THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!  THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!


     The thought of Russian warships cruising the waters of the Caribbean instinctively revives memories of such Cold War episodes as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Russia is sending the nuclear-powered cruiser "Peter the Great, a heavily armed nuclear-powered cruiser, and other ships, aircraft and troops for a joint naval exercise with Venezuela, a deployment that comes amid increasingly tense relations with the United States. It is the first big Russian maneuvers in the United States’ backyard since the end of the Cold War. Relations between Washington and Moscow are tense because of Russia’s intervention in Georgia in August. The Kremlin was angered by the United States’ sending a naval flotilla to the Black Sea to show support for Georgia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who will visit Cuba and Venezuela this week, even asked how Washington would feel if Russian sent aid vessels to the Caribbean. Well! this week we’ll be able to find out the answer.

     It is extremely unlikely the deployment will provoke a crisis as dangerous and dramatic as 1962, but it is still an irritant to Washington. Venezuela under Hugo Chavez has replaced Fidel Castro’s Cuba as its chief bugbear in Latin America. Spouting anti-imperialist rhetoric, Chavez has led a socialist revolution aimed at ending U.S. influence in Latin America. He counts as allies leaders such as Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Carrera, and  Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega.  He has backed up his anti-American actions with largesse from Venezuela’s oil wealth. Ironically, a lot of those dollars come from oil sale to the United States.

     In Latin America, Russia has found an excellent ally in Hugo Chavez.  Venezuela represents a new market for Russian exports and investments. During the last three years, Russia has sold Venezuela 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles, 53 helicopters, including 12 Mi-17 military helicopters, and 14 Su-30MK fighter aircrafts. the Russians have also offered to sell Venezuela 50 of its most advanced warplanes, the MIG 29 Fulcrums. Last year, Chavez stated that Russia would deliver 5 Kilo class 636 diesel submarines to Venezuela, 10 more Su-30MK fighter aircrafts and 5,000 Dragunov sniper riffles. Currently, plans are being made to acquire from Russia an additional 36 helicopters and Su-35 fighters, a yet undetermined number of Antonov transport aircrafts.

     Following the Cuban script that made possible Fidel Castro’s half of a century dictatorship, Chavez said that he is buying this vast amount of weaponry because he is getting well prepared for an imminent “USA invasion.” However, this rearmament causes more concerns among Venezuela's neighbors than to the US, as Chavez is building alliances with terrorists and narco-traffickers everywhere in the region. This includes his last year petition for removing the Colombian FARC from the list of "terrorist organizations," despite that they have kidnapped over 700 people, are involved in arms and drug trafficking, have employed car and gas cylinder bombs, landmines, extortion, hijacking, and enrolled by force in their army a thousands of poor children. Despite the embarrassing defeat received during last Sunday regional elections, Chávez predicts the success of his Bolivarian revolution because THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING now to save him.