Russian Jet Fighters to Venezuela

Control of the skies is a huge advantage against ground armies such as those the Americans defeated in Iraq and the Israelis are fighting in Lebanon. Any country dreaming of military parity with the elite armed forces on this planet can not help but desire a state of the art Air Force, so Hugo is going to buy one.

Russian Arms For Hugo Chavez: But, more importantly, in a deal the United States tried to block, Chavez successfully ordered 24 of Russia’s latest jet fighters and 53 helicopters during his time in Moscow. This is on top of the 40 helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles the Venezuelan military had already ordered in an earlier transaction from Russia that go to make up the $5 billion in arms Chavez may eventually buy.

In the article, Dr. Stephen J. Blank of The Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College remarks that “Venezuela probably cannot begin to maintain or even operate this arsenal”. This assumes that Russian military technicians and advisors aren’t part of the deal. I suspect Hugo Chavez is shrewd enough to purchase the extended warrantee and service agreement for all of his new machines. After all, when money is no object then why settle for less than the best? To keep the Chavez threat in perspective, it is good to review the most recent public data for United States Oil imports.

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries: The top five exporting countries accounted for 70 percent of United States crude oil imports ... . The top sources of US crude oil imports for May were Canada (1.868 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.576 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.457 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.169 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.075 million barrels per day).

If Chavez makes a “business decision” not to ship oil directly to America, the consequences will immediately and adversely ripple through our economy. If Chavez makes this decision subsequent to or in coordination with an Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the economic consequences would be multiplied. I believe, that deep down inside Putin hates the Muslims but Chavez, like Raúl Castro, is an old school communist and thus a perfectly acceptable client for all the Russian military merchandize Hugo wants to buy.