Chavez bars entry to Walesa

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has said that Polish Solidarity union leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa will be denied entry to Venezuela if he attempts to lend his support to opposition groups. Via VHeadline.com:

Calling Walesa an "Idol with feet made of mud," President Chavez went on national television to admonish the Foreign Minister:  "Nicolas, beware! Evaluate and give me recommendations on how to react!" The text of the President's speech was also made available in a transcript of the broadcast circulated by the Venezuelan Ministry of Communication & Information (Minci), which is generally seen as the government's mouthpiece.

• According to the Minci text Chavez said "We are obliged to demand respect for Venezuela's dignity. He (Walesa) can say whatever he wants abroad, but NOT in here in Venezuela."  Chavez also claimed that the former Polish President is part of an international "plot that aims to generate a violent path" to overthrow his revolutionary government.

Allusions to the past

1) The two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers, which Russian media sources say were intercepted twice by NATO aircraft over Iceland and the Norwegian Sea on their way westward, landed at Venezuela's El Libertador air base on the eve of the significant date of September 11.

Their presence is intended as a "warning" to the U.S.

President Hugo Chavez said yesterday: "It's a warning. Russia is with us. ... We are strategic allies. It is a message to the empire."

2) "For those with a sense of history, a factor behind the 1962 Cuban missile crisis was Washington’s deployment of Atlas IRBMs in Italy and Turkey, which, in the wake of the confrontation, Washington quietly agreed to remove, as the development of ballistic missile submarines, the final component of Washington’s nuclear triad, obviated the need for forward basing of nuclear missiles off Russia’s southern shore. Forty years later, Turkey, sea power, and the Caribbean as subplots in rising U.S.-Russian tensions seem as interconnected as ever." (John C. K. Daly)

Venezuela exercises to include land-based Russian anti-submarine aircraft

An interfax report dated September 8 says that during the joint Russia-Venezuela naval exercises to be held in the Caribbean in November, Russia plans to temporarily deploy anti-submarine aircraft at an air base on Venezuelan territory.

The warships scheduled to take part in the exercises include the "Pyotr Velikii" heavy atomic missile cruiser and the "Admiral Chabanenko" anti-submarine ship, according to the report which cites information given by Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.

Cheney on Russia, Georgia and Israel; Venezuela-Russia exercises

At the Ambrosetti Forum being held at Villa d'Este, Cernobbio, Italy, US vice president Dick Cheney has made a statement on the current situation in Georgia, Central Asia and the Middle East. Excerpt:

In the space of the last 30 days, Russia has violated the sovereignty of a democracy; made and then breached a solemn agreement, in a direct affront to the European Union; severely damaged its credibility and global standing; and undermined its own relations with the United States and other countries.

This chain of aggressive moves and diplomatic reversals has only intensified the concern that many have about Russia's larger objectives. For brutality against a neighbor is simply the latest in a succession of troublesome and unhelpful actions by the Russian government.

Haaretz reports that

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met with [Israel's] President Shimon Peres on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti forum on the edge of Italy's Lake Como on Saturday, telling the Israeli leader that Russia is selling arms to Damascus and Iran with the clear knowledge that they are being channeled to Hezbollah and terror groups in Iraq.

The American vice president later reiterated these remarks in his address at the economic conference, saying that "Russian arms dealing in the Middle East has endangered the prospects for peace and freedom in the region." He added that the Russian leaders view democracy as a direct threat to their regime. Russia crossed a clear line when it invaded Georgia and attacked democracy and the rights of innocent civilians, Cheney said.

Meanwhile, The BBC reports a senior Venezuelan naval officer as saying that four Russian ships will take part in joint naval exercises, which will also involve Venezuelan aircraft and submarines, to be held in Venezuelan territorial waters (i.e. the Caribbean) in November. This can perhaps be seen as Russia's response, flagged by Putin on September 2, to NATO's current presence in the Black Sea.