Image from AFPFrom The Christian Science Monitor:
President Medvedev visits Venezuela this week as a Russian nuclear warship leads joint maneuvers.
Caracas, Venezuela; and Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit this week with Venezuela's leftist leader Hugo Chávez is the first ever for a Kremlin leader to this oil-rich nation. And the meeting – part of a Latin America tour that includes stops in Brazil and Cuba – is kindling concerns that a resurgent Russia is aiming to revive its cold-war era presence in America's backyard.
The meeting is expected to coincide with joint naval exercises off Venezuela's coast, led by the Russian nuclear-powered warship, Peter the Great, and comes as the two powers announce that Russia will help Venezuela build a nuclear reactor.
Both nations insist their focus is economic, but geopolitics are also at play.
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My Comment: Both countries are trying to form an alliance that incorporates their mutual interests. i.e. high oil prices, and to do everything to destabilize American relationships with other countries in the region. Both attempts are going to fail. Oil prices are going to go down for the long term, and both countries do not have the military resources to impress any one in the region .... if anything it will antagonize Venezuela's neighbors, with Brazil and Colombia being the two major countries in question.