Putin and Chavez Sitting In A Tree

Since we seem to have such a long list of countries we are shunning, it's no stretch that those countries are beginning to make friends elsewhere. Hugo Chavez, despite his accusations that Bush is out to get him, certainly isn't letting any grass grow under his feet as far as making deals with other would be powers ...

Russia signed a £1.6bn arms deal with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela today, risking a confrontation with the US, which has imposed an arms embargo on the South American country.

The outspoken Venezuelan president, who has claimed that America wants to assassinate him and pledged cheap heating fuel for London's poor, also told reporters in Moscow that his country could develop its own nuclear programme.

"Maybe some day we will start using nuclear energy," he said, according to Interfax. He did not specify when or how he might obtain nuclear power, but his ambitions will rile a Bush administration already deeply concerned by Iran's nuclear programme. Moscow has agreed to build nuclear power plants for Tehran, despite Washington's claim that the scheme is a front for a nuclear weapons programme.

After Mr Chávez's meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russia's state arms exporter Rosobornexport said it would sell 24 military planes and 53 attack helicopters to the south American state in one of a series of deals between the countries worth an estimated total of £1.6bn. Moscow has recently stepped up arms sales to Venezuela, saying last month that it would license the AK47 rifle for production in Caracas.

After their meeting Mr Chávez told Mr Putin: "Russia has stretched out its hand to us in the face of international pressure, and even an embargo that was to be imposed on us. It gives our soldiers a special spirit of firmness when we hand them Kalashnikov rifles that replace old 1940s guns."

He said that when two Russian-made Sukhoi jets flew over their independence day parade on July 5, "the entire people had a sense of gratitude".

In an attempt to soften the blow of such deals for Washington, Mr Putin said that cooperation between Moscow and Caracas "is not directed against other states", but added: "Russia will be a secure partner for Venezuela."

He said that Russian investment into Venezuela could reach billions of dollars, while expressing admiration for the country's economic growth rate of 8%. The two men also announced that the Russian oil firm Lukoil would build a gas pipeline in Venezuela's south and drill for oil near the Orinoco river.

Mr Chávez again launched a vitriolic attack on the United States. "After almost 200 years, we can say that the United States was designed to fill the entire world with poverty as if in the name of freedom," he said according to Interfax.

"The United States' empire is the greatest threat which exists in the world today. This is a senseless, blind and dumb giant, which does not know the world, does not know human rights, and does not know anything about humanity, culture, conscience, or consciousness."

He said the "winds of war" were blowing in the Middle East and were a "product of hegemony and imperialistic aspirations, which reveal Washington's bid for power over the whole planet" ...