A win for Honduras
Honduras may get to choose its own leaders after all. The tag team of Obama and Chavez doesn’t seem to have been able to stop it from doing so, and Obama seems to have given up trying.
[ADDENDUM: Porfirio Lobos, Zelaya’s conservative opponent in the 2005 election, appears to have won. Unsurprisingly, Venezuela and other Leftist Latin American governments have refused to recognize the results. Back in September, President Obama said he would side with them by declaring the outcome of the election invalid even before it had occurred. Fortunately, something changed his mind, and the US now declares that the elections were “a necessary and important step forward.” ]
Seriously – I’ve suggested this before but I’ll suggest it again.
Can we import some of these Hondurans and slap a *Republican* label on them?
It would be a vast improvement over what we’re dealing with at the moment in the land of the RINO’s….
Thank God. I dont know what happened with Obama that he appears to have changed course with regard to Honduras. Perhaps some of the more practical and logical, as well as foreign policy savy, members of his party have gotten his attention. In any case, as one whose family escaped Castroism, I can only hope that this effort to extend the Castro-Chavez-Ortega axis appears to have failed.
As for Obama, even if he opts in the right direction on this issue, he appears to have proclivities in the other direction on too many other issues. Either that, or he’s erratic in his thinking. Or both.
¡Muy bueno!
Russia building arms plants in Venezuela
Russia is building arms plants in Venezuela to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and cartridges and is finalizing contracts to send 53 military helicopters to the Andean nation, Moscow’s envoy to Venezuela saidMonday.
Ambassador Vladmir Zaemskiy told a news conference that Russian engineers and Venezuelan construction firms were building the rifle and cartridge plants which, when operational, would employ more than 1,500 workers.
He gave no completion date for the plants under construction in the central state of Aragua.
Details about Moscow’s military shipments and projects have been scarce since socialist President Hugo Chavez’s government began signing military agreements with Russia back in 2001.
In recent years, Venezuela has bought over $4 billion in weapons from Russia, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. Critics say Caracas is fueling an arms race in Latin America. Chavez says he is modernizing the military for defensive purposes.
When Chavez he returned from his latest trip to Russia in September, he said Russia had agreed to lend Venezuela $2.2 billion to purchase 92 tanks and an S-300 missile system that can shoot down fighter jets and cruise missiles.
Two years ago, Russia agreed to sell the same S-300 system to Iran but has dragged its feet over delivering the weapons amid U.S. and Israeli concerns they will be used to defend Iran’s nuclear installations.
Zaemskiy declined to provide details on delivery dates for the tanks and missile system. He could not say if Moscow already disbursed part of the $2.2 billion loan.
But he added that “big contracts” were being finalized to deliver 53 “Mil” helicopters that can be used by the Venezuelan armed forces and for humanitarian missions.
Between 2006 and 2008, Moscow delivered a total of about 59 military helicopters to Venezuela, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Russia was also providing “a complete range” of military spare parts to Venezuela, Zaemskiy said. It is also transferring technology and building technical maintenance centers.
“As a result of this cooperation, Venezuela’s defense capacity has increased considerably, as well as its level of technological independence,” the ambassador said.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
big deal… they cant protect themselves, and if one thing dont work, they just keep plinking away till something does work.
get ready for war soon..
EVERYONE is gearing up and stocking up all over the world!!!