Not quite clear just yet..
Originally posted by Wildcat:
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The bad news is that Chavez is still in power, and he successfully stood up to Uribe without much in the way of repercussions.
Yes, and no. Latest floating out there is that (a) the material coming out of the 2 notebooks "cannot be verified as authentic":rolleyes:, and (b) There's a flood of the material being pushed out in front of God and everybody, for all to see.:eek: Uribe has played this just beautifully.
Wait for it, there's even more to come. Some of the material is likely to be very sensitive, to some certain political figures back home here.
Hugo and his minions are working to spin the press like nonstop whirling dervishes, Correa [President, Ecuador] is trying to figure out a way to keep accommodating FARC without looking complicit with all the released email bombshells, and Uribe is sitting back and quietly laughing to himself.
Going to be fun to watch as it plays out.
Interesting Turm of Events....
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Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise in Caribbean
Dated: Saturday; September 6, 2008
(Reuters) - 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.
Link to Article
This should be a "sure thing" to re-start the debate over what actions the US should take. One thing it will accomplish in the American hemisphere is to re-start the entire Free Trade argument over the deal with Columbia, along with new arms shipments and additional military support for Columbia.
But more importantly, I could see this creating an impetus for new US arms exports of certain types of "defensive" weaponry to democratically inclined nations currently sharing a border with Russia. I wonder how much in current gen ATGM's could be purchased with a billion dollars or so?
Although your probably right about the debate
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Originally Posted by
Watcher In The Middle
Link to Article
This should be a "sure thing" to re-start the debate over what actions the US should take. One thing it will accomplish in the American hemisphere is to re-start the entire Free Trade argument over the deal with Columbia, along with new arms shipments and additional military support for Columbia.
But more importantly, I could see this creating an impetus for new US arms exports of certain types of "defensive" weaponry to democratically inclined nations currently sharing a border with Russia. I wonder how much in current gen ATGM's could be purchased with a billion dollars or so?
I'm still kinda curious as to exactly how much of a threat Hugo is to anyone considering his own internal problems and as such these actions are simply good for exactly good enough reason for what you stated. Everyone else around him arming up. Not quite sure how that helps him in his mindset.
As to Russia sending ships there for exercises I'd think it might be somewhat of a bummer to those in the Russian navy.
Think about it :
On the one hand you could be training and taking part of large scale operations with some of the strongest and most potent Naval forces ever
or
Option number two -Go play with Chavez (I'd be willing to bet there are some very perturbed officers right about now)
Venezuela: violence and politics
A short article by an ICG expert:http://www.opendemocracy.net/silke-p...e-and-politics
I have read about the scale of violence and the police being brutal, but the details are new to me and alarming. So taking one paragraph:
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The former interior and justice minister Jesse Chacón recently claimed the government had inherited the problem from former administrations. Fair enough: when Hugo Chávez took over the presidency in 1999, homicide rates had already tripled over the previous decade. But what Chacón did not mention is that they almost quadrupled in the following twelve years, from 4,550 in 1998 to 17,600 in 2010.
This insight speaks volumes:
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The daily killings in Venezuelan cities so far do not seem to have significantly affected President Chávez’s popularity.
The heavy hand on Venezuela's streets
A long article from Open Democracy on Venezuela's internal policing issues, which starts with:
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Faced with soaring levels of crime and violence, Venezuela's government continues to militarize the police. The public disproves of the crime, but not the response. Why?
It ends with:
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..unless there is a drastic change in the current government, which has a strong military faction and is plagued by rampant corruption, the military policing model is likely to stay.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensec...zuelas-streets