Comments on: Chavez Orders Kilo Subs

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 02:50:01 +0000

It would be better for Venezula if they did some of the fit out in Venezula and did similar things to encourage some small naval manufacturing/servicing capacity locally. Either way this is good news for Russia.
It does seem to be such a huge waste of money given the more pressing problems Venezula has. Still the concept of having a viable, small, sub presence is sound strategy.

By: 1984

1984 — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:18:38 +0000

“This is 1984esque “eternal war” crap meant to distract the populace methinks. “
Look to Straussian neocon project PNAC, “full spectrum dominance” and all…
Chavez hardly wants war, I think his main objective is to atleast send signals that we’ll fight back were we to become invaded.
Still, he has gone way too far on many things…but that that even remotely justifies war against that country.

By: ajay

ajay — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:32:04 +0000

“Then again, many times soldiers do not make the best presidents.“
Yeah. Take that, Messrs Washington, Eisenhower and de Gaulle.

By: Noam

Noam — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:34:05 +0000

@ Charles
#Chavez is provocative.
Huh? Provocative Against a nation convicted by the International court of Justice for terrorism?
# Then again, many times soldiers do not make the best presidents.
No, draft dodgers are much better.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:38:25 +0000

I am constantly amazed how insecure Americans feel. You spend as much on ‘defence’ as the rest of the world combined! It’s laughable that Venezuela could be a threat. The rest of the world knows who the real threat to world peace is.
I doubt Venezuela’s military spending is out of line with other nations with similar sized oil reserves. I suspect it’s rather low.

By: George Skinner

George Skinner — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:45:37 +0000

Oil embargoes have never worked very well for oil producers. Since it trades on a global market, it’s very difficult to unilaterally stop the sale of oil to a particular customer. A prime example is Israel, which continues to obtain supplies despite incurring the hostility of all of the oil-producing states in the region. So whether or not Chavez would like to stop selling oil to the US, it’s likely that he simply can’t stop it anyway.

By: Wembley

Wembley — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:15:42 +0000

I love this ‘Chavez is provocative’ stuff.
He has a Northern neighbor with vastly overwheliming military superiority who he believes (rightly or wrongly) supported a coup attempt and is actively funding resistance groups.
In spite of this he continues to sell oil to the US — and not because he couldn’t find other customers.
The subs are a political virility symbol (he is South American, after all). Who’s really threatening who here?

By: Springbored

Springbored — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:21:58 +0000

Well, aside from the fact that we’ll now get an opportunity to test our ASW skills without needing to pay for the privledge, at least now we’re going to start focusing some REAL attention on Latin America. That “Dagger pointed directly at the heart of Antarctica” could get really crazy, really fast.
We ignore it at our own peril

By: Siconik

Siconik — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:36:47 +0000

This is just sooo stupid. He would need to buy 10x times more hardware to become anything more then a speedbump if the war were to take place.. of course, the only person who actually seem to want the war is Hugo himself. I am sure there are plenty of people in his not-too-well-off country that could use the money he is wasting buying the token amounts of advanced weapons.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:38:18 +0000

The Military implications are minimal…however, long term economic/political implications (like Chinese mineral deals with Peru)could begin to undermine the Monroe Doctrine…so it is wait and see.