Free Republic

21st Century SocialismThe attempt to destroy democracy in Latin America.  The Obama administration started out on the wrong foot in world affairs. It used techniques better suited for domestic political campaigns — popularity contests — in its foreign policy. In our own hemisphere, the result was confusion for our allies and our enemies alike. The overriding objective of U.S. policy — in Latin America and elsewhere — should be to advance U.S. national interests, not to curry favor with foreign leaders. If we can be liked while advancing our interests, so much the better. But when we try to befriend...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing ballots for the upcoming Honduran presidential elections, which are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis caused by a coup, police said Friday. The grenade overshot the target, exploding 550 yards (500 meters) from the building in the capital of Tegucigalpa, police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said. Residents in several neighborhoods heard the explosion Thursday night, but there were no damages. Police believe the building housing election material was the intended target because the surrounding buildings are mostly residential. They said the Russian-made, rocket-propelled grenade was likely...

Algeria's defense ministry plans to cut arms purchases from the United States because of lengthy delivery delays and concentrate on Russian weapons systems, the El Khabar newspaper reports. Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has signed two contracts worth $1.2 billion to deliver 16 Sukhoi Su-30 multi-role fighters to Algeria and six to Uganda, Russia Veomosti daily reported Monday. The Irkut Corp., part of Russia's United Aircraft Corp., says it has delivered 28 Su-30MKA jets to Algeria, customized to meet Algerian specifications, since 2006. There was no immediate confirmation by Algeria authorities of Monday's report in El Khabar. Two years ago,...

Russian weapons are falling behind rival products, experts told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily on Wednesday. Russian Academy of Science members Vladimir Fortov and Igor Kalyaev said that a reduction in research funds was making it hard for Russian weapons to stay competitive and for the defense industry to produce breakthroughs. However, last month Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved a long-term policy for the development of the national defense industry. He stressed that development and production of modern electronic systems would be a priority for the industry in the next three to four years. But while the Russian government has...

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev criticised on Monday the pace of military-industrial modernisation, saying it is affecting the quality of Russian weapons and harming national prestige. "Considerable funds have been invested over the past few years to develop the military-industrial complex. So far the results are mediocre," Medvedev said on Russian television. "Unfortunately we carry on filling in holes and the objectives for technological modernisation have not been achieved," the Russian president added. "The quality of military production for the Russian army and foreign exports is causing justified concern from clients," added Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko, speaking at a meeting on...

CARACAS Petroleumworld.com, November 07, 2008 Venezuela will keep buying weapons from Russia and China in the next five years to build up "a sufficient force" to defend its oil reserves from countries like the United States, said Operations Command chief General Jesus Gonzalez in an interview with AFP.

New Russian weapons are showing up in Iraq, apparently smuggled across the Syrian border. One of the more dangerous has been the RPG-29. This is a larger version of the widely used RPG-7. With a ten pound launcher firing a 14.7 pound 105mm rocket, the RPG-29 warhead is designed to get past some forms of reactive armor (ERA). The larger weapon (3.3 feet long when carried out, six feet long when ready to fire and 65 percent heavier than the 85mm RPG-7) is more difficult to carry around and fire, but some have been captured, and the damage on some...

Russia has found that you can pass all the laws you want; Criminals who want guns will have them, even if they have to dig them out of the ground. Despite reports of an overall bleak Russian economy, there’s one capitalistic venture in the ex-Soviet Union that’s not only lucrative but is but thriving--the Russian black market. So prevalent is the illegal sale of armaments, munitions, and morally questionable paraphernalia that it promoted a radical overhaul in federal legislation that regulates all weapons. But even the threat of a mandatory eight-year prison sentence for weapons violations has affected either supply...