Posted on 06/02/2019 8:26:56 AM PDT by ameribbean expat
MOSCOW—Russia has withdrawn key defense advisers from Venezuela, an embarrassment for President Nicolás Maduro as Moscow weighs the leader’s political and economic resilience against growing U.S. pressure. Russian state defense contractor Rostec, which has trained Venezuelan troops and advised on securing arms contracts, has cut its staff in Venezuela to just a few dozen, from about 1,000 at the height of cooperation between Moscow and Caracas several years ago, said a person close to the Russian defense ministry. The gradual pullout, which has escalated over the last several months, according to people familiar with the situation, is due to a lack of new contracts and the acceptance that Mr. Maduro’s regime no longer has the cash to continue to pay for other Rostec services associated with past contracts.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Which is why I wrote “outside powers” and not Russian.
I know we (the US) has done the same thing and I wish we did not. It never seems to work out. I am all for ending all foreign aid. Relations between nations should be based on mutual self interest.
I don’t doubt their allegiance, but it is an allegiance born of ignorance. The same kind of ignorance we see with the 40% of people who still believe Putin put Trump in the oval office.
The power of the media, culture, and academia to shape history and current events should never be underestimated. They promote a false agenda and it is highly effective because people are lazy and they accept the credibility of these sources.
This can only exist in ignorance. Socialism is one of the most destructive forces in human history by any measure. These people sell a utopia that has never existed and ignore the abject misery it produces.
The Russians must be starting to view Venezuela as a sinking ship, and they want off this modern day version of the Titanic.
Me thinks President Trump has also dangled some goodies in front of the Russians. Possibly a future trade deal or the easing of sanctions.
Not at all. The Russians are masters of deception and disinformation. They are excellent chess players, who think many moves ahead of their opponents. On the other hand, many if not most of us have a difficult enough time with simple checkers.
Working closely with the Dems, they damn near pulled off one of their grandest deceptions yet, in a failed joint-attempt to dirty-up Trump and help Hillary win the election.
Maduro’s and Venezuela”S credit line just went below zero.
President Trump knows how to use cash or lack of it as a great persuader.
More winning.
The Russians have essentially no fleet now. Long term direct support would be difficult. Proxy support through the Cubans is their only viable choice. But is that really worth it, the Cubans will demand their cut those driving Russian costs up. How long will the current Cuban regime stay? Raoul is no spring chicken either. The Russians may be making a long term calculation that its not worth a big commitment.
I seriously doubt that. He knows now more than ever before what the Russians are about.
Good points. In any event, China is making its move all over the world.
And China is building a fleet.
Not saying it will be any good. But they are giving themselves better blue water capability.
Soocialism even failed when it owned the largest oil reserves in the world. Now that should bury the philosophy alone.
Have to come to believe they are possessed. Yeah...some no doubt by evil spirits...but you can be possessed by an ideology. Political correctness can possess you and control your mind. Socialism uses the candy wrapper, no more poor, and that is how it slips in and takes control. But as you can see in Venezuela, you end up with more poor because you simply end up with unproductive rich.
Yep. Cost-benefit analysis can be brutal. At this point the Venezuelans don't actually have any cash that the Russians didn't lend them, so that snake was eating its own tail anyway. Somebody in Moscow asked, "what is this costing us?" and then "what do we stand to gain?" and then, fatally, "when?"
I can see the attraction of Venezuela as a naval base at first look, simply because there is, or ought to be, fuel there. Without that, or an all-nuke Russian fleet, there really isn't much point. And there is the historically dire condition of the Russian navy, whose only aircraft carrier is currently sunk at Roslyakovo, sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time, time, time. They're thinking about scrapping her to put her out of her misery.
The other potential is the tremendous Venezuelan oil reserves, with which Venezuela's two remaining refineries can do nothing and its stolen extraction facilities can no longer produce anyway. Rosneft sank millions into attempting to recover the infrastructure and found it was peeing in the ocean. An internal Russian auditor was quoted as saying, "It will be like this for eternity." You might call that a dim forecast.
The damage done to the electrical infrastructure is well known and now may be the chief obstruction to rebuilding the oil industry. Venezuela really can't afford to take it down long enough to fix it even if funding were available and the industries that they've methodically plundered are crazy enough to take on the project. Neither of those conditions apply. So, yeah, the Russkies are pulling up stakes. Which brings us to the question, just how bad does it have to be when all the oil in the ground isn't enough?
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving dictator.
So Russia is apparently giving up their beachhead in South America...doesn’t sound like they’re very expansionist to me, although I’m sure the NeverTrumpers consider this article to be fake news.
We really should be watching China, and A LOT CLOSER.
LOL !
“Running out of other people’s money.”
Not only that, but, Maduro already shipped tons of gold out of the country.
My first thought as well.
His daughter is more than eight richer than Hellery!
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