Chavez proposes anti-US unity with Syria

Visiting Damascus where he received a "hero's welcome," Hugo Chavez proposed unity against the United States with Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

"We have the same political vision and we will resist together the American imperialist aggression," Chavez said, according to AP.

An orchestrated welcome of Chavez included thousands of Syrians lining the streets waving Venezuelan flags.

Satirical 'Team JCA' gear available online

Someone has created satirical "Team JCA" buttons, T-shirts and other merchandise that makes fun of EADS CASA and its backers on the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA).

We think it's pretty funny. It's reminiscent of satirical art we've pulled from other websites. The set of four coasters, like the one pictured, is a must for anyone interested in Venezuela and US national security. The stuff is available online at: Team JCA Store. For fun we'll keep a link permanently in our right-hand column.

Slim chances seen for EADS CASA-Chavez deal

A Spanish report says that Madrid's plan to sell EADS CASA military aircraft to Venezuela has a slim chance of materializing, thanks to the US embargo of American-made parts in the CN-235 and C-295 aircraft.

Citing Spanish sources familiar with the deal, Europa Press reports in Spanish that the contract's process is proceeding "very badly" and has "few possibilities of coming to fruition."

Meanwhile in Washington, momentum continues to punish EADS CASA for trying to arm Chavez over US objections. EADS CASA lobbyists are pushing for the the Pentagon and Congress to buy the C-295 as the new Army-Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA).

National security hawks in the nation's capital are moving ahead to make an example of EADS CASA by banning it from consideration for the multibillion-dollar JCA deal.

Kuwait: 'Chavez pledges oil to support China's rise'

Visiting Beijing, Chavez proclaims that he wants to help the People's Republic of China become a great power to counter the United States.

"We need a China which grows more important and stronger by the day, because China is demonstrating to the world that you don't have to be an empire to be a great country," Chavez said in a report in the Kuwait Times.

Chavez told reporters he hopes to help the PRC build a petrochemical base in Venezuela.

"Deals to provide the oil include one with China National Petroleum Corp for the mature Zumano field which produces 50,000 bpd, one with Sinopec for a second field that can pump 20,000 barrels per day and a block in the Orinoco heavy oil belt," according to the Kuwait Times.


Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez underscored Chavez's words, saying that nearly half of Venezuela's new tanker fleet will be built in the PRC: "By 2012 we should have a fleet of 40 new tankers, 18 of which will come from China."

Venezuela illegally seizes US diplomatic bags

In a breach of protocol and international law, Venezuelan authorities have seized official US diplomatic bags from four American Embassy vehicles in Caracas.

The US Embassy protested the action, saying that American authorities followed all legal procedures in unloading the diplomatic cargo from US military aircraft. Regime officials accuse the US of smuggling weapons. The AP report about the incident appears in the China Post.

The Chavez regime accuses the US of smuggling "contraband."

Sweden's Saab will honor US military embargo

Sweden's Saab defense group Saab said August 4 that it would honor the US military embargo on the Bolivarian regime in Venezuela.

The move contrasts with the French-German-Spanish EADS CASA group, which is defying the embargo and trying to circumvent US nonproliferation laws, even as it lobbies the US Congress for a multibillion-dollar contract.

"The United States has imposed an arms embargo that affects products with American components and we have said that we intend to comply with it," Saab spokesman Peter Larsson says in a Spanish-language Reuters report.

The Saab products affected by the embargo include the Carl Gustaf missile-launcher and the Robot 70 antiaircraft system, Larsson said.

Venezuela to build missile-based air defense system

As it puts in place South America's largest offensive air force fleet, the Bolivarian regime announces its intent to build a missile-based anti-aircraft system.

"We are going to install in Venezuela a system of aerial defense ... [with] equipment that detects a target from 200 kilometers [124 miles)] away and fires heat-guided missiles," Chavez announced in a speech, Reuters reports. "We're going to shield Venezuela."

Chavez contradicted his defense minister, Raul Beduel, who had denied press reports in Russia that the regime was seeking such weapons. The Venezuelan leader inspected an air defense system while visiting Belarus.

Chavez aircraft supplier turns to Bolivia

The controversial European supplier of military aircraft to the Chavez regime now has a new customer: The Venezuelan-backed revolutionary government of Evo Morales in Bolivia.

EADS CASA's latest Latin American customer is the militantly anti-US government led by the democratically elected former chief of the coca growers' union - a linchpin in international organized crime's cocaine trafficking industry. Morales has spurned the US and allied himself with Caracas and state sponsors of terrorism.

"The Ministry of National Defense, the Bolivian Air Force and the Army, signed an agreement with the Spanish 'EADS CASA' enterprise, for the acquisition of three CASA C-212 S-100 aircraft, two for the Bolivian Air Force and one for the Army," RedBolivia.com reports.

The small military cargo planes, which were formerly owned by the Spanish army, are excellent for Bolivia's many short and unpaved airstrips. They can be reconfigured to haul cargo, serve as medevac craft, or hold up to 21 paratroopers. The C-212 can also be converted into a gunship.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chaves has said he plans to distribute Kalashnikov assault rifles throughout Bolivia to prop up the Morales government.

Bolivian President Morales, pictured with Chavez and Fidel Castro, is considered the most extremist South American leader after Chavez.

Is Spain distancing itself from EADS CASA deal?

Spain's Socialist Workers Party government, which brokered the $600 million EADS CASA deal with Venezuela, looks as if it's distancing itself from the project.

With EADS CASA unable to find adequate replacement parts for all 58 US-made components, it finds itself in the embarrassing situation of not being able to deliver for the Hugo Chavez regime - its biggest foreign client - while it tries to compete for the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) contract.

Un-named Spanish officials responded to questions from the EFE news agency about the statement of retired Venezuelan General Alberto Muller that the deal was falling through.

"Sources in the Spanish government told EFE that they don't have any confirmation of Muller's declarations relative to the cancelation of the purchase, and underlined that the operation is a question that affects a private business.

Spanish Foreign Ministry source told EFE that the government "treats the operation as 'purely commercial' between the EADS CASA company and Venezuelan authorities."

If true, that means that EADS CASA lobbyists in Washington were lying when they said the Venezuela deal was beyond the company's control and was the responsibility of CASA, the formerly state-owned Spanish aircraft manufacturer that was privatized when it was incorporated into EADS.

Bush: Regime is a threat to democracy

President George W. Bush, in response to a reporter's question, says that the Venezuelan regime is not a military threat to the United States, but that it is a threat to peaceful and civil government.

Concerning the Venezuelan dictator, Bush tells Fox News, "I view him as a threat of undermining democracy."

Chavez: "Viva Fidel Castro!"

From Vietnam, where he is working to build an anti-US alliance, Hugo Chavez comments on the grave medical condition of the dictator of Cuba, pronouncing, "Viva Fidel Castro!"

Reuters reports from Hanoi: "'With my heart, I wish that President Fidel Castro will quickly recover to always stay with us,' Chavez said at a meeting of Vietnamese businesses during an official visit to Hanoi, which also maintains close ties with Havana.

"He then raised his fist and shouted: 'Long live Fidel Castro!'"