Jump to content

Venezuela Getting Hotter


sunday

Recommended Posts

 

 

 

Learn to differentiate between Latin American countries, they are not a lump.

 

Them black Chileans... :D

 

Apologies to Toy and to you--Toy's comments RE: Latin America being Mexico/Peru ---I DID in fact think that way, even after I spent 20++ years watching Univision and knowing my wife's friends.

I sort of 'assumed/felt' that the 'caste system' is the 15 century European Social Order that was grafted and evolved in 'Ibero America'.

 

 

No need to apologise to me, I found to my pain that each country in LATAM has its own personality although all of them tick more or less to the same tune as ourselves in Spain, in terms of the top 2% vs the rest, but their individual traditions are quite different so a Chilean will tick to different things than an Argentinian, much like French and Germans are different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 

 

 

 

Learn to differentiate between Latin American countries, they are not a lump.

 

Them black Chileans... :D

 

Apologies to Toy and to you--Toy's comments RE: Latin America being Mexico/Peru ---I DID in fact think that way, even after I spent 20++ years watching Univision and knowing my wife's friends.

I sort of 'assumed/felt' that the 'caste system' is the 15 century European Social Order that was grafted and evolved in 'Ibero America'.

 

 

No need to apologise to me, I found to my pain that each country in LATAM has its own personality although all of them tick more or less to the same tune as ourselves in Spain, in terms of the top 2% vs the rest, but their individual traditions are quite different so a Chilean will tick to different things than an Argentinian, much like French and Germans are different.

 

Not to mention, like Germany & France there are historic rivalries with each other like Chile and Argentina;

BUT LATAM--I have to remember that;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wagner Group elements were reportedly the first to deploy to Venezuela in January. With the Russian KIA and WIA suffered in Syria from U.S. airstrikes in mind, deterring the U.S. military option may not be the only contingencies the Russians there are planning for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one is fighting a war with a couple hundred troops. I assume this element is for local security. There's no way the US would bomb Venezuela and there's nothing Vez or Russia could possibly do to stop it if it did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The security mission makes the most sense, not just as bodyguards, but as a means for enforcement of an understanding that I suspect has been reached between Moscow and Washington regarding mutually assured assassination.

 

I would now add the political tripwire mission to the list of potential roles for Russian boots on the ground in Venezuela based on the optics of the Russian flag and the flag-rank officer the most recent arrivals appear to have brought with them.

 

The Wagner group operating anywhere there may be a chance of contact with U.S. troops should set off warning flags after their last encounter in Syria.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PRC article about the delivery.

 

 

CARACAS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government received on Friday medical aid from China.

The shipment is part of the "deep friendship" and bilateral cooperation between the two countries, China's Ambassador to Venezuela Li Baorong said on Friday at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia in the state of Vargas.

This is the "assistance which consists of medicines and medical supplies, and which fully reflects the deep friendship of the Chinese people to the Venezuelan people," said the diplomat, accompanied by Venezuelan Industries and National Production Minister Tareck El Aissami.

Li said that Venezuela and China "are sincere friends of mutual trust and good cooperation partners of shared gain."

The political mutual trust between China and Venezuela has continued to deepen and the heads of state of the two countries have reached important consensus on leading the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level, said Li.

Healthcare remains an important component of bilateral ties, the diplomat said.

In September 2018, Chinese naval hospital ship "Peace Ark" arrived in Venezuela for the first time and provided free, quality medical services to Venezuelans, Li said.

As a comprehensive strategic partner and friendly country to Venezuela, China believes that the Venezuelan people have the ability to achieve peace and stable development and China will continue to play a constructive role and provide support and assistance to Venezuela within its capacity.

Aissami expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for providing medical assistance to the Venezuelan people.

The Venezuelan side will further strengthen pragmatic cooperation with China in various fields and actively implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, said Aissami.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-03/30/c_137936244.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their is no business like showbusiness. China and Russia have to know that the regime has run out of money. Their's and other people's but of course one can't have it look like you just abandoned a doomed ally. Plus, the more messy the fall of the regime, the better for them because the USA will be effected. China and Russia not so much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, Six is back in Germany. After his arrival on Monday, he held a press conference yesterday at which he attacked not so much the Venezoelan rather than the German government for supposedly trying to "bury" and let him perish in that prison, while thanking the AfD and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov who supposedly effected his release in a talk with his Venezoelan colleague at a UN conference in Vienna the day before. So the course of the German Right continues to be exploiting Venezuela for domestic consumption without offending their Russian backers. ;)

Among their charges are that unlike in the case of Denis Yücel in Turkey, the Foreign Office didn't demand Six' release "immediately", and the former was visited in prison by the German consul general "soon". Of course the FO released a timeline showing that Six was first visited by the German ambassador seven weeks after his arrest, after the same time diplomatic access to Yücel was gained. Six now claims that visit happened on the initiative of Venezoelan intelligence, and has vowed to expose those who had an interest in letting him rot there. So continued entertainment in the case seems guaranteed.

 

Just to follow that little side story further. It doesn't get much coverage in local media, except by the usual suspects where Six has been making the rounds reiterating his accusations that the German government did nothing for him, didn't even give him food for the return to Germany, that he's gonna sue to bring out the truth - his employer of the "Junge Freiheit", RT Deutsch, Sputnik, the "Epoch Times", etc. This week, the AfD brought the issue up in the Bundestag; the Russian foreign ministry has been acting offended that the German government didn't thank them for allegedly effecting Six' release.

 

Of course his Venezoelan lawyer (employment of whom the government said the German embassy facilitated, while the Six family charged they just gave them a list of lawyers) said in an interview with an Argentinian newspaper said that Six actually didn't want to leave the country immediately after being freed, rather see some local friends first, and they had a job talking him into getting replacement ID from the embassy and taking the next possible flight (I'm relying on German media translation from the Spanish original here, but wouldn't be surprised given the guy's apparent happy-go-lucky character).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Russian deployment to VZ debated on our local TV

 

There has been an S300 missile system sat on the Nellis electronic warfare range for the past 20 years. Its no more effective at this point than a Sam 2.

 

First, S300 (as well as S400 and all other SAM systems) are not some kind of magic shield but just weapons with limited ability. Second, "an S300 missile system that sat on the Nellis electronic warfare range for the past 20 years" is museum peace now compared to new versions (if not export model from the beginning) -and nobody (including Russians) know how effective are latest Russian SAMs in combat situation against The Only Superpower AF. If Superpower want to test it - well, it is up to them. As we know from Yugoslavia experience, even old systems with dedicated and well trained (or just lucky) crews could be effective even against latest warplanes. S-300 systems presence in Syria already made "one drone, one bomb" attack very unlikely to be successful, and it is significant achievement. Surely US could reach its goals by other means (see one of power grids attacks when key electric transformer was destroyed by anti material rifle shot) but they are more risky and costly.

Meanwhile, Washington will soon decide on measures against Moscow in connection with Venezuela

World -According to Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, "State Secretary will review them and Russian will pay the price for this,"

http://tass.com/world/1051394

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Six has one or two big points anyway.

 

The media were pretty silent about his case. The Germans Reporter's Association is on record for not supporting him because of his political affiliation and Sec State Maas didn't call for his release, just for a fair investigation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

None of which support "the government did nothing for me", and haven't been brought up by Six but mostly by those seizing on his case while he was in prison, in comparison with Denis Yücel's captivity in Turkey. Who were frequently the types who said Yücel should be left to rot back then because they considered past pieces of his anti-German, while Yücel came out and called for Six to be freed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

None of which support "the government did nothing for me"

 

Of course they did something for him. As little as they could get away with.

 

And the Yücel case works just as well the other way round. The #freeDeniz crowed couldn't care less in this case. But that the world we live in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

There has been an S300 missile system sat on the Nellis electronic warfare range for the past 20 years. Its no more effective at this point than a Sam 2.

 

Arrogance compared only to a NATO one in 1999.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

...

There has been an S300 missile system sat on the Nellis electronic warfare range for the past 20 years. Its no more effective at this point than a Sam 2.

 

Arrogance compared only to a NATO one in 1999.

 

 

How many S300 TELs and missiles do you suppose are in theater?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Knowing what I have seen of the Venezuelan army and how Venezuelan in general maintain things and throwing in a tropical climate, the real question is how many still function?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no need to throw dicks around concerning a single flavor of SAM: it is highly unlikely that the Venezuelans could operate them in a capable fashion, in the even far more unlikely event that the the US decided to make some kind of overt move that would require air defense. And while I think Stuart's take is a little flippant, it is a realistic expectation of Vez operated S300s regardless of vintage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

...

There has been an S300 missile system sat on the Nellis electronic warfare range for the past 20 years. Its no more effective at this point than a Sam 2.

 

Arrogance compared only to a NATO one in 1999.

 

 

Well there isnt much you can do if some damn fool is going to fly the same flight route night after night is there? I assume the USAF has subsequently learned that lesson at Green and Red Flag's if nothing else.

 

Its not arrogance. The competence of the Venezuelan armed forces was laid bare for all to see in the drone attack, and whilst their air defence forces might be rather more competent, I see no evidence that suggests it.

Edited by Stuart Galbraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...