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.

Posted by: Dave at August 2, 2007 09:50 PM

"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.

Posted by: 1984 at July 22, 2007 09:18 PM

There will be a shift of power , refined fuel will be outsourced to latin america. In return , they will provide neccesary arms connections in one way or another. Asia has interests in many banks in that region. The subs program should be stopped.

Posted by: Max Anderson at July 21, 2007 09:27 PM

Then again, former military officers who've previously been convicted of attempting an armed coup against their government may not prove to be proponents of democratic structures when elected. And Marxists may not prove to be capable of effectively managing any kind of economy, leading to demagoguery to deflect criticism from their failures.

Posted by: George Skinner at July 20, 2007 11:31 AM

"Then again, many times soldiers do not make the best presidents."

Yeah. Take that, Messrs Washington, Eisenhower and de Gaulle.

Posted by: ajay at July 20, 2007 06:32 AM

@ 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.

Posted by: Noam at July 20, 2007 04:34 AM

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.

Posted by: Bruce at July 19, 2007 09:38 PM

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.

Posted by: George Skinner at July 19, 2007 03:45 PM

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?

Posted by: Wembley at July 19, 2007 02:15 PM

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

Posted by: Springbored at July 19, 2007 01:21 PM

Considering that there has been a US arms embargo since May 2006, this is hardly surprising - under the 10% rules this has also stymied Venezuelan procurement contracts with Spain and Sweden.

Obviously this opens up excellent business opportunities for Russia, China and, possibly, Iran. Venezuela is the fastest growing economy in the Western hemisphere, and the state has shed-loads of cash at its disposal - and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The political tail is the long-term replacement of the US by Russian in Venezuela's mil-to-mil relations. Good geopolitics for Vlad, and the usual strategically-incoherent clusterfuck that we're accustomed to from the Bush administration.

As regards sanctions, the US imports about 1.5 millions barrels of crude per day from Venezuela, so there's little chance of anything meaningful on that score until American consumers embrace the virtues of conservation and $5 per gallon gas.

Those of us with memories can recall that during the Clinton presidency, US relations with Chavez were both functional and cordial; it's amazing how badly a botched coup attempt can poison relationships - especially when you bend over backwards to recognise the coup within a matter of hours.

Posted by: dan at July 19, 2007 12:07 PM

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.

Posted by: Siconik at July 19, 2007 11:36 AM

This is ridiculous. Chavez is deliberately provocative, it's analogous to the Soviets sending ships full of additional nukes to Cuba during the Missile Crisis.

This is 1984esque "eternal war" crap meant to distract the populace methinks. Then again, many times soldiers do not make the best presidents.

Posted by: Charles at July 19, 2007 10:41 AM

What the hell is that nob Chavez doing this for?

I swear, half of what passes from state leadership just turns into some sort of Freudian dick measuring contest far too quickly.

I guess the good part of dealing with someone like Hugo is that he's not the brightest bulb and seems to be fairly predictable.

Hey, Norman Polmar ... I always liked your work ... welcome to the online world.

Posted by: TB at July 19, 2007 10:18 AM

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.

Posted by: Phil at July 19, 2007 09:38 AM

I just wonder where all this money is coming from! This stuff isn't cheap to run either, so I hope he just doesn't incur heavy economic sanctions from the US. Otherwise I'm sure the US couldn't care less, such a leader is just begging to be thrown over by his own people - possibly by a US backed coup.

Posted by: Vstress at July 19, 2007 08:53 AM

Hallelujah! Now the Navy can pump up the "threat" of the fearsome Venezuelan armada, and "justify" all kinds of new toys! I can hear the boys at Raytheon and General Dynamics now, in a rousing chorus of "Thank you, Hugo!"

Posted by: sglover at July 19, 2007 08:43 AM

This is just Chavez trying to buy the loyalty of the middle and upper ranks of his military while tweaking Bush's nose, like with the fighter buy... the actual implications are minimal.

Posted by: mike at July 19, 2007 07:52 AM