually Assured Destruction defense policies neutered. Now they have to develop their own ABMs with a defensive posture rather than depending upon a decades old defense through offense policy.

[Star Traveler]

The wacko, Chavez, is someone that no one actually wants around... LOL..

[gridlock]

The access of Chavez to the flagship Russian “Peter the Great” was not allowed. In retaliation, Chavez refused to receive Russian President Medvedev at his arrival, sending his colorless vice president Ramon Carrizales instead. Medvedev was reportedly not amused, but his visit had objectives to fulfill that were more important than his irritation at Chavez’s faulty protocol. Twenty-three agreements were signed, including the creation of a joint Russian-Venezuelan bank with $4 billion initial capital, direct flights Caracas-Moscow, a new aluminum smelter, Russian participation in the Venezuelan oil and gas sectors and the possible development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

It is a sad state of affairs when the tin-plated dictator of Venezuela has a greater grasp of the realities of international diplomacy than the President-Elect of the United States.

Note that this state visit had preconditions, with 23 agreements to be signed. The visit could not have gone worse, but the important thing was that the pre-negotiated agreements were finalized. This is the way adults handle their affairs in the Real World.

Compare this to the magical thinking of our President-Elect's, where preconditions and negotiated agreements are irrelevant, and the only thing that matters is that leaders sit down face-to-face to talk frankly about their problems.

[texmexis best]

I think they sailed to Venezuela so that the warm Carribean seas would rust out their ships faster.

Say, how about a live electical cable laid on the bottom of their harbor?

[narses]

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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[DogBarkTree]

Great report. Thanks for posting. Africa and Latin America are Tar Babies so the Chicoms and Russians can cozy up all they want. They’ll get nothing but trouble for all of their wasted efforts and money.

[Islander7]

ARV Mariscal Sucre (F-21) and ARV Almirante Brión (F-22) were upgraded by Ingalls Shipbuilding (Pascagoula, Mississippi) over a four years period (1998–2002). Modifications have included:

* Fitting of Elbit NTCS 2000 combat management system
* Fitting of Elta EL/M-2238 Single Face STAR 3D air/surface radar
* Fitting of Northrop Grumman 21 HS-7 hull sonar
* Fitting of Elisra NS-9003 ESM system
* Fitting of Elisra NS-9005 ECM system
* Replacement of 2 GMT A230-20M diesel engines with 2 MTU 20V 1163.


The other ships in Venezuelan service are expected to undergo an austere version of this upgrade.

--------- Snip

We seem to make a habit of training, arming and refitting our enemies.

I actually sold medical equipment to the Venezuelan Navy for this ship. It was before I was aware of the politics there.

My nephews worked on the refit. They told me these ships were the filthiest, worst maintained they had ever seen.