"Russia may send more military support to Venezuela " Topic

….to help Maduro.

"Venezuela's foreign minister has hinted that the Russian military may expand their operations in the troubled nation.

"At present, there is a commission of (Russian) specialists in Venezuela, it could be expanded," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in Moscow on Monday…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Well, they're protecting their investments: link

Any Russian spec ops units in there?

I'm sure a good number of the 100 or so Russians in Venezuela are Spetsnaz or ex-Spetsnaz PMC's.

I was hoping Venezuela's nightmare was going to be over, but with Russia, China, and Iran helping I guess Maduro can be king as long as he likes. What a mess.

But for this board, the question is what are the long term implications of a Russian military presence at the north end of South America.

Iran doesn't have a dog in this fight but Cuba certainly does with over 20,000 troops in Venezuela.

If the US can reassure Russia and China that they won't swallow an unacceptable loss in their oil and other ventures in Venezuela, then it'll be a lot easier to get rid of Maduro. The US has slapped sanctions on both countries in the recent past and they will need reassurances that we won't backtrack in the future for whatever reason, but nothing in the future is guaranteed.

Even if Russia has no choice in the end but to cut its losses in Venezuela, at the very least it can use Venezuela as a bargaining chip to get the US to ease or lift other previously imposed sanctions. It's transactional Realpolitik.

So who are the imperial capitalist pigs now?

Could the Monroe doctrine apply here? You stay out of our hemisphere and we'll stay out of yours. Except I think we've been meddling around in other's hemispheres for a very long time. Kind of surprising to see the Russians back at it again after such a long hiatus following the Cold War.

Kind of surprising to see the Russians back at it again after such a long hiatus following the Cold War.

It's low cost meddling for them. They have what, some special forces there? They toss a few bucks around, etc. It's gotta be a hard poke in the eye to Trump, who backed off of Syria and gets rewarded with Russian interfence in Venzuela. So from a realpolitik standpoint you then need to make Russia feel some pain in its own "back yard" and so on. Maybe send a bunch of arms aid and money to Ukraine, move some bases from Germany to Poland??

Russia want to change Venezuela for Ukraine….

Amicalement
Armand

need to make Russia feel some pain in its own "back yard"

They tried by encouraging and inciting a revolution in Ukraine (Russia's back yard), which led to a civil war and gave Putin the perfect opportunity and excuse to take back Crimea.

As for Poland, the US are already moving troops from Germany there to counter the Russian threat.

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"Kind of surprising to see the Russians back at it again after such a long hiatus following the Cold War." Really or were you being facetious? They've been meddling constantly in things since the early 2000's. What sets this one apart is that it is with physical troops in the Western Hemisphere out in the open instead of using cyber resources in the shadows.

I think Tango has it right. Venezuela is leverage for Ukraine.

Private Matter, no one beats meddling like the good ol' USA. We have more of our troops spread all around the world than any other country. I use to fly them; I've been to about 40 countries with the Air Force. The USA is a master of meddling in the affairs of others.

USAFpilot – I never said we were innocent. Perhaps someday we can share a beer and compare lists of countries that Uncle Sam had us visit.

Iran is apparently there too, since its agents are reportedly seeking for find and procure, high quality, weapons grade uranium for their nuke warheads, and Venezuela just happens to have what they're looking for.

Thresher01 – That is a new one to me. Can you please let me know where you got that information so I can read the articles for myself?

Edit: Never mind Thresher01 I googled and found this interesting article:
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Fascinating, PM. Iran and Turkey are a bit of a surprise though their stakes in Venezuela are probably considerably lower than Russia's and China's.

I find the perspectives of Forbes articles more interesting than the mainstream media's because it cuts through the ideological holier-than-thou BS and gets to the real issue, which tends to be financial and is very practical.

Funny, I thought Forbes is part of the mainstream media? I'm confused.

What I meant was that Forbes is not "mainstream" in the sense that the NYT, WP and CNN are. It takes a vastly different (and fresh) perspective from a strictly business/economic standpoint that's apolitical (e.g. Turkey's in Venezuela for the gold). But I see how you can be confused as Forbes is part of a huge mainstream media empire.