Venezuela Superthread- Merged

[TrexLink]

Five (or nine) Kilos.  I suspect the USN can spare five (or nine) ADCAPS. The Caribbean is wired like a U2 concert stage - they're not going anywhere without it being known.

 

[CougarKing]

Looks like Chavez can't stand that Putin is hogging all the attention. What next? Russian-crewed subs operating from Venezuela and Cuba?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26587236/

Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise
Joint maneuvers in Caribbean likely to increase tensions with Washington
Reuters
updated 3:20 a.m. PT, Sun., Sept. 7, 2008
CARACAS - Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday.

Quoting Venezuela's naval intelligence director, Salbarore Cammarata, the newspaper Vea said four Russian boats would visit Venezuelan waters from November 10 to 14.

Plans for the naval operations come at a time of heightened diplomatic tension and Cold War-style rhetoric between Moscow and the United States over the recent war in Georgia and plans for a U.S. missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Cammarata said it would be the first time Russia's navy carried out such exercises in Latin America. He said the Venezuelan air force would also take part.

Chavez: Russian planes welcome
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has said in recent weeks that Russian ships and planes are welcome to visit the South American country.

"If the Russian long-distance planes that fly around the world need to land at some Venezuelan landing strip, they are welcome, we have no problems," he said on his weekly television show last week.

Chavez, who buys billions of dollars of weapons from Russia, has criticized this year's reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, which will patrol Latin America for the first time in over 50 years.

The socialist Chavez says he fears the United States will invade oil-rich Venezuela and he supports Russia's growing geopolitical presence as a counterbalance to U.S. power.


Chavez has bought fighter jets and submarines from Russia to retool Venezuela's aging weapons and says he is also interested in a missile defense system.


Copyright 2008 Reuters.

 

[geo]

Russian bases in Syria
Russian bases in Venezuela ??? Why not ???
Certainly plays into Chavez & Putin's gameplan of tweaking Dubya's tail - over & over again

 

[CougarKing]

Just a little update. When the article mentions "battleship", I assume they are talking about one of the KIROV class "battlecruisers", right?

Sep 11 - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says that two Russian strategic bombers have arrived in the country on a training mission.

The Russian Air Force said the bombers would be based in Venezuela for several days and would carry out training flights over neutral waters.

The planes arrived days after Russia and Venezuela announced they will conduct joint naval exercises in the Caribbean later this year involving a nuclear-powered Russian battleship. Chavez - an outspoken critic of the United States - has developed close ties with Russia.



http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=90485&videoChannel=1

 

[Redeye]

Just a little update. When the article mentions "battleship", I assume they are talking about one of the KIROV class "battlecruisers", right?

Yeah, as I recall from the article I was reading, it's Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great).

They have a couple of Blackjacks hanging out in Venezuela for a couple days too.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

YouTube video of TU-150's landing in Venezuela:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9whXM-BEI

Surprising that this has been so low-key. I don't remember seeing anything in the major newspapers. I don't watch the TV news so its possible that I missed the reports. It will be very interesting to see what kind of missions the aircraft fly while in Venezuela.

 

[belka]

YouTube video of TU-150's landing in Venezuela:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9whXM-BEI

Surprising that this has been so low-key. I don't remember seeing anything in the major newspapers. I don't watch the TV news so its possible that I missed the reports. It will be very interesting to see what kind of missions the aircraft fly while in Venezuela.

So the US is allowed to freely navigate the worlds oceans and when Russia does this it makes news? Sounds kinda hypocritical to me.

 

[Greymatters]

Life never ceases to throw curve balls that get smashed into the left field. 

Ten years ago, if you had run an exercise using TU-160's out of Venezuela as a threat scenario, everyone would have said, "Come on, lets be a bit more realistic about it - that would never happen!".

Edit - for typo on aircraft designator...

 

[aesop081]

Ten years ago, if you had run an exercise using TU-150's

???

 

[CougarKing]

And here they come.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/22/russia.venezuela.ap/index.html

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela on Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.

The nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser, and three other ships are off to Venezuela.

The Kremlin has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month's war between Russia and Georgia.

During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.

Dygalo refused to comment on Monday's report in the daily Izvestia claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in the Syrian port of Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a permanent Russian navy presence in the Mediterranean.

The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- an unbridled critic of U.S. foreign policy who has close ties with Moscow -- plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez's second trip to Russia in about two months.

The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia, which angered the Kremlin.

Golts added that the small Russian squadron could not pose any threat to the United States.

"Without protection from the air, it makes a sitting duck," Golts said. "It's ridiculous to even talk about the Russian ships providing a counterweight to the U.S. Navy."

Chavez said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Sunday that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region.

In separate comments on his Sunday TV and radio program, he joked that he will be making his international tour to Russia and other countries this week aboard the "super-bombers that Medvedev loaned me," a reference to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "Gentlemen of the CIA, to be clear, I'm joking," Chavez said with a laugh.

He repeatedly has warned that the U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.

Russia has signed weapons contracts worth more than $4 billion with Venezuela since 2005 to supply fighter jets, helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. Chavez's government is in talks to buy Russian submarines, air defense systems and armored vehicles and more Sukhoi fighter jets.

Russian and Venezuelan leaders also have talked about boosting cooperation in the energy sphere to create what Chavez has called "a new strategic energy alliance."

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who visited Venezuela last week, announced that five of Russia's biggest oil companies are looking to form a consortium to increase Latin American operations and to build a $6.5 billion refinery to process Venezuela's tarlike heavy crude. Such an investment could help Venezuela, the world's ninth-biggest oil producer, wean itself from the U.S. refineries on which it depends to process much of its crude.

Russia's Gazprom state gas monopoly also said in a statement Monday that its delegation that visited Venezuela last week signed a tentative agreement to tap its offshore gas fields.

Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone," he said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

 

[Greymatters]

Russian and Venezuelan leaders also have talked about boosting cooperation in the energy sphere to create what Chavez has called "a new strategic energy alliance."  Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who visited Venezuela last week, announced that five of Russia's biggest oil companies are looking to form a consortium to increase Latin American operations and to build a $6.5 billion refinery to process Venezuela's tarlike heavy crude. Such an investment could help Venezuela, the world's ninth-biggest oil producer, wean itself from the U.S. refineries on which it depends to process much of its crude.  Russia's Gazprom state gas monopoly also said in a statement Monday that its delegation that visited Venezuela last week signed a tentative agreement to tap its offshore gas fields. 

I think this section is more important than the Russian naval vessel movements...

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Wouldn't it really suck if Chavez's plane was struck by a rogue Predator? :O

 

[TheSam]

Roosevelt Corollary for the win.


Russia and her newfound arrogance are trying to errode NATOS sphere of influence. It looks as if containment has definatley failed.

 

[Blackadder1916]

It seems the Russians will be doing a little sightseeing before heading to Venezuela.

Russian warships plan Mediterranean show of strength en route to Venezuela

Canadian Press 1 day ago - 1 October 2008

MOSCOW — Moscow says four warships carrying out the Russian navy's first deployment to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War will make a side trip to the Mediterranean.

The nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great and three accompanying ships are expected to sail through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on Sunday.

Naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo says the ships will call at the Libyan port of Tripoli and also visit several other unspecified Mediterranean ports before heading to Venezuela.

Russian news reports have said the squadron is expected to visit the Syrian port of Tartus, which hosted Soviet ships during the Cold War and now is being renovated for a permanent Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean.

Since defeating Georgia in August in a war over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, the Kremlin has vowed to send its military on regular manoeuvres worldwide.

It has also moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American countries amid increasingly strained relations with Washington.

In a separate move, Russia has also dispatched a missile frigate to waters off Somalia where pirates seized a Ukrainian vessel carrying over 30 Soviet-designed tanks.

The Kremlin's decision to send warships to the Caribbean for joint manoeuvres with the Venezuelan navy follows a week-long visit to Venezuela by two Russian strategic bombers last month.

During the Cold War, Latin America was an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia, which angered the Kremlin.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a major critic of the U.S. foreign policy, said that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region.

Russia has signed weapons contracts worth more than $4 billion with Venezuela since 2005 to supply fighter jets, helicopters, and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. Moscow and Caracas are now negotiating new weapons deals.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also offered last week to help Venezuela develop nuclear energy - a move likely to add to U.S. concerns about the Kremlin's intentions in the region.

 

[CougarKing]

And the Russians arrive in Venezuela! 

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela on Tuesday in a show of strength as Moscow seeks to counter U.S. influence in Latin America.

Russia's first such deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War is timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Venezuela, the first ever by a Russian president.

Russian sailors dressed in black-and-white uniforms lined up along the bow of the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko as it docked in La Guaira, near Caracas, and Venezuelan troops greeted them with cannons in a 21-gun salute.Two support vessels also docked, and the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, Russia's largest ship, anchored offshore.

"http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7DAfgieUqDDczqO5ENknwwjAqSQD94M3PH80"

 

[ltmaverick25]

The timing of this exchange is pretty interesting.  A Russian show of force in the Mediteranean and sailing into the Caribean is not something that would have happened just a year ago.  I think the Russians are banking on this financial meltdown in the US to give them the breathing room they need to re assert themselves cold war style.  This is bad news but if they start flirting with Iran things are going to get very ugly.

 

[CougarKing]

More details on the Russian presence there. Note that the headline is a little misleading...since it implies that the Russian presence will be more permanent with the phrase "to base".

Russia to base nuclear warship and anti-submarine aircraft in Venezuela

The ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko

"Before the end of the year, as part of a long-distance expedition, we plan a visit to Venezuela by a Russian navy flotilla... and the temporary basing of anti-submarine aircraft of the Russian Navy at an airport in Venezuela," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The Venezuelan navy announced Saturday that four Russian ships with almost 1,000 sailors aboard would carry out joint maneuvers with the navy of Caracas leftist government in Venezuelan territorial waters on November 10-14.   

The four ships will include the Peter the Great nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser and the Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine ship, Nesterenko told a briefing in Moscow.  

The visit has been planned for a long time and "is not in any way connected to the current situation in the Caucasus," said Nesterenko, referring to tensions over Russia’s incursion into U.S. ally Georgia in August.

"It is not aimed at any third country," he said.

Medvedev accused the United States of rearming Georgia under the guise of humanitarian aid, after Friday’s arrival of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean flagship at a key Georgian port close to where Russian troops are patrolling.

"I wonder how they would like it if we sent humanitarian assistance using our navy to countries of the Caribbean that have suffered from the recent hurricanes," Medvedev said.

HIGH VISIBILITY

The 'Peter the Great' is large and heavily armed with both surface-to-surface and around 500 surface-to-air missiles, Jon Rosamund, the editor of Jane's Navy International, a specialist publication told Reuters.

"On paper it's an immensely powerful ship," he said. "We are not really sure if this is a show of force or if it poses a viable operational capability at this stage," Rosamund said.

"These ships have far more capability, on paper, than the U.S. destroyers that went to the Black Sea, but it's difficult to compare capacity," Rosamund said. "The Russian navy is keen to be seen on the world stage."

Admiral Eduard Baltin, former commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, said the Caribbean maneuvers meant "Russia is returning to the stage in its power and international relations which it, regrettably, lost at the end of last century".

"No one loves the weak," Baltin was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency.

Leftist-populist President Hugo Chavez, a harsh critic of the U.S. government, has forged closer ties with Moscow including arms supply and production deals.

Chavez has supported Moscow in the Georgia conflict, and stressed that "Russia is rising up again as a global power."

Russia’s defense ministry in July denied a report it was considering basing bomber aircraft in Cuba in retaliation for U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Europe.

"We regard these sorts of reports from anonymous sources as disinformation," RIA Novosti quoted defense ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin as saying.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/9...id=244&sz=59907

 

[geo]

No one loves the weak," Baltin was quoted as saying

Doesn't everyone love Canada ??? 

Gawd - don't tell me they've only been giving us lip service all these years  :'(

I'm crushed !!! :crybaby:

 

[sm1lodon]

I confess I caught myself thinking, "A war with Russia/her allies/her cohorts/whoever? Nah, it can't happen! This is the 21st century, for God's sake, we have left all that idiocy of superpowers at war behind!"

Then I realized I was doing exactly what I believe a lot of people were doing before WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, etc.

It is strange to be witnessing the same kind of tragedy possibly brewing. It's like watching the twin towers get hit by the airplanes. "This can't be happening!" I wept. But it WAS happening.

God help us to be ready for whatever madness is foisted on us by a resurgent Kremlin, instead of walking around with a dazed look with Hitler's peace treaty paper in our hands, so to speak.

 

[CougarKing]

Oh well...I suppose he was going to do this eventually.  :

Unlimited reelection OK’d in Venezuela

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 12:11:00 01/15/2009
Filed Under: Elections, Politics

CARACAS -- The National Assembly Wednesday passed a constitutional amendment allowing unlimited re-election of the president and all other elected officials that must now be submitted to referendum within 30 days.

The measure is President Hugo Chavez's second attempt at seeking unlimited reelection. The constitution was amended one year after he was elected in 1998 to allow him to run for a second term in 2006.

A similar referendum was defeated in late 2007.

Chavez has already stated he intends running for a third six-year term in 2012 if he is allowed to legally.

Recently Chavez asked the no-term-limits measure be also extended to all other elected officials in Venezuela.

The amendment was passed after eight hours of debate by a show of hands in the National Assembly, which is stacked with members of Chavez' National Socialist Union Party (PSUV).

Only seven opposition members voted against the measure.

The constitutional amendment will now be presented to the National Election Board, which will convene a referendum likely for February 15.