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.

The Rothschilds Want Iran’s Banks

The Rothschilds Want Iran’s Banks

Iran is one of only three countries left in the world (the other two are North Korea and Cuba) whose central bank is not under Rothschild control

American Free Press
February 13, 2012

Could gaining control of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) be one of the main reasons that Iran is being targeted by Western and Israeli powers? As tensions are building up for an unthinkable war with Iran, it is worth exploring Iran’s banking system compared to its U.S., British and Israeli counterparts.

Some researchers are pointing out that Iran is one of only three countries left in the world whose central bank is not under Rothschild control. Before 9-11 there were reportedly seven: Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran. By 2003, however, Afghanistan and Iraq were swallowed up by the Rothschild octopus, and by 2011 Sudan and Libya were also gone. In Libya, a Rothschild bank was established in Benghazi while the country was still at war.

Islam forbids the charging of usury, the practice of charging excessive, unreasonably high, and often illegal interestrates on loans, and that is a major problem for the Rothschild banking system. Until a few hundred years ago usury was also forbidden in the Christian world and was even punishable by death. It was considered exploitation and enslavement.

Since the Rothschilds took over the Bank of England around 1815, they have been expanding their banking control over all the countries of the world. Their method has been to get a country’s corrupt politicians to accept massive loans, which they can never repay, and thus go into debt to the Rothschild banking powers. If a leader refuses to accept the loan, he is oftentimes either ousted or assassinated. And if that fails, invasions can follow, and a Rothschild usury-based bank is established.

The Rothschilds exert powerful influence over the world’s major news agencies. By repetition, the masses are duped into believing horror stories about evil villains. The Rothschilds control the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements. Also they own most of the gold in the world as well as the London Gold Exchange, which sets the price of gold every day. It is said the family owns over half the wealth of the planet—estimated by Credit Suisse to be $231 trillion—and is controlled by Evelyn Rothschild, the current head of the family.

Objective researchers contend that Iran is not being demonized because they are a nuclear threat, just as the Taliban, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Qadaffi were not a threat.

What then is the real reason? Is it the trillions to be made in oil profits, or the trillions in war profits? Is it to bankrupt the U.S. economy, or is it to start World War III? Is it to destroy Israel’s enemies, or to destroy the Iranian central bank so that no one is left to defy Rothschild’s money racket?

It might be any one of those reasons or, worse—it might be all of them.

China, India and Russia Have Bilateral Agreements with Iran to Buy Oil; U.S. 'Disgusted' by Russia, China Veto of Syria Resolution

Bible prophecy describes the battle of Armageddon as a coalition of nations that will almost certainly include China and Russia and several Muslim nations of the Middle East. Every day, the evidence mounts that China will be tightly leagued with Russia and many of the Islamic nations in a powerful anti-Israel political and military alliance from which the 200-million-man army described in the book of Revelation (Rev. 9:16) will ultimately come. - The Sixth Trumpet War of Revelation 9

U.S. 'Disgusted' by Russia, China Veto of Syria Resolution

February 4, 2012

ABC OTUS News - The United States is "disgusted" by Russia and China's decision to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution today that called for an immediate end to the violence in Syria, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said today.

The Security Council vote today came on one of the bloodiest days of the popular uprising in Syray, as President Bashar al Assad's security forces launched a withering artillery assault on the city of Homs that has reportedly left 200 to 400 dead.

Though they were the only negative votes in a 13 to 2 vote, Russia and China's veto power as permanent members of the Security Council killed the resolution drafted by Arab and European countries.

The vetoes came after a week of intense negotiations to gain Russian support for a resolution it had opposed from the start. The resolution supported an Arab League plan that called for an immediate end to the violence in Syria and a political solution to the crisis. Russia was opposed to the resolution because of concerns that it could leave an opening for a foreign intervention against one of its loyal client states.

The vetoes drew harsh criticism from Security Council members that supported the resolution and who had amended it several times to ease those concerns, rewording language about the transition of power and watering down the possibility of future sanctions against the Assad regime.

"The United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said.

"For months this Council has been held hostage by a couple of members," she said, referring to Russia and China, who she said had been "delaying and stripping bare any text to force Assad to stop his actions."

Without referring to Russia by name, she said the vetoes were "even more shameful" given that Russia has continued to sell weapons to to Syria. She called the vetoes "unforgivable" and said "any further blood that flows will be on their hands."

In brief remarks to the Council, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russia actively supports an end to the violence in Syria, but that the resolution did not "accurately reflect the real state of affairs" in Syria and "sent an unbalanced signal to the parties." Churkin was speaking about armed opposition groups that have also been conducting violent attacks against the Assad regime in Syria.

He once again cited Russian concerns about "regime change" by "influential members of the international community who have been undermining the possibility of a settlement in Syria."

French Ambassador Gerard Araud said the vetoes were a "sad day for the UN Security Council … a sad day for democracy and a sad day for Syrians. … Hundreds of Syrians are dying and it is no longer possible to wait. "

Peter Wittig, the German ambassador to the United Nations criticized the vetoes particularly for having come on "one of bloodiest days of the Arab spring" and the 30th anniversary of the massacre in Hama, Syria ordered by Assad's father that resulted in 20,000 dead.

"This is the real scandal," Wittig said. "Afraid this will spur further violence and make it difficult to reach a political solution."

British Ambassador to the U.N. Mark Lyall said Russia and China should "ask themselves how many more deaths they are prepared to tolerate." He said the negotiations had "removed every possible excuse" for voting against the resolution. He also said that the United Kingdom and other countries would continue their efforts to stop the violence in Syria.

Li Baodong, China's Ambassador to the UN told Council members that China voted against the resolution because it would "further complicate the situation" in Syria.

He also said that China supported the Russian delegation's last minute calls for a delay on the vote as well as amendments proposed by Russia that were not taken up by the Council.

Iran Turns Embargo Tables: To Pass Law Halting All Crude Exports

Zero Hedge
January 27, 2012

Iran is the fifth largest producers of oil in the world.

In what is likely a long overdue move, Iran has finally decided to give Europe a harsh lesson in game theory. Instead of letting Euro-area politicians score brownie points at its expense by threatening to halt imports and cut off the Iranian economy, the Iranian government will instead propose a bill calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe.

The move, with most reports citing the Iranian news agency Mehr, has come about in response to the EU agreement to impose sanctions against Iran, which were announced earlier this week. And why not? After all if Europe is indeed serious, sooner or later Iran will be cut off but in the meantime experience significant policy uncertainty, which is precisely what the flipflops on the ground need. The one thing that Europe, however is forgetting, is that all that whopping 0.8 Mb/d in imports will simply find a new buyer. Quickly.

So with China, India and Russia already having bilateral agreements with Iran in place, we are confident that said buyer will have a contract signed, sealed and delivered within an hour of the proposed bill's passage.

Furthermore, as SocGen speculated, the fact that Europe will be even more bottlenecked in its crude supplies (good luck Saudi Arabia with that imaginary excess capacity), and which just may force the IEA to release some more of that strategic petroleum reserve (and thus give JPM some more free money on the replenishment arbitrage) will send Brent to $125-150 - something which Iran will be delighted by.

That is of course unless some "experts" discover that Iran may or may not have a complete arsenal of shark with fricking nuclear warheads attached to their heads (despite what Paneta has already said) which gives the US the green light for a full blown incursion, which in turn will send oil over $200, and the world economy into a global coordinated re-depression.

From Spiegel:

"If this bill is passed, the government will be forced to stop selling oil to Europe before the actual implementation of their sanctions," said Emad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian parliament's energy commission, reportedly said. The bill is set to become law on Sunday.

The EU sanctions allow for oil deliveries from Iran until July 1. Any pre-empting of this timescale by Tehran could prove problematic for countries like Italy, Greece and Spain, who would need to urgently find new suppliers.

China, meanwhile, a major importer of Iranian oil, has also criticized the EU sanctions. The Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday as saying: "To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran are not constructive approaches."

Many members of the EU are now heavily dependent on Iranian oil. Some 500,000 barrels arrive in Europe every day from Iran, with southern European countries consuming most of it. Greece is the most exposed, receiving a third of all its oil imports from Iran, but Italy too depends on Iran for 13 percent of its oil needs. If this source were to dry up abruptly, the economic conditions in the two struggling countries could become even worse.

Already on Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of the economic consequences of the EU's planned embargo. Stopping deliveries from the world's fifth largest producer could drive up the price of oil by 20 to 30 percent.

Perhaps instead of doing its best at crippling the world energy markets, and crushing the global economy, Europe should stick to bailing itself out, and other activities in which it has extensive experience.

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.

Iran Says It Successfully Test-fired a Medium-range Missile Close to the Straits of Hormuz

Iran Tests the West's Patience with Show of Might in Missile Launch

The Independent
January 2, 2012

Iran says it has successfully test-fired a medium-range missile close to the strategic Straits of Hormuz, a move that will test Western patience in the stand-off over its nuclear programme.

The surface-to-air missile was fired in international waters during a 10-day military exercise and is designed to elude radar detection and thwart jammers, Iran's state TV said on Sunday, adding that the weapon had been developed by Iranian scientists.

The announcement came a day after Barack Obama signed a law imposing tougher financial sanctions to penalise Iran for its nuclear-research programme. Tehran appeared to be sending the West a clear message that it could follow through on threats to close the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow shipping passage through which one-sixth of the world's oil supply passes, should the West impose sanctions on its energy industry.

Nevertheless, Iranian officials have stressed in recent days that Tehran has no plans to block the waterway right now, a move that analysts say would have a devastating impact on Iran's own economy and invite unwanted military retaliation.

The naval drills coincided with an announcement from Tehran that the country has made a significant advance in its nuclear programme, developing its first nuclear rod, a technological achievement necessary to make nuclear fuel that few believed Iran was capable of. It will play into Western fears that Iran is intent on developing an atomic bomb, a claim that Tehran has denied, insisting that its nuclear programme is peaceful and for civilian use.

Pressure on the West to impose tougher sanctions on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear programme has increased following a report from the UN nuclear watchdog last November that presented fresh evidence Iran had pursued a nuclear-weapons programme until 2003. The agency was suspicious that some of the work was ongoing.

The EU has been mulling further sanctions, including measures against Iran's oil industry, which could be announced at meeting this month. Washington yesterday imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and financial sector.

Iran, the second-largest oil producer in Opec after Saudi Arabia, relies on oil sales for 80 per cent of its foreign currency earnings.

Last week, Iranian officials promised that the country would not permit "even one drop of oil" to pass through the Straits of Hormuz should the West impose oil sanctions. But Western diplomats viewed the threat as posturing because such a move would almost certainly invite a military response, which Iran is thought to want to avoid.

An Iranian lawmaker reiterated the threat yesterday. "If we feel that the enemies want to prevent our oil exports, definitely we will close the Strait of Hormuz," Ismail Kowsari was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying.

Iran Test Fires Missile and Unveils Nuclear Breakthrough

Iran raised the stakes in an increasingly heated confrontation with the West on Sunday, test-firing a missile it said could not be detected by radar and claiming an unexpected breakthrough in its nuclear programme.

Telegraph
January 1, 2012

Responding defiantly to the imposition of fresh US sanctions, officials in Tehran announced that they had successfully produced and tested nuclear fuel rods in an advance that Western experts have long stated is beyond Iran's technological capabilities.

If true, the development would represent an important step in Iran's efforts to complete the nuclear fuel cycle, bringing it significantly closer to being able to produce a nuclear bomb.

Iranian state television reported that the rods had been inserted into the core of the Tehran Research Reactor, where the country's most highly enriched uranium is stored, ostensibly for the development of cancer-treating isotopes.

At the beginning of last year, Iran claimed that it had begun the process of creating fuel plates and rods at its nuclear plant in the central city of Isfahan. The claims were given scant credence in the West because the ability to manufacture the rods is possessed by only a handful of major nuclear powers.

The process of making a fuel rod requires the conversion of enriched uranium into uranium dioxide powder, which must then be pressed into small pellets that are inserted into thin metal tubes. These are then assembled in clusters for use in the core of a nuclear reactor. The rods can be used for civilian purposes, but if reprocessed could produce fuel for a nuclear weapon.

Iran-Venezuela Alliance

Iranian Missiles in Venezuela

By Rick Francona, Middle East Perspectives
December 27, 2010

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has agreed to permit Iran to deploy medium range ballistic missiles to his country. According to press reports, the Iranians will construct a missile base in Venezuela housing several versions of North Korean-made Scud short range missiles and the Iranian-produced Shahab 3 medium tange ballistic missile. The Shahab 3 has a range of about 900 miles, not enough to reach the United States mainland.

The fact that the missiles cited in the press reports cannot reach the United States is not the issue. What is important is the fact that the Iranians are deploying missiles to the Western Hemisphere at all. Since the missiles do not appear to pose an immediate threat, Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hope that the Obama Administration will not attempt to block the missile deployment in an effort reminiscent of what President John Kennedy did during what many are calling a similar crisis, the attempted Soviet delivery of ballistic missiles to Cuba in 1962.

While Iran is not Russia, and Venezuela is not Cuba, this initial deployment of Iranian missiles and their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) crews is merely the first step, or as we say in the Middle East, the "nose under the tent."

I should also have added that Barack Obama is not John Kennedy. The Iranians have assessed that the Obama Administration, correctly, in my opinion, is weak and naive on foreign policy. The Obama diplomatic "engagement" strategy toward Iran and Syria has yielded no positive results for the United States. I suspect that Ahmadinejad believes that the American administration has no stomach for confrontation and will do nothing more than demand additional sanctions as Iran continues to develop a nuclear weapons capability. In other words, Ahmadinejad sees a window of opportunity, specifically a period in which a weak American administration focused on controversial domestic issues is unwilling to take a tough stance on Iran's grand ambitions.

Once the initial deployment of Iranian missiles, which will be portrayed as not posing a threat to the United States, is a fait accompli, it only requires minimum effort on the part of the Venezuelan and Iranian governments to introduce longer range missiles currently in the Iranian inventory. These missiles do pose a threat to the southeastern United States, including Washington, DC.

The chance to deploy IRGC troops into America's "back yard" is possibly too great a temptation for Ahmadinejad to pass up. He opposes the presence of American forces in the Middle East and is attempting to turn the tables on the United States. If you ascribe grand strategic thinking to the Iranian president, you could make the case that he is beginning this deployment in a attempt to catalyze an agreement with Obama much like Kennedy did with Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev. In 1962, the United States removed some missiles from Turkey and the Soviets halted the deployment of missiles to Cuba.

Perhaps Ahmadinejad thinks that he can "engage" with Obama for the withdrawal of American forces from the Persian Gulf if he halts Iran's missile deployment to the Caribbean. Why would he not think that? He has successfully outmaneuvered the Obama Administration at virtually every turn. There has been no slowdown in Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon because of anything done by the American government. The most serious impediment to Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon is a computer virus at some Iranian uranium enrichment facilities and the assassination of two of its top nuclear scientists. Most Middle East analysts, myself included, attribute those incidents to the Israelis.

There are additional troubling aspects of the Iranian-Venezuelan agreement. The missiles will be manned by Iranian military and IRGC officers, in conjunction with Venezuelan military officers. The Venezuelans will receive intensive training in missile technology. The Iranian missiles can be used by the Venezuelans for what is called "national needs." Although that has not been defined, Iranian SRBM's and IRBM's in Venezuela pose a serious threat to American allies in the region, such as Columbia, as well as some American territories (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Again, if you ascribe grand strategic thinking to Ahmadinejad, you might believe that increased cooperation with Venezuela has other benefits for Iran as well. A few months ago, the Russians backed out of a deal to sell the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran, citing United Nations sanctions. The Russians are, however, marketing that same weapon system to the Venezuelan armed forces. Perhaps these air defense systems might find their way from Venezuela to Iran? Never underestimate the Iranians; this is exactly the type of Byzantine maneuvering that is common in the bazaars of the region.

Where is the concern?

For those of us who vaguely remember the Cuban missile crisis (I was 11 years old) and our quick lessons in the Monroe Doctrine, the mere thought of offensive missiles in the Western hemisphere is troubling. It is especially troubling when the culprit is the volatile and fairly unpredictable regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian leaders believe that the American administration is naive and weak - they may be right. Thus far there has been almost no reaction to the impending deployment of strategic missiles into South America, the deployment of missiles to a country that has demonstrated open hostility to the United States. No reaction is tacit acceptance. Just like the Iranians believe the United States has tacitly accepted their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons, they believe there is no real action on the horizon to prevent them from stationing offensive weapons only 1000 miles from the United States.

This is another direct challenge to the United States, and yet another test of President Obama's leadership. Where is the concern from Washington?

~~~

Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, a veteran of the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, and service in the Balkans. His assignments include the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency, with tours of duty in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, and operational duties in virtually every country in the Middle East.

During the last year of the Iran–Iraq war in 1988, Rick was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as a liaison officer to the Iraqi armed forces intelligence service, where he served in the field with the Iraqi army and flew with the Iraqi Air Force.

Throughout the first Gulf War he served as the personal Arabic interpreter and advisor on Iraq to General Norman Schwarzkopf and later co-authored the report to Congress on the conduct of the war. His is the author of book, Ally to Adversary – An Eyewitness Account of Iraq’s Fall from Grace.

Following the Gulf War, Rick served as the first air attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria until 1995. In 1995 and 1996, Rick served in northern Iraq with the Central Intelligence Agency, where he narrowly escaped an attempt on his life by Iraqi agents. In 1997 and 1998, he served in the Department of Defense counter terrorism branch and led a special operations team in Bosnia that captured five indicted war criminals.

From 2003 through 2008, Rick was a Middle East military analyst for NBC News. You'll find Lt. Col Francona online at http://francona.blogspot.com/

Iran, Syria, Russia and Venezuela Alliance

Hugo Chávez Embraces Iran and Syria, Wins Russian Support for Nuclear Program

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is in the midst of one of his world tours, making friends with US enemies and getting support for his country's nascent nuclear program.

By Sara Miller Llana, Christian Science Monitor
October 22, 2010

Yesterday he was in Syria. Wednesday he was in Iran. That was after visiting Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Now he is off to Libya and Portugal.

And all within 10 days.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's world tours, often to countries with constrained or outright hostile ties to the United States, are nothing new. He says plainly that their intention is, in part, to counter American “imperialism.”

Yet if this latest global foray does not surprise analysts or rattle geopolitics, some say it could actually damage Mr. Chávez at home. It comes after legislative elections in Venezuela that saw his political party lose seats to the opposition. While Chávez still commands impressive popularity at home, problems such as inflation and crime have loosened a presidential grip that once seemed iron-tight.

“Chávez is an extremely well-traveled Latin America president,” says Larry Birns, the director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, but he adds that it might not work in his favor even though many say such trips help distract from problems at home. “When you have a deeply fractured society ... you spend as much time as possible at home.... He should be working to administer effectively his revolution.”

'The new world order'

In Damascus on Thursday, Chávez signed several economic agreements, including a deal to supply Syria with up to 1 million tons of diesel fuel annually. He said that he and Syrian President Bashar Assad are building ties "to accelerate the fall of [American] imperialist hegemony and the birth of the new world of equilibrium and peace."

The previous day in Tehran, Chávez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they also were committed to forming a “new world order.” The two were also reported to have signed a series of deals to promote industrial cooperation. In Russia, Chávez secured a deal that will help the South American nation build its first nuclear power plant.

The US has largely dismissed this trip – even though the nuclear plant deal has raised some eyebrows in Washington.

Standing with Iran

"I should use the opportunity to condemn those military threats that are being made against Iran," Chávez said at a joint news conference with Mr. Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Wednesday, before flying to Damascus. "We know that they will never be able to restrict the Islamic revolution in whatever way.... We will always stand together, we will not only resist, we will also stand victorious beside one another."

Ahmadinejad, for his part, said Iran and Venezuela were part of a revolutionary front "stretching all the way to East Asia" from Latin America.

"If one day, my brother Mr. Chávez and I and a few other people were once alone in the world, today we have a long line of revolutionary officials and people standing alongside each other," Ahmadinejad said, according to Reuters.

uch statements are largely seen as an attempt by Iran to show that it is not isolated, despite a push by Washington for tougher sanctions against Iran's nuclear activities. The US fears Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, though Iran insists it merely wants a peaceful nuclear energy program.

Can US allow a nuclear Venezuela?

Chávez is saying the same, after firming up plans with Russia to build a nuclear power plant. He would not be alone in the region. Many countries, including Brazil, have been using nuclear power for decades.

The US did not take issue with the news, but some observers say it should. Ray Walser, a Latin America analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, says that there is a fissure between security hawks, like himself, and those who say the US need not panic.

“The White House says, we will just tell Mr. Chávez to act responsibly,” says Mr. Walser. “But responsible does not seem to be part of the words in the character description of Mr. Chávez.”

Iran and Venezuela Alliance

Iran, Venezuela Leaders Seek 'New World Order'

Associated Press
October 20, 2010

The leaders of Iran and Venezuela hailed what they called their strong strategic relationship on Wednesday, saying they are united in efforts to establish a "new world order" that will eliminate Western dominance over global affairs.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and visiting Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, watched as officials from both countries signed 11 agreements promoting cooperation in areas including oil, natural gas, textiles, trade and public housing.

Among the agreements, Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA said the South American country was forming a joint shipping venture with Iran to aid in delivering Venezuelan crude oil to Europe and Asia. It said in a statement that the agreement for a joint venture also would help supply Iran "due to its limited refining capacity."

Both presidents denounced U.S. "imperialism" and said their opponents will not be able to impede cooperation between Iran and Venezuela.

Iran's state TV quoted both Ahmadinejad and Chavez as calling their relationship a "strategic alliance" that would eliminate the current global order.

"Iran and Venezuela are united to establish a new world order based on humanity and justice," Ahmadinejad said, repeating his predictions that those who today seek "world domination are on the verge of collapse."

Chavez said this is a time of "great threats" that make its necessary to swiftly "consolidate strategic alliances in political, economic, technological, energy and social areas," according to the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.

Details of the latest accords were not released, and Chavez said some agreements went beyond those put on paper. He said a Venezuelan delegation will soon travel to Iran to follow up on the agreements.

Iran has become the closest Middle East ally to Chavez's government as the left-leaning leader has sought to build international alliances to counter what he sees as U.S. economic and political dominance.

"Imperialism has entered a decisive phase of decline and ... is headed, like elephants, to its graveyard," Chavez said, according to the Venezuelan state news agency.

Chavez has staunchly defended Iran's nuclear energy program, siding with Tehran by insisting it is for peaceful uses and not for nuclear bombs.

U.S. officials have worried Iran may be using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Four rounds of U.N. sanctions, as well as broader severe U.S. and European Union sanctions have not persuaded Tehran to halt the program.

Chavez also has plans to develop a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and last week signed an agreement for Russia to help build a reactor.

Without mentioning the countries' nuclear ambitions, Chavez said his government demands respect for Iran's sovereignty and that "those who think they are most powerful and want to impose their will on the world respect Iran."

Chavez's trip to Iran was his ninth as president. Before coming to Tehran, he made stops in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Later Wednesday, Chavez arrived in Syria, and is due to travel next to Libya and Portugal.

Iran and Venezuela both belong to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. In recent years, the two oil-producing countries have also set up joint ventures to produce cars, tractors and bicycles in the South American country.

Iran-Venezuela-Cuba Alliance

Cuba and Venezuela Criticise U.S. at Alba Trade Summit

BBC News
December 14, 2009

Cuba's President Raul Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez have criticised the US during a key alternative trade summit in Havana.

Mr Castro accused the US of treating Latin America as its "backyard" and denounced a deal giving US armed forces access to Colombian military bases.

Meanwhile Mr Chavez said US criticism about Latin America's relationship with Iran was an "imperial offensive."

Both were speaking at the opening of the left-wing Alba summit in Havana.

A regional political and economic bloc, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (Alba), was founded five years ago as a radical alternative to America's free trade policies in the region.

The BBC's correspondent in Havana Michael Voss says Mr Castro's harsh rhetoric was reminiscent of the Cold War.

It could be a signal that ties between Cuba and the US might be taking a turn for the worse.

Mr Castro said:

"On the one side, there's an exploitative model of dependence subordinated to the interests of the empire, on the other, the advance of revolutionary and progressive forces, representing the disposed."

Mr Castro said President Obama had carried out a hegemonic offensive with the Colombia deal.

He also criticised Washington for presiding over what he described as "an electoral farce" in Honduras.

He said the country's people "have been deprived of their constitutional rights and there has been imposed, with the support of the US administration and a coup-led government (in Honduras), an electoral farce."

Shortly afterwards Mr Chavez openly rejected a warning made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday that Latin American countries needed to "think twice" about fostering a relationship with Iran.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month visited Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia which voiced support for Iran's right to a nuclear programme.

But the US is concerned about what the consequences of the stepped up diplomatic efforts could mean.

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Iran-Venezuela-Cuba Alliance

Chavez, Gaddafi Push Africa-South America Unity

Reuters
September 27, 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi urged African and South American leaders on Saturday to strive for a new world order countering Western economic dominance.

They spoke on the first day of a 28-nation summit that was long on idealistic speeches but short on concrete steps beyond an agreement to set up a development bank for South America with $7 billion in start-up capital.

"This is the beginning of the salvation of our people," Chavez said in a speech welcoming his guests to the Caribbean island of Margarita.

He said the meeting, coming just after the U.N. General Assembly in New York and the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, would help the mainly poor nations rely less on Europe and the United States.

"The 21st century won't be a bipolar world, it won't be unipolar. It will be multipolar. Africa will be an important geographic, economic and social pole. And South America will be too," Chavez said.

The leftist leader has governed for more than 10 years and says he wants to remain in office for decades more to turn the OPEC nation into a socialist state. He casts himself as at the front of a global, "anti-imperialist" movement.

'BUILD OUR OWN POWER'

Gaddafi, who is celebrating four decades in office and had a white limousine flown to Venezuela to meet him at the airport, echoed his host's message.

"The world isn't the five countries on the U.N. Security Council," he said. "The world's powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had the chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroyed our land. Now we have to fight to build our own power."

Other leaders, from influential developing nations like Brazil and South Africa, also gave sweeping, critical summaries of global problems, though in less radical terms.

Analysts say Brazil and South Africa's model of business-friendly economics mixed with a focus on helping the poor is more popular among many African countries than Chavez's revolutionary approach.

The leaders are expected to sign a document on Sunday urging global bodies like the United Nations and World Bank to give poor countries more clout.

Chavez, hoping for the creation of an alternative to multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund, said South American countries had agreed to start the regional development bank, Banco del Sur with $7 billion. Earlier he said it would be funded with $20 billion, but Venezuelan officials clarified it could rise to that amount over time.

"Lula, now we need to find the money!" he joked to Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

NUCLEAR STIR

On the eve of the summit, Venezuela caused a stir by saying it was working with ally Iran to find uranium in the South American nation.

But Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez sought to play down the issue on Saturday, telling Reuters the country had not developed a plan to explore or exploit its uranium deposits.

Ramirez did not respond when asked what role Iran was playing and said Venezuela was only working with Russia to develop nuclear energy which he said would be used for peaceful means.

Analysts say Venezuela is more than a decade away from developing nuclear power.

Chavez says he opposes nuclear weapons but insists the developed world does not have the right to stop other countries from developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Venezuela's opposition called Chavez irresponsible for reaching out to what it said were unsavory regimes around the globe.

"Venezuela's dangerous friendship with autocratic and totalitarian governments like Belarus, Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe, show Chavez's irresponsibility in seeking ties and alliances at any cost, without regard to the pariah state of these regimes," opposition group Mesa Unitaria said in a statement.

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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.

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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.

Iran-Venezuela-Cuba Alliance

Ayatollah: Repeated U.S. Failures Indicate a New World Order in the Making

Press TV
September 6, 2009

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the repeated US failures in different countries and the loss of its influence both indicate the undeniable fact of world change.

“The US had far greater failures in the Islamic Republic of Iran than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine,” said Ayatollah Khamenei in a meeting with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday.

The Leader touched upon changing the situation in Latin America and said, “A power has been formed in this region which was once regarded by the US as its courtyard.”

Iran and Venezuela should make efforts to prepare the grounds for strengthening their independence, said the Leader.

“Along with political coordination, Iran and Venezuela should enhance industrial, economic, banking and transportation cooperation,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Tehran and Caracas had previously signed an array of agreements, pledging to work together in oil exploration, building low-income housing, and assembling tractors and bicycles as well as military projects among other ventures.

Chavez, who is on his seventh official visit to Iran, hailed positive talks between the high-ranking Venezuelan delegation and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials.

The Venezuelan president, a vocal critic of the global capitalistic system, said that enhanced cooperation and unity between the two countries would be the only way to fight against enemy plots.

Venezuela has been a vociferous defender of Iran and its nuclear program as Western countries, spearheaded by the US, accuse Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program and demand a halt to the country’s uranium enrichment activities.

Tehran, however, denies all such allegations and has called for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

The Venezuelan president visited Libya, Algeria and Syria before coming to Iran. He is also scheduled to go to Belarus, Russia, Turkmenistan and Spain after his Tehran visit.

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Iran-Venezuela-Cuba Alliance

What Awaits the Cuba-Venezuela Alliance?

By Mariefli Perez-Stable, McClatchy Newspapers
April 10, 2009

Cuba and Venezuela have often crossed paths. In the early 1960s, Havana abetted armed groups against democratically elected Venezuelan governments. Meddling in Venezuela's affairs, in part, determined Cuba's 1962 suspension from the Organization of American States. Caracas and Havana stood at irreconcilable odds afterward.

By the early 1970s, Cuba's foreign policy made a U-turn. With the failure of guerrillas, Havana largely embraced diplomacy. It was a fortuitous pivot that led Cuba down the path of a world-class foreign policy.

Under Rafael Caldera (1969-1974), Venezuela also changed. Left-wing parties, which had supported Havana's meddling, were legalized. Caldera likewise opened a dialogue with the English-speaking Caribbean that had looked askance at Caracas's hostility toward Havana.

In 1975, Carlos Andres Perez (1974-1979) normalized relations with Cuba. Embassies were opened and trade resumed. Thanks to a Caracas-Moscow agreement, Cuba imported Venezuelan oil while the former Soviet Union supplied Caracas' clients in Europe. Though subsequent presidents strayed from Perez's track, Venezuela never restored a policy of confrontation.

As president again from 1989-93, Perez again improved relations with Cuba. In 1992, little-known colonel Hugo Chavez staged a failed coup against Perez that landed him in jail. Havana quickly congratulated Perez in surviving the coup. When freed in '94, however, Chavez traveled to Havana where Fidel Castro gave him a hero's welcome.

Carlos A. Romero, a professor at Venezuela's Universidad Central, wrote a handy overview of Cuba-Venezuela relations in the last 50 years. Chavez's election was a godsend for Cuba, which at last had a true ally in the Western Hemisphere. Romero analyzes Venezuelan-Cuban ties in two stages: between 1999 and 2004 when the bilateral relationship consolidated and since 2004 when the two countries crafted a regional strategy.

Their decade-long closeness has been mutually beneficial. Since 2005, Venezuela sends Cuba a daily lifeline of 100,000 barrels of oil at subsidized prices. Bilateral trade grew from $388 million in 1998 to $7.1 billion in 2007. Havana in 2007 provided Caracas with the services of 39,000 Cubans, including 31,000 health professionals. The remaining 8,000 presumably include political and security advisors instrumental in Chavez's blueprint for gutting democracy from within. Appearances to the contrary, Venezuela is also dependent on Cuba.

Founded in 2004, ALBA—the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America - is the cornerstone of the joint regional strategy to counter free-trade agreements with the United States. Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Dominica and, most recently, Honduras have joined ALBA. Still, Nicaragua and Honduras are members of the CAFTA-DR, the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States FTA. In 2007, Chavez added the need for a regional security strategy built on:

-Excluding the United States from any regional defense council

-Diversifying military purchases and technical assistance

-Forging closer ties with China, Russia, Iran and other U.S. rivals.

There might be a lot less than meets the eye in this strategy. In a recent visit to China, Chavez ranted about U.S. imperialism, which Beijing promptly disowned. Russia is readily seeking a renewed military presence in the region, which Cuba hasn't embraced.

If Iran responds to the Obama administration's offer to dialogue, Venezuela may be left with a short-stick strategy.

What awaits the decade-old alliance between Cuba and Venezuela?

-One scenario points the relationship continuing on its present terms. Yet, oil prices are cutting into Venezuela's largess in the region, even if Cuba might be the last tosuffer.

-A second scenario entails a certain distance between the two countries if Cuba under Raul Castro opens the economy and eases tensions with the United States. Rumors abound about the Cuban Armed Forces mistrust of their Venezuelan colleagues.

-Changed domestic circumstances in Cuba or Venezuela is a third scenario. While Havana and Caracas can't fathom a future without revolution, history is often like an old mole who surfaces unannounced, for good or ill. I'm glad; otherwise, writing columns would be boring.

Marifeli Perez-Stable is vice president for democratic governance at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, a professor at Florida International University and a columnist for the Miami Herald.

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Iran-Venezuela-Cuba Alliance

Iranian Overtures to Latin America Spark U.S. Concern

Global Security
Originally Published on March 19, 2008

Iranian moves to solidify ties with Venezuela, Bolivia and other leftist governments in Latin America have sparked increasing concern in the United States. From Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports the growing Iranian ties reflect shared political and economic goals and anti-American sentiment.

At first glance, Iran seems to have little in common with Latin America. Trade and economic relations are rare, and the two regions have different cultural and religious traditions. But Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has found common ground with leftist leaders critical of the United States and its policy goals around the world.

To help build alliances, Iran has signed a series of economic deals with Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. This week, Bolivia and Iran agreed on joint projects worth $1 billion, including the installation of three Iranian-backed television channels in Bolivia.

Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says the agreements are driven by Iran's political interests, and not economic ones.

"That is why we see all these economic cooperation deals signed, which make no economic sense whatsoever," he said. "But both sides deeply believe in them, and both sides deeply believe in the spread of world revolution."

Clawson says projects like the construction of a new seaport in Nicaragua will have little economic benefit for Iran, but he says Iranian support may help generate political support across the region.

Clawson and Latin America experts spoke at a conference at the University of Miami about Iran's growing influence in Latin America.

University of Miami professor Jaime Suchlicki said Iran and its allies are seeking to nurture other like-minded politicians across Latin America. He says recent Iranian support for candidates in Latin American elections has raised concern about the impact on democracy.

"They are taking advantage of democracy in Latin America," he said. "They support candidates and friends at all levels and try to bring them to power. So the main challenge in Latin America is how to deal with growing Iranian influence within a democratic framework."

Iran's key partner in the region has been Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of the United States. Experts say the Iranian and Venezuelan leaders have used their nations' oil wealth to finance international projects and build new relationships around the world.

Mr. Chavez has backed Iranian plans to begin issuing oil contracts in euros, not U.S. dollars, because of the falling price of the dollar against the euro. Financial experts say the move could weaken the value of the dollar and hurt the U.S. economy.

Jose Azel is a senior research associate at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

"That is a very sophisticated and dangerous position that Iran and now Venezuela seems to be backing," he said.

Azel says Iran's growing involvement in Latin America is complicating U.S. ties to the region, which have been strained by the war in Iraq and other policy differences. He says Washington recently has been seeking to engage Latin America in an effort to counter the leftist influence.

"The [U.S.] administration has negotiated a number of trade deals with Latin America," he noted. "And [President] Bush has actually visited Latin America more than any other president in U.S. history."

President Bush is currently backing a free trade agreement with Colombia, which administration officials say will help counter leftist influence in the region. The pending trade deal with Washington's close ally may not, however, be enough to ease concerns over Iranian influence in Latin America. Experts say Washington will face a diplomatic struggle as long as Iran continues to offer economic aid and political support to potential allies.

Iran's Growing Latin American Influence and the Chicago Connection
Iran is growing terrorists on Latin American soil

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