Red Dawn Alert: Cold War allies Russia, Nicaragua joint military exercises and bases

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April 21, 2010

Show of military might as Venezuela celebrates 200 years of independence




Hannah Strange

Chinese and Russian-made fighter jets blasted through the skies, shaking the dilapidated buildings of Caracas as they passed. Tanks and troops paraded through the streets and special forces troops shouted in unison: “I’m an anti-imperialist socialist!â€� The capital was draped in red as thousands of military personnel, dancers and supporters hailed Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan President. Allies from across the region flew in to attend the celebrations — the Cuban leader Raúl Castro, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega were among those flanking Mr Chávez who, dressed in his trademark red beret and military uniform, paid tribute to Simón BolÃ*var, the Latin American freedom fighter, whose spirit he frequently invokes in support of his Bolivarian Revolution.

This week marked the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s rebellion against the Spanish empire. Yet the display of military might was less about celebrating the past than raising the possibility of a future battle — this time against the US.

“Civilians and soldiers united, the people and its armed forces guaranteeing the independence of Venezuela!� Mr Chávez declared. “Never again will Venezuela be a Yankee colony nor a colony of anyone. The moment has arrived to reach our true sovereignty and independence.�

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Multimedia

• GRAPHIC: the weapons trail

Mr Chávez often refers to the threat of the US which, he claims, wants to topple him and take control of his country’s oil reserves.

To defend Venezuela he has built alliances with Cuba, Iran, Russia and China — he recently signed a $5 billion (£3 billion) arms deal with Moscow. Such alliances have rattled Washington, which imposed an arms embargo against the Chávez Government in 2006 and which has accused him of starting a regional arms race.

On Monday Mr Chávez ridiculed US concerns, saying that it was Venezuela that was under threat. The former paratrooper — who survived a 2002 coup attempt that he says was backed by the US — has been enraged by a deal that will lead to an increased American military presence in Colombia, claiming that Washington intends to use this as a base for operations against him and other regional enemies.

The Venezuelan President, speaking at the summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Nations of Our America, a left-leaning bloc aimed at countering US influence, said that America was installing its “weapons of war� and accused Colombia — with which he has a feud — of threatening Venezuela and others “because they feel supported by the Yankees�.

Fidel Castro, Mr Chávez’s ideological mentor, sent him a tribute, saying: “He is, today, the person who most worries the imperialists, for his capacity to influence the masses and for the immense natural resources of the nation.�

Opponents say that Mr Chávez is whipping up threats to distract from domestic problems and flagging support amid inflation, nationwide electricity and water shortages and insecurity. He is determined to stave off losses in elections in September, vowing last week never to “allow the bourgeoisie to occupy seats in the National Assembly�.

Yet he still commands an almost religious devotion for the social programmes that have improved the lives of many Venezuelan poor during his 11 years in power. This year he vowed to rule for 11 more years after his victory in a referendum last year that removed limits on the number of terms that a president can serve.

Recently he has drawn on his loyal following to create a civilian militia and last week he swore in 35,000 paramilitaries whom he instructed to “take all power� if he was overthrown. “We have to be prepared to defend the Fatherland against external and internal aggression,� said Johan Sandoval, 28.

Mr Sandoval, a Chávez supporter at Monday’s parade, added: “Our military expenditure is insignificant compared to other countries and here there are US plans of aggression.�

Notably absent from the festivities were opposition groups, who accused Mr Chávez of exploiting the occasion as a display of support before the elections. They claimed that his Government had undermined democracy and turned Venezuela into a Cuban satellite state.

Carlos Andrés Peréz, a former president against whom Mr Chávez led an unsuccessful coup in 1992, questioned whether it was appropriate to celebrate independence when a “militarised and authoritarian regime [that had] hijacked the country to exercise total control over all branches of government� was in power.

“After 200 years we are again under an odious foreign domination,� said Julio Borges, the leader of the Primero Justicia party, who accused Mr Chávez of submitting to the Castro brothers. “The freedom fighters 200 years ago did not fight for dictatorship.�

Fighting talk
“The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the US President has no limits. I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush�

Hugo Chávez on George W. Bush, February 5, 2006
“If the Yankee empire tries to use Colombia to attack Venezuela the war of 100 years would begin�

On US-Colombia base deal, November, 2009
“We thought he was a cannibal. I have doubts . . . maybe he was a great nationalist�

On Idi Amin, November, 2009
“They accuse him of being a terrorist but Carlos really was a revolutionary fighter�

On Carlos the Jackal, November, 2009
“Look, England, how long are you going to be in Las Malvinas? Queen of England, I’m talking to you . . . The time for empires are over, haven’t you noticed? Return the Malvinas to the Argentine people . . . We are no longer in 1982�

On the Falklands, February 22, 2010
“Sweep away the bourgeoisie from all political and economic spaces, deepen the revolution�

Instructions to militia if opposition tries to overthrow him, April 13

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20 April 2010 - 01H57
Venezuela celebrates 200 years, opposition slams Chavez rule




Members of the Venezuelan Army take part in a parade at Fort Tiuna, held as part of the celebrations of the Bicentenary of the Venezuelan independence, in Caracas. Venezuela on Monday kicked off celebrations marking 200 years of independence, as opposition groups lamented the state of the country's democracy under the rule of firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez.



A Russian Sukhoi of the Venezuelan Air Force takes part in a drill over Fort Tiuna, held as part of the celebrations of the Bicentenary of the Venezuelan independence, in Caracas. Venezuela on Monday kicked off celebrations marking 200 years of independence, as opposition groups lamented the state of the country's democracy under the rule of firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez.



Members of the Bolivarian militia take part in a parade at Fort Tiuna, held as part of the celebrations of the Bicentenary of the Venezuelan independence, in Caracas. Venezuela on Monday kicked off celebrations marking 200 years of independence, as opposition groups lamented the state of the country's democracy under the rule of firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez.

AFP - Venezuela on Monday kicked off celebrations marking 200 years of independence, as opposition groups lamented the state of the country's democracy under the rule of firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez.

Recently-acquired Chinese K-8 planes and Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft swooped through the sky during a lavish military parade in Caracas, as soldiers from Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Libya and Nicaragua joined those on the ground.


Flanked by his top ally Cuban President Raul Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales, Chavez, wearing a military uniform and red beret, joined generals in lauding his socialist revolution.

None of Venezuela's opposition leaders was invited to the ceremony.
"More than ever, Venezuela will not be a "yankee" colony, nor a colony of anyone. The time for our true independence has come, 200 years on," said the Venezuelan leader renowned for his anti-US rhetoric.

Chavez earlier laid a wreath on the tomb of independence fighter Simon Bolivar, in a ceremony before sympathetic regional leaders at the National Pantheon in Caracas.

Venezuelan patriot Bolivar went on to liberate a string of South American nations from Spanish colonial rule after declaring his country a free and sovereign state.

Chavez worships Bolivar and even renamed his country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela after he took power in 1999.

The lavish celebrations commemorated April 19, 1810, when the municipal council of Caracas first led a successful movement to depose the Spanish governor. Venezuela finally achieved independence on June 24, 1821.

The presidents of Argentina, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic joined in with celebrations, while Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa arrived later to take part in a summit of regional leftist leaders.

The prime ministers of the Caribbean nations of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were also present.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition groups -- gathered under the political coalition Table of Democratic Unity (MUD) -- warned that Chavez's 11-year rule had "promoted separation and confrontation" in Venezuelan society, and cast a long shadow over the country's ideals.

Chavez "has systematically reduced our democratic abilities, and compromised our future and our progress," the coalition said in a statement Sunday.

Former Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez similarly questioned whether it was a time to rejoice over independence when a "militarized and authoritarian regime" was in power, referring to former military commander Chavez.

Earlier this year Chavez celebrated his time in office by vowing to govern for 11 more years, after winning a referendum to scrap term limits last year.

He said he would cleanse Venezuela of a century of domination by oligarchs and the United States, which is a key importer of Venezuela's abundant oil.

In more than a decade of tumultuous rule, Chavez has nationalized public utilities, key industries and media outlets and launched health and education programs for the poor, as well as intensified pressure on opposition groups and dissidents.

Regional political tensions flared last year after he said the "winds of war" were building on the continent amid US plans to use military bases in Colombia to fight the drug trade.

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The Russian Bear Comes Out of Hibernation in the Western Hemisphere

Eric FarnsworthEric Farnsworth
The Huffington Post
April 13, 2010

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Venezuela raised some eyebrows. He promised additional weapons sales, which could reach billions of dollars on top of the $4.4 billion already sold to Venezuela since 2005, and, even as a number of world leaders are in Washington this week to discuss ways to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation, also promised assistance to help Venezuela draw up plans for a nuclear power plant. Coupled with a visit on Thursday to Argentina and then to Brazil by President Dmitri Medvedev, Russia is raising its profile in the Western Hemisphere, waking up from its self-imposed post-Cold War hibernation to expand its regional ties.

This time, however, the primary motivation is different. During the Cold War, Moscow had an overriding political agenda. Its links to Cuba took the world to the brink of nuclear war, and it proactively attempted to support governments and non-state actors friendly to the anti-Western, pro-Soviet worldview. The Russian agenda now is more economically self-interested. It revolves around commercial exchange based primarily on energy investment and development, and the sale of weapons and related technologies. It's economic stimulus, Russia's own version of "cash for clunkers."

Building relationships in Latin America is, quite simply, good business. Quick profits can be made by selling items that much of the rest of the world doesn't want.

Moscow also doesn't seem to mind that building such ties creates concern in Washington, particularly given the Kremlin's continued anger at U.S. support for Georgia during the brief 2008 conflict and other U.S. steps to build a presence in Central Asia. (Other actions, such as Moscow's promise of joint military exercises with Nicaragua, appear to follow this same pattern.)

Putin's direct association with controversial arms sales and Latin American nuclear reactor deals—when his formal responsibilities as Prime Minister do not include foreign policy—does add a political dimension that might not otherwise exist, showing that Moscow is not adverse to taking steps that will also complicate U.S. actions in the hemisphere or, indeed, have negative implications for the people of region themselves. But at least for now, the Kremlin appears to be sensitive to traditional U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, and is hewing to a commercial diplomacy model with built-in foreign policy externalities. In the vernacular, Moscow is intent on having regional friends with benefits.

Nonetheless, even though commerce may be the primary motivation, the goods that the Russians are selling could potentially have negative consequences for regional peace and stability, as leading voices including Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias have argued. If they were selling cotton shirts or vodka, the region would have zero reason for concern.

But they are not. According to press reports, they are selling nuclear reactors and weapons such as Kalashnikov AK-103 series automatic rifles, advanced fighter jets and helicopters, tanks and anti-tank missiles, communications equipment, and air defense systems including sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missile batteries.

Legitimate questions exist as to whether all such promised weapons and technologies will actually be delivered. The record is spotty.

To the extent they are delivered, questions can also be asked as to whether countries like Venezuela and others will have the wherewithal to operate and maintain them, or whether advanced equipment would quickly and harmlessly turn into expensive parade pieces or decrepit piles of junk. The short answer is that nobody really knows, though Russian weapons in the developing world often deteriorate. But, for a region where poverty alleviation remains the prevailing issue, this would not appear to be the best way to spend scarce resources.

Unfortunately, it might just be the beginning, because the primary weapons purchaser is the Caracas regime, which has courted Moscow and others including Tehran and Beijing in a determined ideological effort to play a larger, rejectionist global role. As Newton noted, actions in nature will cause an equal and opposite reaction. The same can be said about politics and international relations. A build-up in Venezuela could well raise sensitivities as its neighbors seek to bolster their own deterrent capabilities. It would also almost certainly undermine a region-wide movement toward transparency and confidence building measures.

Still, the most likely scenario is not an arms race in big ticket items—among other things, it's tough to drive a tank through triple canopy jungle, and it's difficult to envision a realistic scenario whereby Venezuela invades Colombia or Brazil—but rather the accidental or intentional leakage of small arms and weapons from government stocks to guerrilla groups active in the region. Indeed, in the recent past there have been credible reports that Venezuelan munitions have found their way to the FARC. It's an issue of growing concern for democratically elected governments, who rightly fear the potential destabilizing effects, and may not have the capacity to push back effectively.

Even more provocative is the promise of a Russian nuclear power plant for Venezuela. Should it actually get built, a nuclear plant for purely peaceful purposes would appear to be unneeded by a nation that already sits on a pile of oil and gas, which has voted at the International Atomic Energy Agency against efforts to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions, and which has heretofore been disdainful of clean energy efforts globally, including at the Copenhagen meetings last December when Venezuela's president took the assembly hall to denounce global efforts to mitigate climate change. True, once online, additional nuclear-generated electricity would alleviate recent shortages created by mismanagement of the energy sector, but the way to improve that is to utilize better the resources that already exist, not to pursue new, potentially dual-use technologies. Clearly, something else is going on beyond a desire to promote clean energy in the Andes.

As sovereign nations, Russia and Venezuela have every right to engage in bilateral diplomatic and commercial exchange. At this stage, there is no particular threat to the United States.

But we should not be unaware or naïve; U.S. interests are being affected to the extent our regional friends and allies are negatively impacted.

Sadly, changes are afoot in South America that will complicate, not improve, the hemispheric security and development agenda.

To speak with one of our experts on this topic, call 212-277-8384 or email


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South Ossetia and Nicaragua tie diplomatic knot

Tag cloud: News, Nicaragua, Russia, Politics, World, South Ossetia

Apr 14, 2010 13:16 Moscow Time

Samuel Santos Lopez. Photo: EPA

South Ossetia and Nicaragua have formally established diplomatic relations. Foreign Ministers Murat Dzhioyev and Samuel Santos Lopez signed the necessary documents at their meeting in Tskhinval on Wednesday.

So far, South Ossetia has been recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru.

Russia moved to establish diplomatic ties with the newly-independent Caucasian state in September 2008, a month after Georgia’s attack on Tskhinval that partially destroyed the city and killed dozens of civilians.

To defend the population of South Ossetia, most of whom have Russian citizenship, Moscow brought in troops and routed the aggressor.

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Iran, Russia, China beat a path to Latin America's door

Recent visits to Latin America by China's Hu Jintao and Russia'a Dmitry Medvedev underscore how sometime US rivals are competing for business and geopolitical influence in the US's backyard.


President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (l.) of Brazil shook hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao during his visit to Brazil earlier this month. Russia and Iran are also competing for political and business interests in Latin America.

Andre Penner/AP

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer, And Andrew Downie, Correspondent / April 23, 2010

Mexico City; and São Paulo, Brazil Latin America suddenly finds itself with many suitors.

Why It Matters

The rise of China and the fall of the US's Monroe Doctrine ("Hands off South America, Europe!"), in particular, have given the region new global importance. But are its new partners simply the latest economic imperialists?

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In the same week, Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Brazil hammering out investment deals and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was in Argentina, taking the first such trip by a Russian head of state before going on to Brazil for a meeting of emerging world economies known collectively as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.

And if that weren't enough, after inking a major military deal with Brazil, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates set off on his own Latin American tour, strengthening ties with allies and referencing the budding friendship between Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the region.

Latin America is now one of the most popular belles of the global economic ball, with countries vying for its commodities and friendship. Many say the new attention is a good thing. It has helped buoy several economies even during the worst of the global financial crisis.

But there are growing questions as to whether China's huge appetite for soy and iron ore, Russia's vigorous sale of weapons, or Iran's search for allies in the Western Hemisphere is ultimately good for the region – and whether the United States is missing out.

"One dynamic we are beginning to see is resource competition between China and other external powers in the region, when we are used to the US telling everyone to keep their hands off of Latin America," says Evan Ellis, a professor of national security at the National Defense University in Washington. "There is new engagement in the region, and the emergence of competition between multiple outside players."

China, Russia lead race

Leading the race for commodities is China. On this visit, and on a previous trip to Brazil in 2004, President Hu sought to secure access to raw materials critical to China's growth. (Hu was also supposed to visit Venezuela and Chile but cut his trip short after a major earthquake in China.) China became Brazil's No. 1 trading partner in 2009, taking the spot from the US, with trade between the two surging from $6.7 billion in 2003 to $36.1 billion last year, according to Brazilian government figures.

Meanwhile, Mr. Medvedev's visit to Argentina to discuss deals on nuclear energy, space, and transportation, among other things, came as Russia boosts arms sales to Venezuela and others in the region. Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Vlad*imir Putin was in Venezuela to discuss a series of deals that could top $5 billion.

And as Russia and China compete over markets, Iran's Mr. Ahmadinejad is finding a welcome platform in several countries in Latin America. His friendship with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will visit Tehran in May, is particularly important to Ahmadinejad since the South American giant supports Iran's nuclear program.

Geopolitical threat to US?

Secretary of Defense Gates sought to play down fears on a trip that included Peru, Colombia, and Barbados. Gates said Iran's friendships in the region are only for show. "There is an element of distracting their own populations from the difficulties that they have by … trying to strut around the world stage," he was quoted as saying on the US Defense Department website.

But if such alliances in Latin America don't represent a geopolitical threat to the US, they may highlight a lost opportunity for US business.

"Domestic politics, historical baggage, and sensitivities between Latin America and the US really stand in the way of the US taking advantage of opportunities in the region," says Michael Shifter, the president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. As the US is stuck on issues such as energy, immigration, and trade, "China and Russia are completely unburdened by domestic political constraints."

Still, if the US is missing out, is all the attention good for Latin America?

Economic growth engine

Countries are buying arms to modernize armies at the right price from Russia, but some worry about the destabilizing effect of an "arms race"

in Latin America. In terms of markets, says Christopher Sabatini, editor in chief of Amer*icas Quarterly in New York, Latin America's partnerships around the globe kept it afloat during the recent economic crisis.

"The attention is good because it provides an engine of economic growth," he says. The region overall is expected to grow by 4 percent this year, he says, and "a large part of that has to do with China's rebound."

But Mr. Sabatini and others say questions are emerging over whether this is simply the economic imperialism – exploiting nations for cheap commodities – that the US was condemned for in the last century.

"China, in the name of being a leader of the third-world movement, is saying, 'Hey, we're helping you out by buying your commodities,' and then they are selling back ever-higher-value manufactured goods," says Mr. Ellis. It boosts economies in the short term, but keeps them vulnerable should commodity prices drop.

Rodrigo Maciel, executive secretary of the Brazil-China Business Council, says that Brazil must wake up to the idea that China has a massive internal market that is, so far, not being tapped.

"We only sell primary goods, but that is because Brazil doesn't have a strategy for China; we don't see it as a consumer market," Mr. Maciel says. "We need to learn more."

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Red Dawn Alert: Cuba’s top general arrives in Beijing, follows Moscow visit 2 wks ago; Pentagon: Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Force in Venezuela



On April 24, General Alvaro Lopez Miera, chief of the general staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (FAR), arrived in Beijing to promote closer cooperation between the militaries of Communist Cuba and Communist China. Lopez will conclude his “goodwill visit� on April 29.

Earlier he met Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie (pictured above) and chief of the General Staff of People's Liberation Army (PLA), General Chen Bingde.

While in Beijing Lopez also met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is touted as President Hu Jintao’s successor in 2012. “To further develop China-Cuba friendly cooperation not only complies with the fundamental interests of the two countries, but also is of great significance for maintaining world peace and stability and boosting common development,� noted Xi during the meeting. For his part, Lopez expressed his admiration for the People’s Republic of China’s rapid economic and social development in recent years, hoping military ties would further boost cooperation between the two countries.

Apart from Cuba, which received at least three secret arms shipments from Red China in 2001, the PRC does not have an extensive track record of selling arms in Latin America. The main reason for this situation is that during the First Cold War (1945-1991) anti-communist military regimes dominated the region. The political climate in the Western Hemisphere has shifted left since then as Latin America’s revolutionaries dumped their machine guns, donned suit jackets, and burrowed into the political system. Hence, writes Cynthia Watson:

According to a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) National Defense University graduate writing in Military Review, Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay are all rumored to have purchased aircraft from China such as the 2007 sale of M60s to La Paz as a result of a $35 million line of credit from Beijing [7]. Uruguay has also been interested in J7 aircraft, potentially to wipe out Uruguay’s debt to China. The author also proposes that arms sales ties between China and Brazil, Peru, and Cuba are important aspects of Beijing’s involvement in arming this area of the world.

Venezuela’s acquisition this year of Hongdu JL-8 light attack/trainer jets is a significant step in facilitating Red China’s penetration of the region. While alluding to what is probably a fake “ideological division� between the communist leadership of Mainland China and Cuba, Watson suggests that Beijing will not promote its strategic partnership with Havana at the expense of economic relations with Washington:

Cuba would appear a logical destination for Chinese arms except that the ideological links between these two states have historically proven exceptionally tense rather than easy. Few areas of Latin America draw such a rapid response from Washington, as does Cuba, illustrated by decades of U.S. suspicion over Soviet activities there. Cuba does not have much money to buy arms and Beijing appears reluctant to offer anything to upset Washington with whom China has much more important relations than any that would come from selling arms to Cuba.

We think Watson’s analysis is rather naïve, especially in light of the plan, detailed by Soviet Bloc defectors nearly 30 years ago, for communism’s conquest of the world via strategic deception and the bolstering of communist economies via state-controlled “market socialism� (as in Red China) or FSB/KGB "capitalism" (as in “post�-Soviet Russia).

Watson's analysis is also rather naïve in view of the hostile espionage conducted by Red China and Cuba against the USA. The trial of accused spies Walter and Gwendolyn Myers, who passed state secrets to Havana for three decades until their arrest in 2009, is a case in point. US federal prosecutors say the Myerses agreed to serve as clandestine agents for Cuba in 1979, after a Cuban contact urged Walter to seek a job with top-secret security clearance at the State Department or the Central Intelligence Agency. Walter chose the former route.

While the PRC is proceeding cautiously into America’s “backyard,� the neo-Soviet state is not hiding its mil-mil ties with Latin America’s Red Axis, especially in Venezuela, which is by far the region’s most reliable purchase of Russian armament, even to the point of hosting Russian military engineers, who are overseeing the construction of two plants to produce Kalashnikov automatic rifles and their clips.

Earlier this month Cuba’s top general showed up in Moscow, reciprocating visits to Havana in the last 18 months by Russia’s political-military elite, including: President Dmitry Medvedev; General Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces; General Alexander Maslov, chief of Russia’s air defense forces; and Vice-Admiral Vladimir I. Koraliov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy’s most powerful fleet, the Northern, based out of Murmansk.

Last September, when he visited a number of military installations in Cuba, Makarov promised to modernize Cuba’s Soviet-built military equipment and offer modern training for the island’s soldiers. “During the Soviet era we delivered a large number of military equipment to Cuba, and after all these years most of this weaponry has become obsolete and needs repairs,� Makarov explained blandly. “We inspected the condition of this equipment, and outlined the measures to be taken to maintain the defense capability of this country...I think a lot of work needs to be done in this respect, and I hope we will be able to accomplish this task.�

Presently, known military relations between Red China and Cuba are largely limited to educational exchange opportunities for officers of the PLA and FAR. Will Red Chinese-Cuban military exercises in the Caribbean Basin emerge from these meetings in the near future? What about Russian-Cuban exercises? The Russian military conducted joint drills with Hugo Chavez’s military in 2008, Moscow has announced its intention to do the same with Nicaragua, while Caracas and Managua are slated to begin joint drills in Nicaragua next month. The last reflects a dream articulated by Chavez and Daniel Ortega to create an “anti-imperialist army� under the auspices of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

In Eurasia the Shanghai Cooperation Organization offers Moscow and Beijing a venue to hold joint military exercises, unheard of during the Cold War, while the Not-So-Former Soviet republics prepare to confront NATO under the aegis of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Clearly, the Communist Bloc still considers military coordination among member states crucial to defeating the “bourgeois� regimes.

In a related story, General Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command who recently described Venezuela’s “socialist regime� as a threat to regional allies like Colombia, is downplaying a Pentagon report, dispatched to Congress earlier this month, that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps’ elite Qods force had a growing presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela. The initial report linked the Qods to the bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994. Ironically, Fraser agrees with Chavez who, while openly consorting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, trashed the Pentagon report.

“We see a growing Iranian interest and engagement with Venezuela. ... It's a diplomatic, it's a commercial presence. I haven't seen evidence of a military presence,� Fraser huffed. The US government has accused the Qods force of backing militants in Iraq, Lebanon (Hezbollah), and the Gaza Strip (Hamas). Fraser, however, admitted that Southern Command is concerned about the activities in the Western Hemisphere of Iranian-backed terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas. “Primarily all that we see right now is focused on supporting logistics support, financial support for parent organizations within the Mideast,� he elaborated.

Actually, depending on which branch of dot.gov is in the glare of media spotlights, Washington tends to send mixed signals about the threat posed by the Caracas-Tehran Axis or, for that matter, the Managua-Tehran Axis. In March 2007, two months after Ortega re-assumed the presidency of Nicaragua at a ceremony attended by Ahmadinejad, uniformed Iranian soldiers were reportedly spotted at Monkey Point, a port on the country’s sparsely populated Caribbean coast. The Iranians’ presence irked the locale’s Creole residents.

Since then, Iran, Venezuela, and Russia have made various promises to throw money at Nicaragua’s meagre infrastructure, including expanding the ports at Monkey Point and Corinto, on the Pacific Coast, building a “dry canal� corridor of pipelines, rails, and highways across the country, as well as digging a ship canal that would rival Panama’s.

posted by Perilous Times at 5:22 AM 1 comments links to this post

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Saturday, July 03, 2010

Middle East/Latin America Files: Assad visits Venezuela, Cuba, joins Chavez in condemning “Yankee imperialism," "genocidal" Israel as "common enemy"



While Americans remain fixated on the massive, ever-expanding environmental disaster which is British Petroleum’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and focus on trivialities such as Larry King’s departure from CNN, Communist Bloc allies in the Middle East and Latin America are closing ranks around the USA.

Last Saturday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad kicked off his four-nation Latin American tour by arriving in Caracas, where he met Venezuelan counterpart and fellow arch-terrorist, Hugo Chavez. There Comrades Assad and Chavez inked cooperation agreements on technology, agriculture, trade, and a new bi-national bank with an initial capitalization of US$100 million. They also agreed to build a $4.7 billion oil refinery in Syria, with Venezuela picking up one third of the tab. Assad is the first Syrian president to ever visit Venezuela.

During his tete-a-tete with Assad, Chavez invited Syria to join the Havana/Caracas-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) as an observer. Both presidents are reliable ideological allies of the Soviet strategists and loyal customers of Rosoboronexport, the Kremlin’s arms exporter. Incidentally, while visiting Caracas in 2008 Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev also expressed an interest in obtaining observer status for Russia in ALBA.

The socialist leaders of Venezuela and Syria, along with their chum Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, follow proudly in the footsteps of the Soviet and Nazi dictatorships. Caracas’ independent El Universal reports that Chavez and Assad resolved to resist “Yankee imperialism� and the “genocidal state of Israel,� calling the Jewish state the “common enemy� of both countries. Unlike Egypt and Jordan, Syria did not sign a peace treaty with Israel after the last Arab-Israeli war in 1973, hence the war drums that Damascus continues to beat nearly 40 years later.

“Chavez is an Arab leader, who is in the heart of the Arab world,� gushed Assad, amid applause from hundreds of members of Venezuela’s estimated 700,000-strong Syrian community. He continued: “This is no flattering; it is the truth. We have his stance about Gaza, we have seen Venezuela’s historical position. President Chavez has overcome the pressure of world powers.� For his part, Chavez declared: “Latin American people need a greater presence of Arab governments; we need to become united, and Bashar has decided to take the lead in this rapprochement effort.�

If you have spent any time at this blog then you will realize that hatred of Jewry and Israel is not the sole province of neo-Nazis and “Christian Identity� types, but also communists, who consider Zionism, like any other form of nationalism, to be an obstacle to the ultimate triumph of world revolution. Indeed, in the Soviet Bloc after Joseph Stalin’s death official anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism were useful forms of propaganda to crush dissent domestically, attack US interests in Europe and elsewhere, and promote the cause of Arab “national liberation.�

Together, Bashar and, prior to 2000, his dad Hafez have ruled Syria for almost as long as the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party has controlled this Middle Eastern state that. With a little help from the Syrian Communist Party, the neo-fascist Syrian Social Nationalist Party--which is also active in Lebanon--and other pan-Arab leftist groupings, the Ba’athists exercise their ruthless reign of terror in collaboration with the National Progressive Front. The Syrian Ba'athists are closely allied with the (secretly ruling) Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). In May 2008 CPRF Chairman Gennady Zyuganov travelled to Damascus where he swapped notes with the Ba'athist leadership.

Assad openly flaunts his new mutual defense pact with Ahmadinejad, regularly manipulates the Lebanese government through sympathetic politicians like President Michel Suleiman, and barely hides its support for Hezbollah, which not only possesses Russian-built missiles obtained via the Syrian army, but also operates bases on Syrian territory. While Assad stands accused of coddling Hezbollah, Chavez has resisted charges of providing havens for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and Spain’s Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna.



After rubbing elbows with Chavez, Assad flew to Havana last Sunday, the second pitstop on his excellent Latin American adventure. During a three-day snuggle-fest with President Raul Castro the Syrian dictator and his host agreed to promote bilateral economic and political ties that began in 1965. According to Granma, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of Cuba, the two countries maintain "excellent" relations in trade and educational and cultural exchanges.

Finally, Assad backtracked somewhat by flying to Brazil and then Argentina, where Presidents Luiz Lula da Silva and Cristina Kirchner are warmly disposed toward the red regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. While visiting Brasilia, Assad commended Lula's communist-backed government for its participation with Turkey in negotiating international acceptance of Iran's "civilian" nuclear power program. Lula visited Syria in 2003. While visiting Buenos Aires, Assad and Kirchner promised to support the other's country in international forums, specifically Syria's claim on the Golan Heights and Argentina's claim on the Falkland Islands.

posted by Perilous Times at 6:11 AM 1 comments links to this post

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China to fund Antigua-based projects

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Wednesday March 21, 2012

The People’s Republic of China and the Antigua and Barbuda government have signed four agreements based on economic and technical co-operation.

According to the agreement, the Chinese have agreed to make 30 RMB accessible to the Antiguan government for the development of its projects, and a further 30 million RMB for the construction of the Five Islands Secondary School.

Another agreement signed was for the maintenance of the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium at a cost of 6.4 million RMB.

This signing follows talks between the two countries led by Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer from Antigua and Barbuda, and Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Gao Huncheng.

The discussions involved the two countries having a closer working relationship in the areas of tourism, education, culture, agriculture and health.

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Chinese, Mexican defense ministers hold talks on military cooperation



Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (2nd L) reviews an honour guard at Mexican defense ministry in Mexico City, Mexico, Sept. 1, 2010. Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie is in Mexico on an official good-will visit at the invitation of Mexican Secretary of National Defense Guillermo Galvan Galvan. (Xinhua/David de la Paz)

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met his Mexican counterpart Guillermo Galvan Galvan here Wednesday to promote bilateral military cooperation.

Liang, also China's state councilor, said that Mexico is China's good friend and partner in the Latin American region, adding China attaches great importance to developing ties with Mexico.

China is willing to boost its military ties with Mexico and deepen bilateral military exchanges and cooperation in various fields, he said.

Liang thanked the Mexican government for its support to China on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet.

Galvan said China is a great country, and Mexico has high expectations for boosting its military ties with China. The two sides can strengthen exchanges to expand military cooperation, the minister added.

Liang also met Mexico's Navy Minister Mariano Francisco Sainez Mendoza, and both sides agreed to promote military exchanges and cooperation.

Liang arrived here Tuesday for a four-day visit.

Chinese defense minister meets with Latin American nations to develop military relations
(Xinhua)
08:48, November 21, 2012



BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with delegates to the 1st China-Latin America high-level defense forum on Tuesday.

Liang hailed the increasingly close relations between China and Latin American countries in recent years, noting that the two sides have enjoyed frequent high-level visits, deepening political mutual trust, strengthening communication and cooperation, as well as effective coordination on major international affairs.

He said the forum shows that China attaches great importance to developing military relations with Latin American countries.

The forum has provided a platform for the two sides to communicate at the senior official level and will increase friendship and trust between the military leaders of both sides so as to develop future China-Latin American military relations, Liang said.

On behalf of the delegates, Pedro Siqueira, Uruguayan commander in chief of the army, said the forum has given Latin American countries more knowledge about China and it has also helped enhance communication between the militaries of both sides.

He expressed the hope that the Chinese military will pay more visits to Latin American countries in order to increase mutual understanding.

Guided-missile cruiser Moskva arrives in Nicaragua on friendly visit

Photo ITAR-TASS

MEXICO CITY, August 13 (Itar-Tass) - The guided-missile cruiser Moskva has arrived in Nicaragua on a friendly visit.

The welcoming ceremony was attended by representatives of the High Command of the Nicaraguan Army. The cruiser moored at Corinto port on the Pacific coast.

Russian Ambassador to Nicaragua Nikolai Vladimir told Itar-Tass on Monday that part of the Russian vessel’s crew will take part in the celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of the country’s Navy and in a number of cultural events planned by the authorities of the Central American country. The main rally on the occasion of the holiday will be led in Managua by President Daniel Ortega. It will be held in Revolution Square in the centre of the capital.

“Within the framework of the Nicaraguan visit the public is to be admitted on board the Russian cruiser,” Vladimir said.

According to him, on August 16 the ship will continue the voyage the program of which, in particular, envisages a call to a Venezuelan port.

“Initially, the visit of two ships of the Russian Navy to Nicaragua had been planned, but then the second vessel got another assignment from the command,” the ambassador said.

According to him, the Nicaraguan authorities attach major importance to the arrival of the ship of the RF Navy. “It is the first call of a Russian warship at a Nicaraguan port in the country’s history,” the official stressed.

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Salvadorian Vice President Welcomes Russian Parliamentarians




San Salvador, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) Salvadorian Vice President, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, welcomed Russian Parliamentarian Upper Chamber Vice President, Alexander P. Torshin, who is visiting this country, authorities reported.

An official communique said last night that friendship and cooperation were the focal issues of the meeting, in which Russian Ambassador to Nicaragua, roving to El Salvador, Nikolai Mikhaylovich Vladimir participated.

It is an honor to welcome you and hold exchanges with you aimed at improving the processes of Central American integration and development of the country, said the Sanchez Ceren to the visitors.

We are also a region related to Latin American and Caribbean integration, which allows us to create spaces for cooperation that favour our people, he said, according to the press release.

The text also said Sanchez Ceren and Torshin talked about the cooperation programs that exist between El Salvador y Rusia in the struggle against drug trafficking, the organized crime and terrorism.

The delegation was also welcomed by Legislative Assembly President Sigfrido Reyes, with whom Torshing tackled the issues of commn interest that will contribute to strengthen parliamentarian relations between both countries.

He held meetings with Central American Integration System (SICA) Secretary General Hugo Martinez and the acting Foreign Minister, Deputy Foreign Minister Jaime Miranda.

Modificado el ( jueves, 08 de agosto de 2013 )

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Russian Warships Dock at Venezuelan Port for Visit


Moskva missile cruiser
© RIA Novosti. Vitaly Ankov

02:10 27/08/2013
Tags: Moskva missile cruiser, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, Russia

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Multimedia

• Russian Navy

MEXICO, August 27 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian naval task force, led by the Moskva missile cruiser, arrived Monday on a visit to the Venezuelan port of La Guaira, local media reported.

The Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, is accompanied by Udaloy-class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov from the Northern Fleet and the Ivan Bubnov tanker.

During the visit, which will last until August 29, the crews of the Russian warships are expected to meet with their Venezuelan colleagues and bestow honors to former President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer on March 5.

Before the visit to Venezuela, the naval task force stopped at the ports of Cuba and Nicaragua. After August 29, the warships are scheduled to visit Spain and Portugal.

[Avvakum]

The noose around the United States is tightening, just as V. Lenin had planned.

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Russia Plans Cruise Missile Tests, Bomber Patrols for 2014

19:54 22/01/2014



The Russian Air Force is preparing to conduct a series of tests of new cruise missiles, as well as carrying out strategic bomber patrols including stops in other countries, the commander of its long-range fleet said Wednesday.

“In 2014 we are planning practice launches of cruise missiles, including new models,” Gen. Lt. Anatoly Zhikharev told reporters, without specifying the missiles to be fired. Russian planes launched 15 cruise missiles last year.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last summer that Russia was planning a 30-fold increase of its cruise missile arsenal by 2020.

The buildup is planned to include the new Raduga Kh-101 cruise missile that can carry an 880-pound (400 kilogram) payload up to 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers).

Zhikharev also said that Russia’s long-range air fleet would conduct long-distance patrols this year, including stops at airbases in other countries that will be named in the future.

In October last year a pair of Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers visited Venezuela and Nicaragua while conducting patrols over the Caribbean, in the first such visit since 2008.

Columbia protested the flights and scrambled jet fighters to escort the bombers, claiming that they had violated its airspace.

The Tu-160 is a supersonic strategic bomber with variable-sweep wings, designed to engage targets around the globe with nuclear and conventional weapons.

Red Dawn Alert: Nicaragua’s Sandinista-dominated legislature obeys “urgent request” from President Ortega, authorizes entrance of Russian, Cuban, Venezuelan and Mexican troops, Warplanes, Warships into C. American country; Russian Navy to Patrol Nicaraguan Waters, Jan. 1 to June 30, 2014; Nicaraguan soldiers to train in Russia, Cuba, Venezuela; US presence in counter-narc ops mere window dressing

1 Comment Posted by periloustimes1 on November 27, 2013

More than two decades have passed since the fake ”death of communism.” The West no longer perceives a threat to its existence from states holding, secretly or openly, to this ideology.

However, the revived Communist Bloc appears to be contemplating a real Red Dawn scenario. Using its Cold War-era beachhead in Central America, the neo-Soviet regime and its leftist allies in Latin America are even now preparing to attack the USA . . . in full view of the sleep-walking shopping mall regime and with the total complicity of the treasonous Obama Admin.

source 1 source 2

Background

source 3 source 4 source 5 source 6

27 November 2013, 09:45

Parliament of Nicaragua votes for Russian Military Presence

Photo:EPA


Nicaragua's Parliament Ratified the Government's Decision Allowing Russian Military Units, Planes and Ships to Visit the Central American Country



The voting took place at an urgent request of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Under the document, ships and planes of Russia, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela will be able to visit Nicaragua in the first half of 2014. Their crews are allowed to participate "in exchange of experience and training" of Nicaragua's servicemen.

Moreover, Russian servicemen together with Nicaragua's armed forces will take part in a joint patrolling of the republic's territorial waters in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean from January 1 to June 30, 2014.

The main task of these operations is to fight drug trafficking. The US servicemen were issued a similar permit.

Voice of Russia, TASS
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_1...presence-2495/

[American Patriot]

Nicaragua lets Russian, US Navies conduct coastal anti-drugs ops

27/11/2013 RIA Novosti

Nicaragua’s parliament has allowed Russian and US warships and servicemen to operate in its contested territorial waters to conduct anti-drug missions, local daily La Prensa reports.
Nicaraguan lawmakers voted 66-20 Tuesday to approve the proposal to allow Russian and US military units to take part in joint exercises in the maritime zones bordering Colombia in the Caribbean, often used as a direct transit route for drug traffickers, La Prensa said.
Some 124 US and 65 Russian service personnel have been given permission to participate in an anti-drug effort from January to June 2014. Troops from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela will also participate in the operations, while Nicaraguan troops will travel to Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and the US to gain experience.
Nicaragua’s task in policing its coastal waters has increased since last year, when the International Court of Justice granted Nicaragua control of 30,000 square miles (79,000 square kilometers) of the Caribbean Sea that had previously been considered Colombian territorial waters. Colombia denounced the decision.
Russia and Nicaragua signed an agreement in February 2012 on joint anti-drug trafficking measures. The two countries agreed to share information, conduct joint operations against drug traffickers and establish a drug enforcement training center in the Nicaraguan capital Managua.
First published by RIA Novosti.

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Marxist Mass Murderer w/Drug Ties who Led US Flag Burning March After 9/11 to Become President of El Salvador

February 4, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield 4 Comments

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With all the Marxists becoming national leaders in this hemisphere, from Brazil to Nicaragua to El Salvador to the United States, Canada seems to be one of the last oases of freedom left.

A former Marxist guerrilla leader whose party reportedly has ties to Venezuela’s socialist government and drug traffickers is poised to be El Salvador’s next president.

Elliott Abrams, deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration and assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under Ronald Reagan, said in an interview that Sanchez Ceren is from the “hardest-line elements of the FMLN.” He said Jose Luis Merino, Sanchez Ceren’s “right-hand man,” has ties to narcotics traffickers in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

While there is still a chance that Quijano could collect votes from the supporters of other candidates in the initial elections, Abrams said it would not be easy.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” he said. “The drug traffickers are in a position to spend a lot of money on the runoff.”

Hope, dope and change.

The left needs financing and the Latin American left has figured out that taking over the drug trade makes it virtually invulnerable.

Noriega said Sanchez Ceren is an “anti-U.S. radical who committed barbaric acts against his own people during a bloody civil war.”

He also led a FMLN march four days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks where participants blamed U.S. policies for the al Qaeda operation and burned an American flag.

What Noriega is talking about is this video…



Among other atrocities that the FMLN was responsible for was the Zona Rosa massacre which killed four US Marines and several other Americans.

On that June 19, 1985, night, the four U.S. Marines sat at an outdoor table at a Chili’s restaurant in the Zona Rosa. All four were unarmed, enjoying down time from guard duty at the U.S. Embassy and wearing civilian clothes.

The seven assailants who arrived in a white pick-up truck were from the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, one of the five FMLN factions. Weeks earlier, rebel leaders pronounced that all U.S. military personnel in El Salvador “were legitimate targets in the war,” the faction’s then-leader, Francisco Jovel, said in an interview.

The assailants fired rapidly. When the shooting ended, Marines Thomas Handwork, Patrick R. Kwiatkoski, Bobbie J. Dickson and Gregory H. Weber, and eight civilians, lay dead.

The United States vowed justice, but that was B.O. Before Obama.

In a voice choking with emotion, President Reagan pledged today to bring to justice the killers of four American marines killed Wednesday in San Salvador.

”They say the men who murdered these sons of America escaped, disappeared into the city streets, but I pledge to you today they will not evade justice on earth any more than they can escape the judgment of God,” Mr. Reagan said. ”We and the Salvadoran leaders will move any mountain and ford any river to find the jackals and bring them and their colleagues in terror to justice.”

Mr. Reagan, and his wife, Nancy, flew to Andrews Air Force Base for the brief ceremony that began as the coffins were carried from an Air Force transport plane and ended when each coffin was loaded into a hearse and driven away.

But that was back when we had an American president. These days we have our own Ceren in power who has more in common ideologically with the killers of those Marines than with the Marines themselves. Benghazi was just one of many reminders of that.

But those deaths are a drop in the water in FMLN’s massacres in El Salvador.

Galeas and Ayala are fully engaged in detailing assassinations by the FMLN of 1,200-1,500 persons between 1986 and 1990. For the better part of a year, they have spoken with family survivors, met with assassins and exhumed graves holding 20 or 30 or more skeletal remains.

“One of the favorite interrogation techniques was to bludgeon presumed enemy spies with wooden clubs,” Mr. Galeas recounted. “They first assaulted their arms and legs, brutally breaking them in futile attempts to get them to talk – futile because they had nothing to confess. Eventually, they realized there was nothing forthcoming and they turned their clubs on the victims’ skulls, beating them until they succumbed.”

These were not ordinary murders; they were committed by guerrillas against other guerrillas on the orders of the commanding general in the San Vicente region, known in the FMLN as El Frente Para Central (The Auxiliary Central Front). What’s more, virtually all the murders were based on unproven hearsay allegations that the victims were Salvadoran military agents trying to undermine the terrorist cause.

The commanding general who approved every assassination, with the alias “Leonel Gonzalez,” was none other than Salvador Sanchez Ceren, vice presidential candidate of the FMLN in the country’s March presidential elections. Sanchez Ceren has long been a top FMLN leader and is considered one of the most orthodox hard leftists in the organization

But as Hillary likes to say, what difference does it make anyway?

Russia Plans Cruise Missile Tests, Bomber Patrols for 2014

19:54 22/01/2014



The Russian Air Force is preparing to conduct a series of tests of new cruise missiles, as well as carrying out strategic bomber patrols including stops in other countries, the commander of its long-range fleet said Wednesday.

“In 2014 we are planning practice launches of cruise missiles, including new models,” Gen. Lt. Anatoly Zhikharev told reporters, without specifying the missiles to be fired. Russian planes launched 15 cruise missiles last year.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last summer that Russia was planning a 30-fold increase of its cruise missile arsenal by 2020.

The buildup is planned to include the new Raduga Kh-101 cruise missile that can carry an 880-pound (400 kilogram) payload up to 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers).

Zhikharev also said that Russia’s long-range air fleet would conduct long-distance patrols this year, including stops at airbases in other countries that will be named in the future.

In October last year a pair of Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers visited Venezuela and Nicaragua while conducting patrols over the Caribbean, in the first such visit since 2008.

Columbia protested the flights and scrambled jet fighters to escort the bombers, claiming that they had violated its airspace.

The Tu-160 is a supersonic strategic bomber with variable-sweep wings, designed to engage targets around the globe with nuclear and conventional weapons.

Red Dawn Alert: Nicaragua’s Sandinista-dominated legislature obeys “urgent request” from President Ortega, authorizes entrance of Russian, Cuban, Venezuelan and Mexican troops, Warplanes, Warships into C. American country; Russian Navy to Patrol Nicaraguan Waters, Jan. 1 to June 30, 2014; Nicaraguan soldiers to train in Russia, Cuba, Venezuela; US presence in counter-narc ops mere window dressing

1 Comment Posted by periloustimes1 on November 27, 2013

More than two decades have passed since the fake ”death of communism.” The West no longer perceives a threat to its existence from states holding, secretly or openly, to this ideology.

However, the revived Communist Bloc appears to be contemplating a real Red Dawn scenario. Using its Cold War-era beachhead in Central America, the neo-Soviet regime and its leftist allies in Latin America are even now preparing to attack the USA . . . in full view of the sleep-walking shopping mall regime and with the total complicity of the treasonous Obama Admin.

source 1 source 2

Background

source 3 source 4 source 5 source 6

27 November 2013, 09:45

Parliament of Nicaragua votes for Russian Military Presence

Photo:EPA


Nicaragua's Parliament Ratified the Government's Decision Allowing Russian Military Units, Planes and Ships to Visit the Central American Country



The voting took place at an urgent request of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Under the document, ships and planes of Russia, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela will be able to visit Nicaragua in the first half of 2014. Their crews are allowed to participate "in exchange of experience and training" of Nicaragua's servicemen.

Moreover, Russian servicemen together with Nicaragua's armed forces will take part in a joint patrolling of the republic's territorial waters in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean from January 1 to June 30, 2014.

The main task of these operations is to fight drug trafficking. The US servicemen were issued a similar permit.

Voice of Russia, TASS
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_1...presence-2495/

[Avvakum]

"The left needs financing and the Latin American left has figured out that taking over the drug trade makes it virtually invulnerable."

They didn't 'take it over', the Communists INVENTED the illegal drug trade; see Douglass 'Red Cocaine'.

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Russian military cargo plane lands in Veracruz Mexico

By Alexander Backman

Listen to commentary and interview on this article by Alexander Backman on the John Moore Show, Sep 24 2012:

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LISTEN HERE CLICK ON PLAY AND ALLOW FILE TO LOAD
Download Commercial free MP3 here

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CRN® SEP 24, 2012- It is very well the largest airplane in the world as the Soviet Air Charter company so claims, and it has landed in Mexico of all places. Last Saturday, September 22rd, under the cover of night, an Antonov Russian strategic transport airplane, landed at the international Navy Air Base airport of Veracruz. This news was confirmed by Mexican General Heriberto Jara Corona, who heads the Aeronautics division of the Federal Secretary of Communications and Transport.

According to ‘off the record’ information gathered by the local media, the airship supposedly transported two Russian helicopters for the National Oceanic Force from Russia to Mexico. The questions remains, where are the helicopters, why are there no pictures of them? Are there any helicopters at all? Is something else being transported? Is Russia working with the Mexican armed forces in preparation for a full-scale invasion of the United States by bringing in military cargo into Mexican ports.

The notion of these helicopters being brought into Mexico for the Drug war does not convince anyone when it is the US-Mexico Merida Initiative that guarantees this type of equipment to fight the criminal insurgency that has left a whopping 120,000 Mexicans dead.

Nevertheless, the Mexican Airspace Navigation Service confirmed that the airship arrived directly at the naval air station de Las Bajadas belonging to the Secretariat of Navy – the Mexican Navy and soon carted to the platform of the civilian airfield, after 17 hours of flight without any stops.

The Anotov is used to transport loads of great dimensions. The airplane can incline to facilitate the entrance of payload and can take up to 150 tons of cargo, also up to 88 passengers in an upper deck behind the cabin. Nevertheless, due to the limited pressurization of the fuselage, it rarely transports parachutists.

It is well-known that these aircraft were designed initially for occasional military use which does not discard the fact that this may be a military operation made to look like a civilian transport plane. With the recent information that China is also using civilian cruisers like the Green pearl to transport troops and equipment, one needs to not underestimate the enemy forces and what their forms of operation are. Especially, when confirmation has come that China has at least 12 military bases in Mexico as reported by an Australian family member that has a relative that works at the Echelon, NSA, Pine Gap facility in Australia.

References:

1. Antonov An-124, Soviet Air Charter, http://www.sovietaircharter.com/planeAN124.htm
2. The Lowdown on Chinese Troops in Mexico, God Like Productions, http://www.godlikeproductions.com/fo...age1410625/pg1
3. Un “Gigante” aéreo directo de Rusia aterriza en tierras veracruzanas, http://golpepolitico.com/2012/09/23/...-veracruzanas/
4. Aterrizan un “monstro”!, NOTIVER, http://www.notiver.com.mx/index.php/...d=3&posicion=3
   

Related:

• Communist Goals- Congressional Record (1963)- Must read!
• Recommended Sites: The Coming Attack
• Why is the US being invaded by the Commies?- Read here
• INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES KNOW THAT AT LEAST 12 CHINESE MILITARY BASES ARE OPERATING IN NORTHERN MEXICO

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Russian Spy Ship Docked in Havana



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by Breitbart News 26 Feb 2014, 5:07 PM PDT post a comment

(AFP)—A Russian warship was docked in Havana Wednesday, without explanation from Communist Cuba or its state media.

The Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, measuring 91.5 meters (300 feet) long and 14.5 meters wide, was docked at the port of Havana's cruise ship area, near the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

The Vishnya, or Meridian-class intelligence ship, which has a crew of around 200, went into service in the Black Sea in 1988 before it was transferred seven years later to the northern fleet, Russian media sources said.

Neither Cuban authorities nor state media have mentioned the ship's visit, unlike on previous tours by Russian warships.

The former Soviet Union was Cuba's sponsor state through three decades of Cold War. After a period of some distancing under former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, the countries renewed their political, economic and military cooperation.

The ship is reportedly armed with 30mm guns and anti-aircraft missiles.
Its visit comes as isolated Havana's current economic and political patron, Venezuela, is facing unprecedented violent protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Cuban President Raul Castro's Communist government is the Americas' only one-party regime.

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Russia’s Growing Military Power in Latin America

March 11, 2014

by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez

As tensions between the United States and Russia over the future of the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula continue to rise, Moscow officials may look to beef up their country’s stronghold in Latin America.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on February 26 that his country is planning to expand its long-standing military presence in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, possibly bringing the U.S. and Russia’s icy diplomatic standoff into the Western Hemisphere.

Although Shoigu mentioned that Russia would also boost its armed presence in Vietnam, Singapore, the Seychelles and several other countries, Moscow’s anticipated embankment in Latin America will surely be perceived as a threat to U.S. defense policymakers.

“The talks are under way, and we are close to signing the relevant documents,” Shoigu said in a press conference in Moscow. “We need bases for refueling near the equator, and in other places,” he explained.

It is still unclear, however, whether Russia will construct new Moscow-owned bases in the proposed countries. Russia may only seek permission from already-existing naval defense ports to increase its access to military stations with refueling, maintenance and repair capabilities. The country’s only naval base outside the country is located in Tartus, Syria.

Conversely, the U.S. currently owns Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force facilities in several countries within Russia’s proximity, including South Korea, , Japan, Greeceand Turkey.

While U.S. government officials have not yet publicly commented on Russia’s military expansion plan, defense authorities could be apprehensive of the idea, especially considering Washington’s strained relations with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Cuba
Although Cuba maintained a strong relationship with Russia throughout the Cold War, military diplomacy between both nations came to a screeching halt during the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, Cuban President Raúl Castro and Russian President Vladimir Putin have recently improved military diplomacy—an armed Russian intelligence-gathering military vessel arrived in Havana the same day Shoigu made the announcement of his country’s increased presence in Latin America. The vessel also visited Havana in September 2012.

Despite minor improvements in U.S.-Cuba diplomacy, Russia continues to maintain a stronger military relationship with the Caribbean island than its northern neighbor—a bond that may worry defense officials in Washington and put them on the offensive as Putin beefs up his country’s defense capabilities.

Venezuela
Throughout former President Hugo Chávez’s tenure and President Nicolás Maduro’s current administration, Venezuela’s relationship with the United States has soured. One one side, Maduro and his supporters have accused the United States of destabilizing Venezuela by financing privatization efforts and supporting the campaigns of political opponents. Meanwhile, ongoing protests continue, led by opposition leaders like Leopoldo López and Henrique Capriles, who have accused the Bolivarian government of bringing Venezuela’s inflation and crime rates to unprecedented levels.

Deteriorating relations between Venezuela and the United States have established solidarity between Caracas and Moscow officials. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Venezuelan counterpart ElÃ*as Jaua on Monday that his country supports Venezuela’s efforts to maintain stability in the country, which both governments feel are being undermined by U.S. support for opposition protests—Lavrov made the announcement a few days before Russia initiated talks with the Maduro administration about expanding its military presence in South America.

Although Jaua has said that Venezuela will “work hard to facilitate contacts with Russia,” he also, noted that, "because of the constitution, we cannot allow a foreign military installation in our country."

Nonetheless, Russia’s solidarity with Venezuela, coupled with its plans to shore up defense capabilities in South America, will likely upset Washington officials who are critical of both governments.

Nicaragua
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has demonstrated his willingness to work with Putin, who he regards as his “brother president.”

Ortega asked the Russian leader to continue to “defend the peace that the world needs so dearly” in a letter expressing his condolences following the Volgograd terrorist attacks late last year, which killed more than 30 people. Although Nicaraguan Vice President Moisés Omar Halleslevens said establishing a base would breach the nation's constitution, a government decision made last November allows Russian military formations, ships and aircraft to visit the country as part of a six-month training program. While the country’s friendliness toward Russia may not necessarily be perceived as a threat to Nicaragua’s Central American neighbors, the U.S. will undoubtedly monitor the growing relationship between both nations.

Ultimately, Russia’s plans to expand its defense capabilities in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua will not only test the United States’ willingness to accept the foreign policies of its sovereign Latin American neighbors, but it may also increase the possibility of future conflict between Moscow and Washington over the Western Hemisphere.

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March 21, 2014, 06:00 am
Putin’s quiet Latin America play

By Kristina Wong

Away from the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is quietly seeking a foothold in Latin America, military officials warn.

To the alarm of lawmakers and Pentagon officials, Putin has begun sending navy ships and long-range bombers to the region for the first time in years.

Russia’s defense minister says the country is planning bases in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and just last week, Putin’s national security team met to discuss increasing military ties in the region.

“They’re on the march,” Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) said at a Senate hearing earlier this month. “They’re working the scenes where we can’t work. And they’re doing a pretty good job.”

Gen. James Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command said there has been a “noticeable uptick in Russian power projection and security force personnel” in Latin America.

“It has been over three decades since we last saw this type of high-profile Russian military presence,” Kelly said at the March 13 hearing.

The U.S. military says it has been forced to cut back on its engagement with military and government officials in Latin America due to budget cuts. Kelly said the U.S. military had to cancel more than 200 effective engagement activities and multi-lateral exercises in Latin America last year.

With the American presence waning, officials say rivals such as Russia, China and Iran are quickly filling the void.

Iran has opened up 11 additional embassies and 33 cultural centers in Latin America while supporting the "operational presence" of militant group Lebanese Hezbollah in the region.

“On the military side, I believe they're establishing, if you will, lily pads for future use if they needed to use them,” Kelly said.

China is making a play for Latin America a well, and is now the fastest growing investor in the region, according to experts.

Although their activity is mostly economic, they are also increasing military activity through educational exchanges.

The Chinese Navy conducted a goodwill visit in Brazil, Chile and Argentina last year and conducted its first-ever naval exercise with the Argentine Navy.

Meanwhile, the U.S. had to cancel the deployment of its hospital ship USNS Comfort last year.

“Our relationships, our leadership, and our influence in the Western Hemisphere are paying the price,” Kelly said.

Some experts warn against being too alarmist, and say Russia, China and Iran do not have the ability or desire to project military power beyond their borders.

Army War College adjunct professor Gabriel Marcella said Russia's maneuvering is more about posturing than a real threat.

"Latin America is seen as an opportunity to challenge the United States in terms of global presence," he said. "They want to show the flag to assert their presence and say they need to be counted on the world stage."

Other experts said the encroachment of rivals has huge economic implications for the U.S., which has more trade partners in Latin America than in any other region in the world.

“[Russia’s presence] serves to destabilize what has become a more stabilized, middle class continent with an increasing respect for the rule of law. ... Any type of unsettling of that environment will scare off investors,” said Jason Marczak, deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

“Market economies and democracies are fundamental for trade, for jobs, and for stable investment environments," he said.

Marczak noted the instability in Venezuela, which is facing civil unrest from anti-government protestors.

“In Venezuela, a lot of the money that’s been able to prop up President Chavez and now Maduro has been Chinese money,” Kelly said.

So far, 31 protestors have been killed in clashes with government security forces.

“I see a real degradation in what used to pass as Venezuelan democracy. There's less and less of that now,” Kelly said.

And while Chinese investment in Latin America could have positive aspects for the region, it could also make it more difficult for U.S. official to push labor and environmental safeguards that it argues are building blocks for democracy, Marczak said.

Angel Rabasa, a senior political scientist at RAND, said cuts to the defense budget are going to accelerate a long trend of U.S. neglect and disengagement with Latin America.

According to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), there are 10 countries in Latin America that currently have no U.S. ambassador because they either haven’t been nominated yet or confirmed, a sign that the region is seen as a low priority.

“We will be losing the ability to influence developments in a region that is very important to us because of proximity,” Rabasa said.

[Ryan Ruck]

“They’re on the march,” Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) said at a Senate hearing earlier this month. “They’re working the scenes where we can’t work. And they’re doing a pretty good job.”

Yes, no thanks to your party Joe. Bravo!