chavez, whats he up to and should we be worried.

english.aljazeera.net...

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has given his backing to Iran's nuclear programme, which world powers suspect of having non-peaceful aims. Chavez, who was visiting the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday, said that Iran had the right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes. "We are certain that Iran, as it has shown, will not back down in its effort to obtain what is a sovereign right of the people: to have all the equipment and structures to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes," Chavez said, on the first day of his two-day trip. "There is not a single proof that Iran is building ... a nuclear bomb. "Soon they will accuse us of also building an atomic bomb." The US, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany are putting pressure on Iran to hold face-to-face talks on its nuclear programme. 'Helping the oppressed' The leader of the Andean nation met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister. The two countries are allies and Ahmadinejad said during the visit: "Helping the oppressed and revolutionary nations and expanding anti-imperialist fronts are the main missions of Iran and Venezuela." Chavez will meet with other Iranian officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader. It is the first visit by Chavez since Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a disputed poll in June. The visit is part of a six-nation tour by Chavez and other high-ranking Venezuelan delegates. The group has already visited Libya, Algeria, Syria and will travel to Belarus and Russia after Tehran. Chavez signed nine agreements with Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, as part of his attempts to strengthen an alliance against the US and Israel. He said that Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria and outlined common threats before flying on to Tehran.

Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over $2bn to finance the purchase of weapons including tanks and advanced anti-aircraft missiles, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, has said. He said his country, whose finances have suffered this year because of lower crude prices, needed to borrow the money for defence spending to avoid cuts in education and health. "We have to thank the Russian government, which approved a $2.2bn loan for arms spending," Chavez said on his weekly television show. The deal, which was agreed on his trip to Moscow last week, includes orders for 92 tanks and the S-300 missile system, which is capable of shooting down fighter jets and cruise missiles. A spokesman for the US state department said on Monday that Washington is concerned "about Venezuela's stated desire to increase its arms build-up, which we think poses a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere." Ian Kelly called on Caracas to abide by its its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. Arms race Venezuela has bought over $4bn of weapons from Russia in recent years, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. It was not immediately clear when Venezuela would receive the new weapons or how much they would cost. Critics say Venezuela is sparking an arms race in South America, but Chavez says he is modernising the military for defensive purposes. The country is embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with Colombia over a deal to allow troops from the US access to more bases in the neighbouring country to fight drug traffickers and leftist fighters. Chavez, a fierce critic of US foreign policy, says the Colombian bases plan could be used to launch an attack on Venezuela and increases the risk of war on the continent. "Let me be clear, Venezuela has no plans to invade anybody, or to be aggressive towards anybody," Chavez said on his show. Last year, the former soldier ordered tanks to the border with Colombia in a dispute over a Colombian bombing raid in Ecuadorean territory. Multiple targets Chavez said Venezuela was now buying 92 Russian T-72 tanks along with several types of missiles, including the Buk-M2 and S-300, to build an air-defence system. The S-300, also known as the SA-20, is considered one of the most effective surface-to-air anti-aircraft systems and is capable of tracking 100 targets at once. It can be used with missiles that have a range of about 200km and can engage six targets simultaneously. "With these rockets it's going to be very difficult for foreign planes to come and bomb us," Chavez said. Russia signed a contract in 2007 to supply Iran with the S-300 system but has dragged its feet on delivering the weapons after Washington and Israel expressed fears it would be used to protect nuclear facilities from attack. Last week, Moscow dismissed rumours that a ship supposedly loaded with timber that went missing in the Atlantic in July had really been carrying a cargo of S-300s for Iran. Chavez repeated on Sunday his commitment to developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes with the help of Russia and reiterated he was opposed to nuclear weapons.

[edit on 17-9-2009 by remymartin]

[edit on 17-9-2009 by remymartin]

I am not surprised he is doing this and a lot of what he says actually makes sense.

It does make sense, he must protect his oil after all we all know what happens to weak countries with large oil reserves.

[edit on 17-9-2009 by remymartin]

This is what I would say: The enemy of my enemy is my ally. He views the United States as a threat to the security of his country, and he is intent on ensuring that the US can not come down and do anything to attempt to remove him from power without it being a fight, a very bad fight. As long as the weapons systems remain in his country and are not used, then I don't see a problem. Where the problems will come into play is if those weapon systems make it to other countries in latin and South America or used as part of agression towards its neighbors. This is just a high amount of sabre rattling right now. And if I believe that it will also serve to cause the US to divert its attention elsewhere and away from other countries.

Isn't it kind of foolish for any small country to threaten a neighbor with nukes?
If they managed to set one off, they could be in as much danger from the outfall as the one they bombed.
So isn't it foolish for the US to get worried over it.

I say so what if Iran has nukes. What are they going to do with them.

They don't just go off any old place any old time.

"One of the most startling facts that I discovered by application of grid mathematics was that an atomic bomb is a device based on the geometrics of space and time. To be successfully detonated, the bomb MUST be geometrically constructed, placed on, under, or over a geometric position in relation to the Earth’s surface, and activated at a SPECIFIC TIME in relation to the geometrics of the solar system. I found that it was possible to precalculate the time of various bomb tests, and the locations where it was possible to explode a bomb.

According to the mathematical complexities of unlocking the geometric structure of the unstable material constituting a bomb in order to create a sudden release of energy, I realised that an all-out atomic war was an impossibility. Both sides could precalculate well in advance the time and positions of atomic attack. Plus the fact that only certain geometric locations could be devastated anyhow. A logical war cannot be considered under these circumstances. This could be the explanation for the proliferation of conventional weapons in modern warfare."

Bruce Cathie Article

I agree with him i see no problem with him updating his military i also like the fact that he doesnt want the usa in columbia.We have no business there.I like Chavez and i like him more knowing that our country doesnt.