Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia To Sign Military And Energy Deals

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/venezuelarussiaboliviadiplomacy

CARACAS (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is set to meet the presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia in Caracas Friday to sign military and energy deals that broaden Russia's footprint in Latin America.

Putin's first visit to Venezuela underscores Russia's deepening relations with Latin America's leading leftist regime, and serves as doorway to a region long considered the US back yard.

Russia and Venezuela in 2005 and 2007 signed 12 military agreements worth some 4.4 billion dollars that have raised some concern in Washington.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week thanked Russia for helping Venezuela "bolster its defensive potential" in the face of "threats" from the United States as he announced Putin's visit.

Bolivian President Evo Morales is expected to seek a 100-million dollar loan from Russia to purchase military hardware, including an Antonov aircraft for the president's use, officials in La Paz said.

Russian officials, including deputy prime minister Igor Sechin, arrived in Caracas Wednesday to prepare for Putin's visit.

Putin and Chavez will sign "accords taking us to the next phase of cooperation with Russia, which no longer will be limited to energy and military matters, but now also includes social, cultural and health issues," Vice President Elias Jaua said Thursday on state-run VTV television.

Topping the list is an agreement to set up a Russian-Venezuelan development bank to finance a joint venture for oil and gas exploration in eastern Venezuela's oil-rich Orinoco river basin.

The enterprise -- 60 percent owned by Venezuela, 40 percent by a consortium of Russian companies -- hopes to extract up to 450,000 barrels of oil per day from the Amazon region.

[Thiebear]

He keeps pushing and pushing and pushing..

Just to try and get his people to try and look anywhere else but at what he's doing.

(Chavez).

[MEANDWARF]

What's in Bolivia?

[JohnLockesGhost]

What's in Bolivia?

I think one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

[Mickalino]

I think one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

If so, I wonder why they are perhaps the poorest nation in South America

[twa]

If so, I wonder why they are perhaps the poorest nation in South America

Poor leadership,just like many other places

[Destino]

Hopefully Chile's right wing President will sign some agreements with the US. I don't like Russia being close friends with Bolivia.

[pez]

Threats from the U.S.? What threats... does he really think we give that much of a damn about him?

I am really sure that Venzuela is at the forefront of our current administration's mind.

[Mickalino]

Poor leadership,just like many other places

You mean, no-one's ever stepped up and said "Do you want 4 more years of this ?"

[twa]

You mean, no-one's ever stepped up and said "Do you want 4 more years of this ?"

I mean they are blessed with large gas and mineral deposits(even gold) yet the thieving ****s simply pocket the proceeds.

Think Chavez on steroids.

[Destino]

Threats from the U.S.? What threats... does he really think we give that much of a damn about him?

I am really sure that Venzuela is at the forefront of our current administration's mind.

The first step to running a proper strong arm tyranny is establishing a strong enemy. It gives the people a bad guy to focus on and a reason to execute harsh standards at home in the name of nationalism!

[pez]

The first step to running a proper strong arm tyranny is establishing a strong enemy. It gives the people a bad guy to focus on and a reason to execute harsh standards at home in the name of nationalism!

ahh... so they are building their own 1-sided cold war!

[sjinhan]

If so, I wonder why they are perhaps the poorest nation in South America

and the key part of it is that they have natural gas reserves and not oil reservers...

gas is harder to transport than oil... they need LNG plants in order be more efficient in transport but those dont come cheap!

[JohnLockesGhost]

If so, I wonder why they are perhaps the poorest nation in South America

Have you ever heard of the Dutch Disease?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease

BTW, the corelation between wealth of natural resources and economic development is pretty weak. Many countries that have incredible natural resources have pretty weak economies; think South Africa, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia. Whereas countires like Singapore, Luxembourg, Switzerland (and Hong Kong too) are extremely small and low in natural resources, but have very strong economies.

That's because economies rely much more today on the development of human resources than natural resources. The real wealth of the world is found in the muscles and the brains of people.

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_venezuela_russia

CARACAS, Venezuela – Russia has agreed to help Venezuela draw up plans for a nuclear power plant, President Hugo Chavez said Friday.

Atomic energy was one of many areas of cooperation discussed as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the South American country.

"We're ready to start drawing up the first plan of a nuclear power plant, obviously with peaceful aims," Chavez said.

Chavez had announced plans to turn to Russia for nuclear help in the past. He did not give details on how much Venezuela is prepared to invest, or how long it might take.

[Destino]

Welcome to the south american nuclear race... the other nations in south america will not like the idea of Chavez having a nuclear capability. You don't need to be a world leader to realize that he's unstable and desperately wants to be a bully.

[twa]

Russia is a good fit with Chavez

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/world/americas/04venez.html?hp

When Judge María Lourdes Afiuni issued a ruling in December that irked President Hugo Chávez, he did little to contain his outrage. The president, contending on national television that she would have been put before a firing squad in earlier times, sent his secret intelligence police to arrest her.

Then the agents took her to the overcrowded women’s prison in this city of slums near Caracas. They put her in a cell near more than 20 inmates whom Judge Afiuni had sentenced on charges like murder and drug smuggling.

“I’ve received threats from inmates telling me they will burn me alive because they see me as a symbol of the system that put them in prison,” said Judge Afiuni, 46, in her prison cell. “I’m in this hell because I had the temerity to do my job as a judge in a way that didn’t please Chávez.”

Since Judge Afiuni’s imprisonment, a dizzying sequence of other high-profile arrests has taken place, pointing to Mr. Chávez’s recent use of his security and intelligence apparatus to quash challenges to his grip on the country’s political institutions. The arrests come at a time of spreading public ire over an economy hobbled by electricity shortages and soaring inflation.

Senior officials in Mr. Chávez’s government here, including Attorney General Luisa Ortega, say the most recent arrests were necessary to suppress conspiracies or to prosecute people whose comments were deemed offensive to Mr. Chávez. In Judge Afiuni’s case, Attorney General Ortega said the judge had illegally freed another high-profile prisoner, the businessman Eligio Cedeño.

In March, intelligence agents arrested Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, a former presidential candidate, charging him with conspiracy after he said in televised remarks that Venezuela had become a haven for drug trafficking; he also supported a Spanish indictment asserting that officials here had helped Basque separatists train on Venezuelan soil.

Only days later, agents arrested Guillermo Zuloaga, the owner of the opposition television network Globovisión, after he criticized the government’s efforts to shut down media outlets that challenged the president. After an outcry by rights groups, Mr. Zuloaga was released on the condition that he could not travel outside the country.

Next, agents arrested Wilmer Azuaje, an opposition lawmaker, on charges of insulting and striking a police official during a heated discussion. Mr. Azuaje had in the past revealed corruption claims against Mr. Chávez’s siblings. Like Mr. Zuloaga, Mr. Azuaje was released, but the Supreme Court forbade him to discuss his arrest with the media.