Free Republic

Maduro described the Igla-S as "one of the most powerful weapons that exist," adding that the nation's air defense operators were fully trained to use them. Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro said his regime has "more than 5,000" Russian-made Igla-S surface-to-air missiles positioned across the country, warning that they stand ready to defend the country from what he described as growing military threats from the U.S. "Any military force in the world knows the power of the Igla-S," Maduro said during a televised address. "Venezuela has nothing less than 5,000 of these at key air defense posts to guarantee the...

The release of over 250,000 diplomatic cables has revealed a lot about the intricacies of U.S. diplomacy. However, one aspect of the WikiLeaks release that has been much under the media's radar is what the leaked cables have said about Russia and its surrogate-state sponsorship of what would most accurately be described as an international terrorist network. In a diplomatic cable dated August 6, 2008, regarding a meeting between U.S. and Russian experts on the export of Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) from Russia, the State Department expressed its concern about "Russian ammunition, sold to Venezuela ... found in possession...

A businessman from Hendon was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Monday after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle missiles into America. Clothing merchant Hemant Lakhani, 70, of Wykeham Road, was convicted in April this year of trying to sell shoulder-launched missiles to a Somali terrorist group to shoot down commercial airliners. The case centred on the evidence of the US government's key witness, Mohammed Habib Rehman, an informant posing as a representative of the Somali-based Ogaden National Liberation Front interested in buying missiles. The court in Newark, New Jersey, heard tape-recorded telephone conversations and viewed video surveillance...