BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China Combined) is an Acronym First Used in a Goldman Sachs Report from 2003, Which Speculated That by 2050 These Four Economies Would Be Wealthier Than Most of the Current Major Economic Powers

Brazil, Russia, India and China

BRIC - an acronym for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. The general consensus is that the term was first prominently used in a Goldman Sachs report from 2003, which speculated that by 2050 these four economies would be wealthier than most of the current major economic powers.

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The BRIC thesis posits that China and India will become the world's dominant suppliers of manufactured goods and services, respectively, while Brazil and Russia will become similarly dominant as suppliers of raw materials. It's important to note that the Goldman Sachs thesis isn't that these countries are a political alliance (like the European Union) or a formal trading association - but they have the potential to form a powerful economic bloc. BRIC is now also used as a more generic marketing term to refer to these four emerging economies.

Due to lower labor and production costs, many companies also cite BRIC as a source of foreign expansion opportunity.

APEC Economist: India and China Key
China, India, Russia and Brazil currently have the world's largest cash reserves and at the G-20 summit in November 2008 they demanded a greater say in world economic and political forums.

Joe Biden: Russia, India, China - "The Real War"
According to Biden, the wars of the Bush administration were the wrong ones, and the Obama administration will unchain the real war: the war to confront the emergence of Russia, India and China. The war, the real war, will have to be waged in Afghanistan/Pakistan - exactly the area where it will be more disruptive for the feared Russia-India-China challenge.

Obama and the World Crisis: Western Drive Toward World Domination
By the end of the Bush administration, Obama, in his presidential campaign, was calling for escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan, possibly intended by the script writers as a flanking movement to cut off Russia from Iran. This appears to be the start of the final Western assault on South Asia - Pakistan in particular is now high on the list of U.S. targets, with Obama saying he will send in U.S. forces whenever warranted.

The Cost of Hegemony Is Beyond Reach
The U.S. government has managed to start a new cold war with Russia.

North Korea to Boost Nuclear Deterrent after U.S. Pressure

North Korea to Boost Nuclear Deterrent after U.S. Pressure

Reuters
May 22, 2012

Isolated North Korea stepped up its war of words against the United States on Tuesday, vowing to boost its nuclear deterrent after Washington warned Pyongyang of further sanctions if it did not abandon its atomic program.

The North's foreign ministry spokesman said via the official KCNA news agency that it would "bolster its nuclear deterrent as long as the United States was continuing with its hostile policies" and that it planned "countermeasures" following pressure from Washington.

Last week, world leaders meeting in the United States said the isolated North needed to adhere to international norms on nuclear issues and said it would face more isolation if it "continues down the path of provocation".

Under new leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea launched a long range rocket in April, breaking an agreement with the United States that would have traded food aid for access to its nuclear facilities, among other things.

Many experts now believe the reclusive North is preparing for a third nuclear test, and could even use highly enriched uranium for the first time. Experts say the North already has enough fissile material from plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies told reporters in Seoul on Monday that North Korea could expect "a swift and sure" reaction by the international community if it undertook further hostile actions.

Davies was holding talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Tuesday.

China is North Korea's sole major economic and diplomatic backer and even it has put pressure on Pyongyang to back down on plans for a nuclear test.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, was skeptical that the latest rhetoric from Pyongyang signaled a nuclear test was imminent.

"North Korea is simply saying: Don't agitate or provoke us," he said.

Recent satellite imagery published by IHS Jane's Defense Weekly, a specialist defense publication, showed there had been more work at the site of previous nuclear tests that could indicate the North was preparing for its third nuclear test.

The Janes analysis showed mining carts and excavation equipment as well more debris from inside a tunnel that could be used for a third nuclear test.

"A third nuclear test by North Korea would be the latest move in restarting its nuclear weapons program, which it agreed to mothball in a 29 February deal with the U.S.," said Janes analyst James Hardy.

Since the death of Kim Jong-il in December, Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, has shown he will continue with his father's hardline "military first" policy.

Panetta Says the 'U.S. Must Remain a Global Power, But ... More and More Nations are Making and Must Make an Important Contribution to Global Security'

U.S. Sees South America as Possible China Counter

The Associated Press
April 28, 2012

In these days of shrinking U.S. defense budgets, the Obama administration is looking to South America to help monitor and protect the Asia-Pacific region in the years ahead.

During visits to Colombia, Brazil and Chile this past week, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta underscored their importance as military partners in the Pacific, where China is challenging U.S. influence in a number of countries. As those defense relationships grow, officials say it can only help U.S. economic and political ties across South America.

Panetta's talks also focused on how the United States can support their military efforts, including those directed at the expanding threat of cyberattacks, according to several senior defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were private.

U.S. officials left the region thinking that at some point there may be opportunities to talk with South American nations about helping to train Afghan forces after NATO combat troops leave at the end of 2014. Officials would provide no details on which countries might eventually be willing to take on some of the training mission, which will need advisers as other NATO nations withdraw their troops.

With the U.S. turning its focus from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon's new military strategy puts more importance on the Asia-Pacific region. North Korea is a growing threat while China is building its military and working to expand its political and economic influence.

The Pentagon is poised to move more forces to the Pacific, including rotating units in and out of Australia. The U.S. has long provided training, equipment, assistance and a security umbrella for many of the region. With looming budget cuts that will reduce the size of the military, the U.S. is looking to South American countries to be more active global partners.

"The United States, just like other countries, are facing budget constrictions, which are going to affect the future," Panetta told reporters at a news conference in Brazil. "And what we believe is that the best way to approach the future is to develop partnerships, alliances, to develop relationships with other countries, share information, share assistance, share capabilities, and in that way we can provide greater security for the future."

Panetta would like to see South American countries use their greater military capability to train some Central American nations that are not as advanced.

Defense chiefs Juan Camillo Pinzon of Colombia, Celso Amorim of Brazil and Andres Allamand of Chile brought up cyberthreats as a major concern, including incidents of hacker attacks and data thefts, U.S. defense officials said.

The three countries, said one official said, want help from the U.S. in hardening their computer networks against breaches and increasing their technological skills. The official said there is a recognition of how vulnerable they are, and they want to learn more about the nature of the threat and how to combat it.

That threat is likely to involve China, which is steadily gaining as a top trading partner and economic developer in South America. It's surpassing the U.S. in trade with Brazil, Chile and Peru, and is a close second in Argentina and Colombia.

For the first time, U.S. intelligence officials publicly called out China late last year as a significant cyberthreat. While they did not directly tie attacks to the Beijing government, they said the Chinese are systematically stealing American high-tech data for their own economic gain. The unusually forceful public report seemed to signal a new, more vocal U.S. government campaign against the cyberattacks.

The Pentagon's clandestine National Security Agency is an acknowledged world leader in cybertechnologies. U.S. officials have struggled to work out ways for the government to help other nations as well as the private sector in the United States shore up critical networks.

To date, however, countries around the world have not come up with any detailed agreements on how best to work together. These issues present legal and political challenges, including conflicting laws and the lack of broadly accepted international guidelines for Internet oversight.

Panetta made it clear that cybersecurity was "a whole new arena" that all the nations are concerned about. He also encouraged South American nations to expand their security efforts to other regions, including Africa.

"The United States must remain a global power," Panetta said during a speech in Brazil. "But ... more and more nations are making and must make an important contribution to global security. We welcome and encourage this new reality because frankly it makes the world safer and all of our nations stronger."

Ahmadinejad and Chavez Joke About a Nuclear Strike Against the U.S

Ahmadinejad and Chavez joked about a nuclear strike against the U.S.; however, Ahmadinejad and Chavez were apparently serious when discussing the threat they believe the U.S. poses. “We are very worried,” Chavez said of the pressures being put on Iran by the United States and its allies, which he accused of being a threat to peace. “They present us as aggressors,” Chavez said as he received Ahmadinejad at the presidential palace. “Iran hasn’t invaded anyone,” he added. “Who has dropped thousands and thousands of bombs … including atomic bombs?”

‘Big Atomic Bomb Will Come Out’: Ahmadinejad and Chavez Joke About Nuclear Strike Against U.S

The Blaze/AP
January 10, 2012

President Hugo Chavez defended his close ally Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday and warned of “U.S. warmongering threats” amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The two leaders met in Caracas on the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. Their conversation reportedly often focused on anti-U.S. rhetoric, which according to the Daily Mail included Mr Chavez saying that:

“He was hiding a bomb under a grassy knoll before the steps of the presidential palace, saying: ‘That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out.

The imperialist spokesmen say Ahmadinejad and I are going into the basement now to set our sights on Washington and launch cannons and missiles… It’s laughable.”

The leaders were apparently serious, however, when discussing the threat they believe the U.S. poses.

“We are very worried,” Chavez said of the pressures being put on Iran by the United States and its allies, which he accused of being a threat to peace.

“They present us as aggressors,” Chavez said as he received Ahmadinejad at the presidential palace.

“Iran hasn’t invaded anyone,” he added. “Who has dropped thousands and thousands of bombs … including atomic bombs?”

Ahmadinejad’s visit comes after the U.S. imposed tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which Washington believes Tehran is using to develop atomic weapons. Chavez and his allies back Iran in arguing the nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Both leaders joked that their relationship shouldn’t cause any concern.

Ahmadinejad said if they were together building anything like a bomb, “the fuel of that bomb is love.”

Chavez played on the same theme in his remarks:

“He’s going to work a lot for some bombs, for some missiles, to keep the war going. Our war is against poverty, hunger and underdevelopment.”

The Venezuelan leader said in his televised speech that Iranians assistance has helped the South American country build 14,000 homes as well as factories that produce food, tractors and vehicles.

“We will always be together,” Ahmadinejad said through an interpreter. Smiling as he put his hand on Chavez’s arm, the Iranian leader called the Venezuelan president “the champion of fighting against imperialism.”

Government officials signed two agreements promoting industrial cooperation and worker training.

Chavez accused the U.S. and its allies of wrongly demonizing Iran.

Iran finds itself under increasing pressure in the standoff over its nuclear program, and in response to the latest U.S. sanctions has threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, an important transit route for oil tanker shipments.

Diplomats on Monday confirmed a report that Iran has begun uranium enrichment at an underground bunker, a development that increases fears among U.S. and European officials about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Two diplomats spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential and based on an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Chavez’s long-running confrontation with Washington also looks set to grow more antagonistic after the U.S. State Department announced, just hours before Ahmadinejad’s arrival, that it was expelling Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, Livia Acosta Noguera, due to allegations that she discussed a possible cyber-attack against the U.S. government.

The expulsion followed an FBI investigation into accusations contained in a documentary aired by the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision last month. According to the documentary, Acosta discussed the possible cyber-attack while she was previously assigned as a diplomat in Mexico. The documentary was based on recordings of conversations with her and other officials, and also alleged that Cuban and Iranian diplomatic missions were involved.

Chavez called the U.S. action “unjustified, arbitrary” and said his government will consider its response. He called it “an attack against our nation.”

The diplomat had already returned to Venezuela in December because “we knew that was going to occur,” Chavez said.

Beyond voicing criticism of the U.S. on his tour, Ahmadinejad is also likely to look for ways to use his Latin American alliances to diminish the impact of sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, said Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst with consulting firm IHS Global Insight in London.

However, Moya-Ocampos predicted that,

“Venezuela is going to be very careful not to push its relationship with Iran beyond the U.S. tolerance limits,” so as not to risk being hit with more U.S. sanctions.

Last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA for delivering at least two cargoes of oil products to Iran.

The U.S. government has also repeatedly accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism, and growing Iranian diplomatic ties with some Latin American countries have generated worries in Washington.

In Quito, Ecuador, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters that Ecuador’s government “has no reason to stop having relations with Iran” and said his country recognizes Iran’s “right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

Argentina, which has good relations with Venezuela, also has warrants out for the arrests of Iran’s defense minister and other officials suspected of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization based in Los Angeles, urged Ahmadinejad‘s hosts to tell Iran that they support Argentina’s demands for the extradition of those implicated in the attack. The organization also condemned Ahmadinejad for threatening Israel, saying in a statement on Monday that “honoring that trafficker of hatred with impunity involves his hosts as accomplices.”

The Link between Iran and Venezuela: A Crisis in the Making?

Iran Says It Has Evidence U.S. Behind Scientist's Killing

Reuters
January 14, 2012

Iranian state television said on Saturday Tehran had evidence Washington was behind the latest assassination of one of its nuclear scientists.

In the fifth attack of its kind in two years, a magnetic bomb was attached to the door of 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan's car during the Wednesday morning rush-hour in the capital. His driver was also killed.

The United States has denied involvement in the killing and condemned it. Israel has declined to comment.

"We have reliable documents and evidence that this terrorist act was planned, guided and supported by the CIA," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a letter handed to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, state TV reported.

"The documents clearly show that this terrorist act was carried out with the direct involvement of CIA-linked agents."

The Swiss Embassy has represented U.S. interests in Iran since Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

State TV said a "letter of condemnation" had also been sent to the British government, saying the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists had "started exactly after the British official John Sawers declared the beginning of intelligence operations against Iran."

In 2010, chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service Sawers said one of the agency's roles was to investigate efforts by states to build nuclear weapons in violation of their international legal obligations and identify ways to slow down their access to vital materials and technology.

Tehran has urged the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to condemn the latest killing, which Tehran says is aimed at undermining its nuclear work, which the West and Israel say is aimed at building bombs. Tehran says its nuclear programme is purely civilian.

Tension has mounted between Iran and the West as the United States and European Union prepare measures aimed at imposing sanctions on the Iran's oil exports, its economic lifeblood.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear dispute.

China and India Agree to Military Pact

China and India Agree to Military Pact: A Prelude to the 200 Million Man Army of Revelation?

Cogwriter
January 6, 2008

In its latest update, LCG reported:

China and India: More Military Cooperation.

Last week, the world’s two most populous nations, conducted a joint military exercise in the name of “anti-terrorism.” Both nations have been working toward mutually beneficial ends since 2006.

The Chinese foreign minister commented that “the military training was intended to enhance mutual understanding and trust and strengthen bilateral exchanges in the field of anti-terrorism, deter the ‘three evil forces’ of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and promote the development of the bilateral strategic partnership.”

Chinese and Indian officials plan to continue military activities to bring the two nations closer (ChinaView.cn, December 25, 2007). Joint military exercises between these two nations are important, given a couple of different factors.

1. First, the combined population of these nations is about 2.5 billion—nearly 40 percent of the entire population of the earth.


2. Second, prophetically, God tells of a time, just prior to the return of Christ, when a 200 million-man army will descend on Jerusalem from the east, and destroy an entire third of mankind (Daniel 11:44-45; Revelation 9:13-21).

As we consider a joint military force of India and China, it would be very easy for these two nations to field a joint army of 200 million men. The final configuration of the armies from the east is likely yet to be established, but it is also likely that we are seeing the foundations of such a confederation being laid right now.

The 200 million man army is mentioned in the Bible:

Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them (Revelation 9:13-15).

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-16).

Thus, even the two largest “kings of the East” are setting the stage to fulfill end-time biblical prophecies.

Russian, Indian Troops Complete Military Exercises

Russian, Indian Troops Complete Military Exercises in Himalayas

RIA Novosti
October 23, 2010

Russian and Indian troops completed a drill to kill a fictional terrorist leader in the Indian Himalayas as part of the Indra-2010 joint military exercises, which finished on Saturday.

"The experience we gained from the exercises is useful. We learned a lot from our Russian colleagues," Commander of the Indian contingent Brigadier-General Gopal said.

The commander of the Russian contingent, Major-General Vladimir Glinin said he was satisfied with the results of the military exercises.

The INDRA-2010 exercises were launched on October 16 at Chaubattia, in Uttarakhand, a mountainous area near India's border with China and Nepal.

Russia sent more than 200 troops from its 34th mountain brigade, based in the North Caucasus, to join the Indian troops in the drills.

The Indian and Russian military have conducted joint INDRA exercises since 2003, including biannual peacekeeping drills.

India's military cooperation with Russia goes back nearly half a century, and the Asian country accounts for about 40 percent of Russian arms exports.

China and Russia in Joint Military Exercise

Reuters
July 22, 2009

China and Russia were holding a joint military exercise on Wednesday, with the drill seen as a chance to beef up anti-terrorism cooperation after the recent flare-up of violence in China's Xinjiang region.

The "Peace Mission 2009" five-day exercise in northeast China comes weeks after China's worst ethnic unrest in decades between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese in the far-western region of Xinjiang that killed at least 197 people.

"To some extent, the July 5 Xinjiang riot pushed forward anti-terrorism cooperation between China and Russia," the China Daily newspaper quoted Major Wang Haiyun, a former Chinese military attache to Russia, as saying.

Russia itself has been grappling with rising violence in the North Caucasus regions of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya. Russia and China are also wary of a rising tide of instability in post-Soviet Central Asia that has spilt over from Afghanistan.

"The situation in Central Asia itself, including Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is not so good, so that's the most likely area of practical cooperation. And in fact they're learning new ways to fight against Islamic insurgents and Uighurs," said Vassily Kashin, a Chinese military expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Moscow.

Russia and China are core members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which some experts say is an attempt to form an alternative military bloc to NATO to counter the rising threats of separatism and extremism in Central Asia.

The SCO's members also include the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

WORLD'S POLICEMAN

"Some NATO officials ... fancy it is up to them to look after world order, performing the role of the world's policeman," said Russian military analyst Viktor Litovkin.

"But the situation in Afghanistan shows that NATO without Russia, without assistance from the Central Asian states, China and other leading nations of the region is unable to deal alone with the Taliban and al-Qaeda."

But some analysts said the smaller scale of the current bilateral exercise compared with a similar one in 2007 under the SCO, reflects a recent cooling of Sino-Russian military ties.

"In reality they are downgrading or reducing their military ties for the past couple of years," said Andrew Yang, the head of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taiwan.

"(China has) already reached a stage where they can produce or develop their own indigenous and advanced weapons systems. They're no longer totally reliant on Russian support."

When asked during a video link with Beijing what new weapons Russia would show off during the drills, military analyst Litovkin said he believed there would not be any.

he exercise will involve some 3,000 army and air force personnel and over 40 fighters and helicopter gunships.

Russia's Zvezda television channel said the movement of Russian troops and weapons to China for the exercises was the biggest deployment of forces abroad by the nation's Far Eastern Military District since World War Two, when the Soviet Union crushed Japan's armed forces in China and Korea.

A Chinese fighter-bomber crashed during preparations for the military drill with Russia on Sunday, killing two pilots.

China and India to Hold Joint Anti-Terror Military Exercise

IndiaServer
December 5, 2008

India is likely to conduct an anti-terror military exercise with China from December 6-14. The joint military exercise will take place in Belgaum district of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

The exercise code-named 'Hand in Hand 2008' will be attended by a Chinese contingent of 137 soldiers which is reported to have already reached the training site. According to Chinese defence ministry spokesperson, the joint military exercise is conducted as a part of a defense exchange and cooperation agreement signed by the two countries in 2006.

During the nine-day anti terror military exercise, the two armies will exchange weapons and other equipments apart from sharing communication tactics. The upcoming exercise will not only benefit the armies on utilizing military tactics of each other, but also boost the understanding and trust between them. The armies of both the nations had organized their first joint anti-terrorism training last year in Kunming in southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan.

At the moment, such types of joint anti-terror military exercises are very crucial for terror-prone India. The country has been literally devastated by series of bomb blasts and terror attacks in the past few months. Regular attacks and threatening by terrorist outfits are wake-up calls for the defense forces of the country to plunge into battlefield against them.



Religions in China:
Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%
Note: officially atheist (2002 est.)

Religions in India:
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

Religions in Russia:
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
Note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule

Source: CIA Factbook

See: The Heathen Nations, Gog and Magog, Appear Upon the Scene Last

Chavez's Growing Armory Puts Venezuela Back in U.S. Spotlight

Chavez's Growing Armory Puts Venezuela Back in U.S. Spotlight

Reuters
September 16, 2009

Fresh from a visit to Moscow, a gleeful Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pored over diagrams and charts showing his latest arms purchases.

"We're ready for you!" he warned on a TV show -- a warning directed at the United States and Colombia.

Chavez's growing armory, including the advanced S-300 missile defense system along with 92 tanks he is buying from Russia, has put him back where he is happiest: challenging U.S. power and playing to his home crowd.

Russia this month lent $2.2 billion for arms to Venezuela, where it has growing oil interests. It is not clear how much the latest weapons purchases cost.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week accused Chavez of fueling an arms race in South America.

At home, former soldier Chavez portrays himself as defender of Venezuela's oil reserves, threatened he says, by an attack from the "Yankee empire." He uses U.S. criticism to bolster his argument that America wants a weak Venezuela.

"They know they'll have to do many things to get access to Orinoco oil, because while this government is here they will never see those reserves," said Chavez, who often evokes a 2002 coup initially welcomed by Washington to back his claims.

Venezuela has some of the world's largest oil reserves, mainly close to the Orinoco river. Despite their mutual hostility, the United States is the OPEC country's main buyer.

Chavez went ahead with the arms purchases despite a sharp drop in oil income which forced budget cuts earlier this year.

Government TV stations, newspapers and websites echo Chavez's warnings of an attack, which most analysts say are unfounded but are fueled by a new deal giving the United States more access to Colombian military bases.

"This is Chavez bluster but it's an upping of the ante, said Matt Gertken, a Latin America analyst with risk consultants Stratfor. "He is once again rhetorically raising the stakes and garnering a little more attention."

On the world stage, Chavez is committed to countering U.S. foreign policy and longs to be a diplomatic heavyweight. While that status may be a long way off, his ever closer ties to Russia and Iran keep him on Washington's radar.

Russia and Venezuela last week made it clear they will undermine new oil sanctions the United States may seek against Iran over its nuclear program.

Risks of war in the region remain low, analysts say, but the recent arms purchases only add to distrust in the Andes, where relations between Ecuador and Colombia are strained and Chavez is winding down trade with Bogota.

In part, the regional tensions are linked to Washington's war on drugs, which has financed $6 billion in aid to Colombia to fight armed groups and cartels involved in the cocaine trade. Last year that war briefly spilled into Ecuador, sparking a crisis.

Venezuela objects to Colombia's security agreement with Washington that will allow U.S. troops into more Colombian bases to help fight drug traffickers and guerrillas.

Colombia and the United States fear Venezuelan arms will find their way to Colombia's Marxist rebels, although Chavez denies he has ever backed any armed movements.

South American economies grew rapidly in recent years on the back of a commodities boom, allowing the countries of the region to retool long-neglected armed forces.

Analysts say their real external threats are minimal, but some spending is justified by the need to control territory from drug traffickers and insurgent groups.

Venezuela had an added need to replace equipment because its former main arms supplier, the United States, refuses to sell spares for equipment it sold to previous governments.

"Since 1998, when things began souring between the U.S. and Venezuela, Caracas has required modernization of its fleet," said Eduardo Gamarra of the Florida International University.

Venezuela's arms spending as a share of domestic product is on a par with Brazil and well below Chile and Colombia.

Return to The Lamb Slain Home Page

Russia to Help Cuba Modernize Weaponry, Train Military

Russia to Help Cuba Modernize Weaponry, Train Military

RIA Novosti
September 18, 2009

HAVANA - Modernization of the Soviet-made military equipment and training of Cuban military personnel will be the focus of Russian-Cuban military cooperation in the near future, the chief of the Russian General Staff said on Friday.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov arrived on a working visit to Cuba on Monday, met with Cuban President Raul Castro and the country's military leadership, and visited a number of military installations.

"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 said.

"We inspected the condition of this equipment, and outlined the measures to be taken to maintain the defense capability of this country... think a lot of work needs to be done in this respect, and I hope we will be able to accomplish this task," the general said.

Makarov said the Cuban request for assistance with training of military personnel will also be fully satisfied.

Although the Cuban leadership has repeatedly said it has no intention of resuming military cooperation with Russia after the surprise closure of the Russian electronic listening post in Lourdes in 2001, bilateral military ties seem to have been improving following the visit of Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to Cuba in July last year.

A group of Russian warships, led by the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer visited Cuba in December last year during a Caribbean tour.

A New Cuban Missile Crisis? Russia Eyes Bomber Bases in Latin America

It could be bluffing or it might be payback – Russia says it's 'ready to fly' bombers to Venezuela and Cuba.

By Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor
March 15, 2009

A top Russian military official has confirmed that the Kremlin is thinking of parking some of its strategic bombers in Cuba or Venezuela, within easy range of the continental United States.

That’s just one of several options currently under discussion in Moscow that, if carried out, would see Russia’s armed forces take up positions around the world on a scale unseen since the cold war ended almost two decades ago.

Venezuelan President Hugo “Chavez has proposed to us a whole island with an airfield that we can use for temporary basing of strategic bombers,” Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of Russia’s strategic aviation forces, told journalists on Saturday.

“There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us,” he added. “If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there.”

In late 2007 Russia resumed its cold war-era bomber patrols along the North American coast, using lumbering 1950s-vintage turboprop Tu-95 Bear bombers as well as a few needle-nosed supersonic Tu-160s, which were introduced in the 1980s.

But Russian generals complain that in the absence of refueling and maintenance facilities in the western hemisphere, the planes are able to remain as little as half an hour on station before beginning the long flight back to their bases in Russia.

As the Monitor reported recently (see story here), two Tu-160s visited Venezuela last September as part of joint war games that included a large flotilla of Russian warships and a visit to the region by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Last week, the two Georgian breakaway statelets of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose de facto independence was established by Russian military intervention against Georgia last summer, offered long-term leases for the construction of Russian military bases on their territory. South Ossetia has offered basing rights to Moscow for 99 years, while Akhazia says it is ready to lease facilities for 49 years. Russian media reports suggest those bases, housing thousands of troops and naval facilities on the Black Sea, are likely to be completed by year`s end.

The two statelets’ self-declared independence has been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua, while Georgia, with the support of most Western countries, insists that it has full sovereignty over the territories under international law.

“Russian troops are the only factor supporting the independence of South Ossetia, which is why they should stay there for a long time,” Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert at the independent Institute for Military and Political Analysis, told the Moscow daily Novye Izvestia last week.

And Moscow has recently been in talks with former Soviet allies about re-establishing cold war-era naval bases at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam and Tartus in Syria (see the Monitor’s recent story here) as well as taking steps to beef up its own regional security alliance with several countries of the ex-USSR.

But some experts suggest that the noises coming out of Moscow about basing nuclear bombers in Cuba or Venezuela could be just a propaganda gimmick in advance of forthcoming US-Russian negotiations for a new strategic accord (story on treaty discussions here).

“Talking about building Russian bases near the US is a good way to get Washington’s attention, and drive home the point that this is exactly what they’ve been doing to us for years,” says Irina Zvigelskaya, an expert with the independent Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Moscow.

She says that Moscow still has an institutional memory of the stinging diplomatic defeat suffered by the USSR in 1962, after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, and no one in the Kremlin today is likely to repeat that mistake. But for Moscow, she adds, US intentions to station strategic anti-missile weapons near Russia’s borders and the continuing Washington-backed drive to include Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, are seen as similar encroachments on Russia’s strategic comfort zone.

“We are hopefully going to see some rethinking of the US-Russian relationship, and so we are positioning our arguments. The talk of basing Russian bombers in Cuba is more of a bargaining ploy than a real plan,” Ms. Zvigelskaya says.

Venezuela: Model for 21st Century Socialism

Venezuela: Model for 21st Century Socialism

In December 2007, a wide-ranging constitutional referendum to intensify Venezuela's move toward socialism and to enable Chávez to serve indefinitely as president was narrowly defeated. Chávez has clearly announced his intentions: to continue transforming Venezuela into a model for socialism in the 21st century. And unlike spurious accusations in the U.S. that an expansion in healthcare is a step away from democracy, a very real shift towards socialism is under way in Venezuela. Major elements of the country's economy are already under state control.



“The Venezuelan oligarchy and multinational companies still have a firm grip over the mass media, private industry and the banking system. They use their ownership of these key levers in society in order to sabotage the will of the majority and plot another reactionary coup...” - Grant-Woods, “Venezuelan Revolution in Danger,” 2004

Venezuela's Chavez in Beijing at Start of Visits to China, Russia
Venezuela Purchases Weapons from Russia, China, Belarus, Spain, France and Iran
Chavez Defies U.S. By Dealing with Russia, China
Chavez Claims Alliance With Russia Will Protect Venezuela
Russia Offers Venezuela's Chavez Nuclear Help
Russian Bombers Arrive in Venezuela for Joint Maneuvers
Venezuela to Host Russia Navy Exercise in Caribbean
Venezuelan-Russian Military Nexus
The Cold War Over Oil Involves Venezuela, Russia and China
Chavez Celebrates China-launched Venezuelan Satellite
Raúl Castro's Visit with Chávez Shows Cuba's Need for Oil
Nicaragua's Ortega Turns to Russia and Venezuela for Replacement Cash
Russia Pushes an 'OPEC' for Natural-gas Nations
Chavez Wins Bid for Chance to Remain in Power Indefinitely
Venezuela Votes on Lifting Term Limits for Chavez