Pentagon mocks Russian military moves in Latin America

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Last year, Russia temporarily based a pair of Tu-160 bombers at an airbase in Venezuela in an orchestrated display of force seen as a message to Washington over its actions in Russia's region.

Chavez sends military to seize Venezuela's ports, airports
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered his military to seize all major ports and airports, and threatened opposition governors with arrest if they resisted the move. "We are going to recover the ports and airports of the republic, no matter what opposition," he said Sunday during his weekly television broadcast. Chavez said he had told the commander of the navy to take the northeastern Port Cabello this week, and warned that the governor for that region, Enrique Salas, "will be arrested" if he makes good on a vow to use police to block the confiscation. The president said he had also ordered the military to take the ports of Maracaibo and Nueva Esparta, in regions also controlled by opposition governors. The move was being carried out under a legal reform approved last Thursday by the pro-Chavez parliament, which allows the president to take over the running of roads, ports and airports. The opposition has decried his order as unconstitutional and an attempt to concentrate all power in Chavez's hands. Under Venezuela's 1999 consitution promulgated by Chavez, the administration of national highways, commercial ports and airports is under the "exclusive competence of the states" in coordination with the government.

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) March 16, 2009
The US Defense Department on Monday made light of Russia's possible use of air bases in Venezuela or Cuba for its strategic bombers.

"That would be quite a long way for those old planes to fly," Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary, told AFP.

Another defense official said Russia's efforts to promote military ties with Venezuela and Cuba were not cause for serious concern.

Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen "is not overly concerned about other nations trying to forge bilateral relations with other partners and friends," said a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The comments came a day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country had offered Moscow unlimited use of an air base off its Caribbean coast.

Russian air force general Anatoly Zhikharev on Saturday said that Russia could seek the short-term use of bases in Cuba and Venezuela.

The bases could be used for logistics stops on long-distance bomber patrols, which Russia resumed in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.

Zhikharev said Cuba had several air bases equipped with the long runways needed by the heavy bombers and said the facilities there were "entirely acceptable" for use by the Russian aircraft during long-distance patrols.

Last year, Russia temporarily based a pair of Tu-160 bombers at an airbase in Venezuela in an orchestrated display of force seen as a message to Washington over its actions in Russia's region.

US plans to deploy anti-missile weaponry in former Warsaw Pact states and American support for Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO are seen by Moscow as provocative moves too close to Russia's borders.

Each of the Russian bombers is capable of carrying 12 cruise missiles that can be fitted with nuclear warheads.

The Russians use the Tu-160 bombers, which were introduced in the late 1980s before the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as 1950s-era turboprop Tu-65 bombers.

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Sarkozy to open first Gulf military base in Abu Dhabi: report

Dubai (AFP) March 14, 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to formally open his country's first Gulf-based military base in Abu Dhabi in May, the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat said on Saturday

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