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In a letter to then Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev regarding his role in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro reflected upon the possible use of nuclear weapons during the U.S.-Soviet confrontation, “It was my opinion that, in case of an American invasion [Cuba], a massive and total nuclear strike would have to be launched.” Given Castro’s affection for nuclear weapons, it should come as no surprise to observers that the aging terrorist has befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Just last week, Ahmadinejad, a recognized anti-Semite and human rights violator, threatened unspecified retaliation against the West unless it...

Prosecutors in New York have charged a Chinese businessman and his company with a conspiracy relating to the sale of sensitive materials to Iran, covert transactions that prosecutors say violated United Nations bans aimed at restraining Tehran’s rocket and nuclear ambitions. According to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan on Tuesday, the Chinese company sold tungsten, high-strength steels and exotic metals to the Defense Industries Organization, an arm of the Iranian military, from 2006 to 2008, often using shell companies to hide the transactions. Both Defense Industries and the Chinese parent company, the Limmt Economic and Trade Company, are banned by...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela will install an advanced air-defense system with anti-aircraft missiles capable of shooting down approaching enemy warplanes, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday. Chavez, who has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting to overthrow him, said the missiles would help defend the oil-rich country against any "aggression." "We're going to acquire the most modern anti-aircraft defense system," Chavez said during a televised speech in the coastal state of Falcon, where military planes and newly purchased Russian helicopters swooped overhead during a military parade. "We're going to armor Venezuela." He said the air defense system would protect...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shored up opposition to a U.S. drive to curb Iran's nuclear program on a visit to Venezuela on Sunday that cemented an anti-American front with President Hugo Chavez. Ahmadinejad's first trip to Venezuela highlighted Iran's backing for the fellow OPEC country's bid for a U.N. Security Council seat that Chavez would use to challenge Washington's campaign for international sanctions against Tehran. Chavez, who Washington calls a destabilizing, anti-democratic force, cast the visit as two countries jointly defying what he says is the imperialist aggression of the world's only superpower. "Iran is one of...

CARACAS - Latin Briefs Venezuela is reportedly planning to buy three Russian submarines to modernize its navy's fleet in the latest potential military deal between the two countries. Venezuela is set to purchase three Amur-class submarines to replace its German Type 209 submarines, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported Sunday. The diesel-electric submarines are equipped with an anti-ship weapon system that enables the vessels to fire Club-S missiles and torpedoes from 10 torpedo tubes in the bow, RIA-Novosti said. Venezuela's state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported last week that the navy was also seeking bids from the governments of South Korea,...

Russia has struck a deal to provide Iran with short-range, surface-to-air missiles, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday. He defended the deal, saying that the weapons system was purely defensive. Russian media reported Friday that Russian and Iranian officials had signed various weapons contracts in November worth a billion dollars (?850 million) that would send up to 30 Tor-M1 missile systems to Iran over the next two years. ''A contract for the delivery of air defense Tor missile systems to Iran has indeed been signed,'' Ivanov said in comments broadcast by the state channel Rossiya, without giving further details.

Love at First Sight Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) greets Venezualan President Hugo Chavez in Tehran July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN) Last November, MataHarley mentioned about how Russia was planning to help Hugo Chavez build a nuclear energy program. Of course, like the typical power-hungry dictator that he is, all he claims to want is to acquire nuclear power for clean energy and peaceful medical purposes. At this point, they are still in the planning stages, with Chavez explaining, "not to worry, folks": "I say it before the world: Venezuela is going to start the process of developing nuclear...

RUSSIA has sent supersonic bombers capable of carrying nuclear missiles to one of Venezuela’s islands in the Caribbean Sea, according to reports. This follows news earlier in the month that the former-Soviet state was planning to set up its first military base in the Caribbean after striking a deal with cash-strapped Venezuela. Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro did not object to the proposals, according to Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The deployment will represent the one of the largest postings of the Russian military in the region since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Under Venezuelan law, military bases cannot be...

With Iranian nuclear aspirations gaining notice, it's worth directing attention to the growing relationship between Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. The Reagan administration repulsed Soviet efforts to set up camp in Central America. Iranian designs on Venezuela perhaps deserve similar U.S. attention. The warmth and moral support between Ahmadinejad and Chávez is very public. The two tyrants are a lot more than just pen pals. Venezuela has made it clear that it backs Iran's nuclear ambitions and embraces the mullahs' hateful anti-Semitism. What remains more speculative is just how far along Iran is in putting down...

We already learned that Russia was sending bombers to Venezuela for military exercises and supporting the country’s imploding economy. What could Vladimir Putin have wanted in exchange? We’re probably seeing the answer come into focus as Russia moves in to “help” Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro as we head into the new year. Putin is going to bail out Maduro’s failing government with some cash in exchange for establishing some measure of control over that nation’s vast crude oil reserves that are currently lying mostly dormant. (WaPo) As allies go, Venezuela is a relatively cheap one for Russia. But the potential...

Frightening crisis evolves bearing unsettling similarities to 1962 Cuba... except this time facing advanced air defenses German Newspaper Die Welt has for months been reporting surreptitious scheming between Chavez and Ahmedinijad, and the latest fruit of this most unholy alliance is now ready for us to choke-on-down. Engineers from a construction company operated by Tehran's Republican Guards already surveyed sites back in February, and are reportedly putting into action plans for both defensive and offensive installations of Iranian missiles on the Paraguana Peninsula in the far north-west of Venezuela. You'd have to be pretty deep in denial to not see how these ambitious little despots are moving beyond...

Russia's S-300 air defense systems, which Moscow refused to deliver to Iran following a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, could be sold to Venezuela instead, a Russian arms trade expert said on Friday. Russia signed a deal to deliver five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran in 2007 but banned the sale in September, saying the systems, along with a number of other weapons, were covered by the fourth round of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Iran over its nuclear program in June. "Russia is looking for a buyer of five...

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Wednesday in Cuba for talks with his counterpart Raul Castro as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel and the United States for the killing of a nuclear scientist in a Tehran car bombing. The scientist's killing heightened already high tensions with the West over Iran's suspect nuclear program but a defiant Ahmadinejad flashed the victory sign several times after landing in Havana. The Iranian leader was greeted by nine girls in traditional Iranian attire as he stepped off the plane that flew him in from Nicaragua on the third leg of his Latin American tour. Ahmadinejad,...

Rising Turkish Menace: U.S. and NATO Ally Wants Islamic Advance in Latin America By Julio Severo The president of Turkey has re-written history by claiming Muslim explorers, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chief of America’s NATO ally, said November 15 that Islamic sailors found the New World in 1178. He said, “Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus.” Turkey is the only Islamic nation in the NATO. His theory — which is supported only by Islamic historians — came to light in a televised speech during an Istanbul summit of...

President Obama’s recent decision to drastically cut future military spending puts the United States in a weakened position vis-a-vis despot regimes and terrorist organizations who are always looking for gratuitous opportunities to attack U.S. interests, according to Congressman Allen West. West says that “there is a sense of weakness that we are conveying, and there is a window of opportunity that people like Iran are seeing.” According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Obama’s proposed cuts to the military budget “could shrink by over 30%” in the next decade- The Administration projects outlays at 2.7% of GDP in 2021,...

Iran may get Russian S-300 interceptors after all - via Venezuela Russia appears ready to sell Venezuela the same five advanced S-300PMU-1 air defense missile battalions it withheld from Iran because of international sanctions. Military sources report Venezuela's ruler Hugo Chavez, offered to buy them when he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow Thursday, Oct. 14. Israel immediately turned to Washington to try and block the transaction. Clearly, the highly-sophisticated interceptors are bound for their original client, Iran, through its good friend Chavez. This time, the deal will be much harder to stop. Our military sources stress that Iran...

Russia defied the United States yesterday by announcing plans to sell military hardware to Iran and Venezuela. The head of the state arms exporter said that he was negotiating to sell antiaircraft systems to Iran despite American objections. Russia has already delivered 29 Tor-M1 missile systems under a $700 million (£386 million) deal with Iran in 2005. Russia's strategic aircraft, the Tu-160 or White Swan, world's largest supersonic bomber. A pair of them touched down in Venezuela this week as Moscow announced big new arms sales “Contacts between our countries are continuing and we do not see any reason to...

Having experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis at the CIA, Langley, ion 1962, I have little enthusiasm for a repeat. But we may get one. A German newspaper is running a disturbing report: BERLIN – The Iranian government is moving forward with the construction of rocket launch bases in Venezuela, the German daily Die Welt wrote in its Friday edition. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is Teheran’s most important South American ally. Iran is building intermediate- range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm – Khatam al-Anbia – owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in...

Russia's S-300 air defense systems, which Moscow refused to deliver to Iran following a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, could be sold to Venezuela instead, a Russian arms trade expert said on Friday.

Iran initiated a close relationship with Venezuela when Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, hosted the 2000 OPEC meeting in Caracas. (Shireen T. Hunter, Iran’s Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order [Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010], p. 233, not available on line, quoted here.) Since then, Iran and Venezuela have consorted with Cuba and Colombia to create terrorist havens and missile bases with missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads in South America that have the southern half of the USA in their range. Thousands of Arab and Iranian terrorists have infiltrated our southern border for a decade...