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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (115965)	9/26/2008 10:18:26 AM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

meanwhile Hugo does a beat down on Bush.... Venezuela signs Chinese oil deal By Warren Bull BBC Americas analyst President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has signed a series of energy co-operation deals with China. He said oil exports from Venezuela to China could rise threefold by 2012, to one million barrels a day. Venezuela, one of the world's largest oil producers, is seeking new markets to reduce its dependency on exports to the United States. Mr Chavez has now continued to Russia, for his third visit to Moscow within three months. Energy co-operation After holding talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, the Venezuelan president told journalists in Beijing that China was a super-giant, which needed more energy, and that Venezuela was committed to help provide it. "While the world enters an energy crisis, we are investing," said Mr Chavez. Apart from oil exports to China, other plans include joint projects to build three oil refineries in the country capable of processing Venezuela's heavy crude oil. As in Latin America, Mr Chavez is seeking to use his vast oil reserves to forge alliances away from Washington's influence. Now he begins a visit to Russia, where, as with Beijing, energy co-operation is central to Venezuela's relationship. But so too is military firepower. In the past few years Hugo Chavez has signed arms contracts with Russia worth more than $4bn, and only last week a Russian Navy squadron left for Venezuela, where the two countries are scheduled to hold joint exercises in the coming weeks. The US government says it is not concerned by the developments, but equally it cannot be happy about the encroachment by Russia, or China, into a region Washington has long considered its backyard. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk Published: 2008/09/25 03:09:52 GMT © BBC MMVIII

To: longnshort who wrote (115965)	9/26/2008 10:20:59 AM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 132070

and Russia too? Venezuela ink energy pacts 26 Sep 2008, 1850 hrs IST,AFP ORENBURG: Russia has vowed to bolster ties with Venezuela as the leaders of the two states met amid what the Kremlin described as efforts to forge a "solid counterweight" to the United States. "Today we will sign a series of agreements to strengthen our cooperation," President Dmitry Medvedev said as he greeted his fiercely anti-US Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez. Medvedev said he expected to sign agreements on cooperation "in the economic and military spheres" but two deals inked at a public ceremony pledged to boost energy ties between the two oil-rich US rivals. Medvedev spoke after Chavez, making his third visit to Russia since June 2007, met Prime Minister Vladimir Putin outside Moscow late on Thursday. Putin offered Russian help for developing nuclear power in Venezuela. Chavez's visit came after Russian-US tensions soared in the wake of last month's conflict between Russia and Georgia, a US ally located in a vital energy transport area. Speaking through a translator, Chavez thanked his "friend" Medvedev and reiterated his backing for Russia's recent actions in Georgia. "I would like to use this occasion to offer our full, modest but completely solid support for Russia's actions" in the Caucasus, said Chavez, adding: "We understand how the people of South Ossetia were attacked" by Georgia. Earlier this month, Russia dispatched a pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela followed by a naval flotilla led by the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Peter the Great, one of the largest warships of its kind. The Russian warships were to take part in joint manoeuvres with the Venezuelan navy in a part of the world the United States has traditionally regarded as its backyard. "Soon, at the start of November, we will begin quite large military manoeuvres," Medvedev said. "All of this shows the strategic nature of our relations." The United States has said it will be watching the exercises very closely. "Today like never before all that you said on the multi-polar world becomes reality. Let us not lose time," Chavez told Putin. "The world is fast developing geopolitically." Prior to Chavez's arrival in Russia, the Kremlin announced Moscow had agreed to grant Venezuela a one-billion-dollar (682-million-euro) loan to buy Russian arms. Venezuela has signed deals for 4.4 billion dollars' worth of Russian arms since 2005, including fighter jets, tanks and assault rifles. After Friday's meeting the heads of Russian gas giant Gazprom and Venezuelan energy firm PDVSA signed an agreement that Chavez said paved the way for the formation of "a oil and gas consortium between PDVSA and Gazprom." Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and his Venezuelan counterpart Rafael Ramirez then signed an agreement "to develop a special additional inter government agreement in the energy sphere." Venezuela is the world's ninth biggest producer of oil and is a major supplier to the United States, while Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter and controls a quarter of global natural gas reserves. Chavez arrived in Russia from China and was to continue on to France as part of a world tour ahead of local elections in Venezuela in November