So Much For Russia/Trump Collusion, eh?
I’ve always known that Vlad Putin was a butthead, but he’s been getting frisky for a while. His real interest lies in Venezuela’s oil. We all know that, and it is despite his having the largest shale oil reserves on the planet. But he doesn’t know how to do what we know how to do (frack it!) so he’s going with the least effort here.
But do you remember the Monroe Doctrine? On Dec. 2, 1823. President James Monroe proclaimed in his annual message to Congress a new foreign policy initiative. In effect, he told the European powers that the Western Hemisphere would no longer be open to them for colonization. That was to include Russia, long before it became a public menace. We did, after all, buy Seward’s Folly from the Russians for $7.2 million in 1867, and they’ve been peeved at us ever since.
If you’ve paid any attention to the news in spite of the various disruptions to everything, you’ll remember that Vlad Putin decided a while back to “adopt” Venezuela.
From the article: In a rare interview, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Zaemskiy rejected an assertion this week by U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton that the 1823 Monroe Doctrine is “alive and well.”
The policy, originally aimed at opposing any European meddling in the hemisphere, was used to justify U.S. military interventions in countries including Cuba, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Grenada, but had been left for dead by recent U.S. administrations trying to turn the page on a dark past.
“It’s hard to believe that the U.S. administration have invented a time machine that not only allows them to turn back the clock but also the direction of the universe,” the 66-year-old diplomat told The Associated Press this week.
Russia is a major investor in Venezuela’s oil industry, but those interests have been jeopardized since the Trump administration in January imposed sanctions on state-run oil giant PDVSA and even went after a Moscow-based bank for facilitating its transactions. At the same time PDVSA last month moved its European headquarters to Moscow from Lisbon, Gazprombank said it was pulling out of a joint venture with the company, Russian state media reported.
“The core value of Russia’s association with Chavismo is a challenge to U.S. prerogatives in its supposed backyard,” said Ivan Briscoe, the head in Latin American for the Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. “That said, Russian diplomacy is nothing if not realistic. They know Venezuela is plunging into an economic abyss with tragic humanitarian consequences. When the moment comes and tensions reach a height, they are likely to help negotiate a settlement, but will aim to exact the highest price they can.”
The article is quite long, but well worth the time it takes you to read it, so get some snacks and beverages to assist you. This should be interesting.
Category: Cold War, Foreign Policy, Russia
The Russians sent some ships to the Caribbean a few years back. I read the news about when they went underway from Russian ports, and then read the news about when they arrived in the Caribbean. The time it took for them to transit made them comparable to the slower ships in the US Navy’s fleet. They don’t want to tangle with us here. Whatever military movements they do would be symbolic.
That and they have what, ONE Aircraft Carrier, an Oil-fired klunker that is shadowed by tugboats in case of a breakdown?
I had to get up Oily in the morning to read about the shale oil reserves.
The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov doesn’t need bunker fuel. That thing runs on used tires.
Yeah, and it has tugboats accompanying it in case of a breakdown, that Carrier smokes like an old Alco diesel locomotive!
Nah – she was involved in a dry dock accident last year. Putin is probably gonna have to have the floundering piece of shit scrapped.
https://www.businessinsider.com/step-aboard-the-admiral-kuznetsov-russias-only-aircraft-carrier-2018-5
Another way to jerk our chain and make us spend more money. We played in their backyard/pond for decades, they’re trying to play in ours.
Good luck with that, Ivan. The real long term enemy of ours is China. YMMV
Oh, it goes beyond that, 5th/77th. Russia has ZERO industry, unlike China which leaped at the commercial world of capitalism like a dog after a steak.
The ONLY thing Russia has going for it is its oil & gas reserves, the ability to intimidate leaders of countries like Venezuela into “sharing” theirs with Russia, and the spy/espionage business.
China will succeed where Russia fails.
I’m guessing that even with an oil deal with Venezuela, if Maduro is finally ousted, Russia will have nothing and Guaido might ask the USA to help remove the Russians as politely as we can.
I kind of expect Russia to fail where China has succeeded, and Putin probably has that in mind, too, which may be what’s behind his confab with Maduro.
But without that, Russia has no industry and no outside revenue that can compare to China’s thriving economy. They don’t even have agricultural exports like we do. That’s the reason I’m watching it closely.