They don’t really care much about a base there. That is just them screwing with us because we do the same thing around their borders constantly.
This is a pattern with Putin. When we raised the price of a US non-immigrant visa to 160 bucks, he raised the cost of a Russian tourist visa to 160 bucks only for Americans.
When Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two longtime vacation houses the Russian embassy owned, he expelled 35 US diplomats and closed some American R&R spots.
He cares about Venezuela for one reason. It’s a way to do to us, exactly what we do to him.
Their interest in Venezuela is probably fairly fleeting.
No he’d love to have a base there but Trump ain’t lettin that happen. Maduro is on his way out. One way or the other.
Russia has a significan investment at risk in Venezuela, but nothing like China does.
Russia already had supply ports in the Carib- China doesn’t.
Money talks and China is ten times as rich as Russia.
Money talks, but sometimes through others.
I can;t see Russia disappointing its’ main benefactor in Venezueala- or passing up all the money China will pay them to protect China’s investments there.
You have this exactly right. It is called reciprocity in diplomatic circles. On the visas, to be fair though, the US policy for virtually all countries is reciprocity in pricing. Our base application price is $160.00. If another country charges Americans over $160.00 for a visa, we tack on the difference as an additional fee.