"Pentagon Bracing for a Snap Offensive Against Venezuela
The US SOUTHCOM electronic surveillance base has been functioning in Aruba for several years. One day, an individual looking like a typical American, wearing shorts, a Hawaii shirt, and sunglasses, walked into it effortlessly and started roaming around. The US marines must have been too tired of the heat and assumed he actually was one of their countrymen - the base has been hosting numbers of visitors from the US recently amid the preparations for serious operations against Venezuela."
Also see: The Silent Violations of Venezuelan Airspace
Yeah, Globe doesn't have much to say about those things, dear readers.
I'm sure it will be breaking news and a surprise.
Here are the items they have been feeding us for the last few weeks:
"Owner of anti-Chavez TV channel arrested" by Associated Press | March 26, 2010
CARACAS — The owner of Venezuela’s only remaining TV channel that takes a critical line against President Hugo Chávez was arrested yesterday, raising concerns that the government is carrying out a widening crackdown aimed at silencing opponents.
Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of Globovision, was arrested on a warrant for remarks that were deemed offensive to the president, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said. Zuloaga allegedly said the government is cracking down on its critics and it was a shame that a 2002 coup failed.
The one supported by the CIA and turned back by the Venezuelan people?
--more--"
Beginning to pick up a pattern, aren't you?]
"Putin deepens ties with Chavez on Venezuela visit" by Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press Writer | April 2, 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela --Russia has offered to help Venezuela set up its own space industry, including a satellite launch site, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin makes his first visit to the South American country.
And you webbers would never have known what I had to search for from my printed paper.
He sure came and went quick and with hardly any MSM notice, didn't he?
I think the U.S. government got the message though.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Russia's offer before Putin arrived Friday, saying officials would discuss the possibility of setting up a "satellite launcher and a factory." Chavez didn't give details or say how much that might cost.
The two countries are also discussing weapons deals, some of which are new, Chavez said Thursday night in televised remarks, without giving details. Chavez has built close ties with Russia in recent years and has bought more than $4 billion in Russian weapons since 2005, including helicopters, fighter jets and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles.
And don't think the U.S. has not noticed.
Russian and Venezuelan officials also planned to sign new agreements for energy projects in Venezuela, as well as industrial, commercial and agriculture projects. Chavez also reiterated that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy -- a plan he has mentioned previously that has yet to take shape. "We aren't going to make an atomic bomb, but we are going to develop atomic energy with peaceful aims," he said. Chavez, whose country is a major oil exporter and OPEC member, says "we have to prepare ourselves for the post-oil era."
Now everyone wants nuclear power because Obama is building more!!
After welcoming Putin at the airport, Chavez accompanied the Russian leader on a tour of a Russian Navy ship that is paying a port call in Venezuela. Political analysts in Moscow say Russia is drawn to Venezuela because of the its anti-U.S. rhetoric above everything else, but they also note that business deals have helped cement the growing relationship.
Gee, I thought the arms deal made us friends.
"The only thing that really unites Russia and Venezuela is that they don't want to see a unipolar world," dominated by the U.S., said Sergei Mikheyev, an analyst at the Center for Political Technologies, adding that President Barack Obama's administration hasn't done enough to lure Moscow away from Caracas....
Mikheyev noted that the United States has so far failed to react to Russia's plea to cut drug traffic from Afghanistan to Russia's Central Asian borders....
Well, we all know why that is, don't we?
As the Chinese learned, it is a lot harder to fight an empire when your population is higher than hell.
Venezuela is also a very lucrative arms and technology market for Russia, however, and Mikheyev said "without the business involved, the anti-American rhetoric wouldn't be enough to unite Russia and Venezuela."
Hard to believe we really lost the Cold War, 'eh, America?
"Putin: Russian arms to Venezuela may be $5B
MOSCOW --Arms exports to Venezuela may reach as much as $5 billion, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday, a few days after he traveled to the country.
Putin visited Venezuela late last week to meet with President Hugo Chavez and pledged to sell more weapons to the country but gave no concrete figures.
"Our delegation has just returned from Venezuela, and the total volume of orders may exceed $5 billion," Putin said in televised remarks.
Russia on Friday agreed to lend Venezuela up to $2.2 billion for the new arms deals.
Hugo Chavez's government has already bought more than $4 billion in Russian weapons since 2005, including helicopters, fighter jets and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles.
The Venezuelan arms deals are one of the many irritants in U.S.-Russian relations....
Hey, get in line.
I read a Boston Globe every day; nothing is more irritating than that.
