As if there were not enough problems in the world

Chavez hails Russian arms deals

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has again thanked Russia for supplying his country with weapons, despite objections from the United States.

Speaking in Moscow, Mr Chavez said there had been "extraordinary progress" in military ties between the two sides.

Russian officials say Moscow's arms sales to Venezuela
are now worth more than S3bn (£1.6bn), including a new deal for fighter jets and helicopters.

Pete's Points
A more complete version of the article to be found on the BBC will also frighten readers with the following words:

"After Moscow, he will visit Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali."

I wonder where this is going.

Iran at present does not exactly have the best reputation for moderation and peaceful intentions.

With the Russians and various new oil rich republics immediately to the north of Iran, it is interesting to speculate whether the Russians will be silly enough to contemplate a similar arms deal with the Iranians as a way of extending their desired hegemony in the area.

I worry about the new forms of warfare that I see happening around the world. Wars seem to be fought by standard military forces against guerilla forces and usually not by the main states involved, but more and more by proxies.

A cynic could suggest, that leaders of the developed nations together with their highly paid business executives are saying in private what that cannot say in public namely, "who really cares about the loss of "innocent civilian life" as long as it is good for business and profits."

Cooperation between Chavez and others whose interests are suspect, is a little worrying.

Chavez, seems to be doing nothing besides spending his country's vast oil revenues on arms deals instead of supporting the welfare of his people as he claimed he would do when elected.