James Regan + 1,776 December 11, 2018 Putin posturing in Venezuela promise of 6 Billion USD of Oil and Gold, Russia slowly positioning itself to take over where the USA have failed or not followed through. https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-latin-america-46522358 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Foote + 1,135 JF December 11, 2018 Let them tray save Venezuela. A couple of B1-A clones don't mean squat. And Russia doesn't have the cash, or inclination, to seriously prop up Venezuela. The B1 was technologically obsolete before it entered service, but like so many US weapon platforms, the Soviets managed a copy. Ineffectiveness is why President Carter killed it. The politics of perception and Reagan foolishly revived it, but cruise missiles and the B2 Stealth bomber, which Carter was wisely unwilling to reveal, made the B1 obsolete. Better to use a bomb truck like a B-52 for most situations, high end systems for the odd highly capable enemy. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodent + 1,424 December 11, 2018 Break out the tinfoil hats, folks, and then read on. Russia helped Venezuela launch its El Petro. Venezuela says in late 2017 that Russia would be happy to provide military support to "boost its defense capacity" to withstand the evil US. Venezuela allegedly responsible for 3/4 of all Russian armament purchases in Latin America in the last decade. In 2011, CAWAT reported that Venezuela was Russia’s largest purchaser of armaments for ground forces. Russia has also been helping Venezuela to develop its own arms manufacturing capability. PDVSA's executive director of financial planning, Ortega admitted he accepted $5 million in bribes to give priority loan status to a Russian bank, which was a minority shareholder in joint ventures with PDVSA. 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites