Colombia warns of looming cold war in South America

mariacvetanoski says on Oct 7, 2008, 11:15:

Speaking ahead of his official visit to Russia, the Colombian defence chief Juan Manuel Santos said: “Russia, with its 16,000 nuclear bombs, has a great desire to be a key player in the world. But its presence in the region [South America] will promote a return to the Cold War.”

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 7, 2008, 11:27:

connections with russia and colombia

http://www.shaps.hawaii.edu/drugs/dea02004/dea02004.html

ROC groups have found a niche as transporters of cocaine from South America to Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States. Almost all of the cocaine smuggled by ROC groups is destined for Western Europe; these groups sometimes transit Russia en route to Europe. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Moscow Country Office has conducted or cooperated with investigations of metric-ton quantities of cocaine being smuggled to Russia and ultimately destined for Europe. A continuing decline in the availability of cocaine in Russia is due both to its relative high cost (between US$120 and US$150 per gram), compared to other drugs in the country, and the near collapse of the Russian economy in August 1998.

Russian cocaine traffickers have increasingly become close associates of Colombian cocaine trafficking organizations in South America. Colombian traffickers sell multikilogram and multihundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine to ROC groups, who assume the risk of transporting the drug on maritime vessels to Europe. ROC groups and Colombian traffickers also coordinate the transportation of kilogram-quantities of cocaine on commercial flights from South America through Russia to Western Europe. Some cocaine from South America transits the United States en route to Russia. For example, on May 8, 2000, U.S. Customs Service Inspectors at the Miami International Airport seized approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine from a package sent from Medellin, Colombia. The cocaine was destined for Moscow.

A typical method Russian traffickers use to transport cocaine is by secreting it in automobiles or machine tools. The cocaine is then smuggled from South America through the United States to Russia and Europe. For example, a Russian group in California smuggled 26 kilograms of cocaine in a car that was shipped to Moscow through Belgium. In another instance, 64.5 kilograms of cocaine were smuggled inside a machine tool that traveled from South America through Miami, Florida to Moscow. Russian citizens smuggle an average of from 50 to 60 kilograms of cocaine per shipment through Russia to Europe.

The largest seizure of cocaine in Russia, to date, took place in February 1993, when authorities seized approximately 1 metric ton of cocaine near the Russia–Finland border. The cocaine, concealed in a shipment of canned meat and potatoes, was packed within the canned goods. The shipment, which originated in Colombia, was transported in Finland to the Russian border by truck. Intelligence indicated that the cocaine was destined for Western Europe. In this venture, Colombian, Georgian, and Israeli traffickers combined their resources into one large drug shipment.

In August 1997, Russian authorities seized 200 kilograms

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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spy1983 says on Oct 7, 2008, 11:41:

Well it is out fault. Why are we messing with Georgia in Russia's backyard? I don't blame them one bit.

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rocinante says on Oct 7, 2008, 11:44:

I guess it's time for the US to cut Plan Colombia and completely step out of the region. Oh wait I forgot - the war on drugs. Those three crop dusters will have to stay grounded. LOL!

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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mariacvetanoski says on Oct 7, 2008, 11:59:

a kilo of cocaine in Moscow costs three times more than in New York City.

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

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rocinante says on Oct 7, 2008, 12:00:

CANCEL MY TRIP TO MOSCOW NOW!

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Oct 7, 2008, 12:01:

aawwwwww Roci, they will miss you (((

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Oct 7, 2008, 12:03:

I don't like Chavez with those weapons, it's like giving a child a box of matches argggg

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tomtom33 says on Oct 7, 2008, 12:05:

Nor do I. But I am hopeful that his generals are smart enough to restrain Tio Hugo.

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rocinante says on Oct 7, 2008, 12:09:

Some food for thought. Don't hang me....

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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LDW says on Oct 7, 2008, 13:12:

Maria.....quote......"a kilo of cocaine in Moscow costs three times more than in New York City".

(1) Apparently Moscow is now the world's most expensive city, so such a discrepancy should not be a surprise.

(2) If that stuff is selling so well there, I am sure that Colombian producers and distributors will be redoubling their efforts to meet the demand. Many wealthy Russians are awash in cash from high-priced gold and oil. Evidently, like users over here, they cannot find more useful ways to entertain themselves. What a surprise!!

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LDW says on Oct 7, 2008, 13:36:

re: Chomsky......

Who is really dependent on whom? 60% of Hugo's oil exports go to the United States, which amount to about 11% of American oil exports.

Quote.....

http://www.cfr.org/publication/12089/#7

"Though Venezuela has repeatedly threatened to cut off its oil exports to the United States, analysts say the two countries are mutually dependent. Venezuela supplies about 1.5 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the U.S. market every day, according to the EIA. Venezuelan oil comprises about 11 percent of U.S. crude oil imports, which amounts to 60 percent of Venezuela’s total exports. PDVSA also wholly owns five refineries in the United States and partly owns four refineries, either through partnerships with U.S. companies or through PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiary, CITGO. A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (PDF) says Venezuela’s exports of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the United States have been relatively stable with the exception of the strike period."

According to this link, The top exporter of oil to the United States is Canada. Sodomy Arabia is second.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company...

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rocinante says on Oct 7, 2008, 13:54:

Thanks for the info but no one is saying who is more dependent on whom or that Venezuela wants to cut all economic ties with the US.

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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nine inch nails says on Oct 7, 2008, 14:38:

No is good. Som day gonna be a big war with those nukes. They think it will start will some radical (i.e Hugo or Ahmadinajad, Al Queada or N. Korea) going psycho. I hope the end days aren't near. Most of you do believe in the Lord don't you? PLease.

I love that sweet pretty house music, house music....

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dwmte7 says on Oct 7, 2008, 14:48:

9 inch....like the billboard on sunset blvd in hollywood said, "....the first blast is the last."

dwmte

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Bill Turley says on Oct 8, 2008, 12:36:

I really can't believe that Chavez has not been more restricted by now. Who know what will happen but liike 9 in said God Help Us All

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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LDW says on Oct 8, 2008, 12:47:

Roci...unless I misunderstood Chomsky....he is more or less saying that Chavez is holding the US by the short and curlies.

Of course, Chomsky's bias is no secret.

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rocinante says on Oct 8, 2008, 14:38:

You slightly misunderstood Chomsky. He is saying Chavez is not playing ball and the US subversion and the US media is making him out to look like a fool and causing hype that just is not necessary. Not saying that Chavez has the US by the short and curlies. Both need each other.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Hugo poses no threat to anyone but himself.

He who is not biased is probably dead.

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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gatogris says on Oct 8, 2008, 17:44:

I wonder where the next dirty war will be? Could the ELN be the Sandinistas of the 21st century? Maybe the CIA can get back in on drug-running, like in the good ol days, and both sides can start pouring money into insurgencies, the gringos in Venezuela and Bolivia, and the Russkies in Colombia and Peru. That would really be a blast. We can bring back Otto Reich to run the US' black ops and try to slip poison itching powder in Raul Castro's undies.

I can see it now, nuns in mass graves, the assassination of Bishops, the re-opening of the Torture 101: Mental and Physical Suffering class at the School of the Americas and the return of, god love 'em, populist puppet military dictatorships throughout the region.

These economic problems are too complicated. Let's just get into a street fight all over again.

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rocinante says on Oct 8, 2008, 20:27:

There's a video game for that.

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Not that the US president actually runs the US." Feb 5, 2008

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lampltr says on Oct 9, 2008, 10:03:

Ahmadinajad posses no threat to anyone...he basically has no say in his country and does not run things...He is like a loud mouth US Congressman who has gone in the wrong direction....
I agree with most, is ok for one country to do business next door to the other but not for the other to complete the same in another continent, give me a break!!
Yes there is a major balance change in Latin America but who's the blame with certain policies in place, we all know one for a fact and the U.K. is another so....

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sanandressi says on Oct 9, 2008, 12:37:

Chavez was elected in Venezuela on a platform to help Venezuela's poor and not to become the next Castro socialist leader of Latinn America.

Chavez says Washington was behind the 2002 coup. Maybe so, but explain why Venezuela needs billions in arms from either the US or Russia? He was elected to help his poor correct?

Like too many despots and demagogues, Chavez has turned into a power hungry little dictator.

FARC? Same way. A nice little socialist group that turns itself into a bunch of armed thugs.

"FDR in 1929 as president went on televison..." Joe Biden DEMOCRAT VP candidate who just keeps on giving! FDR elected 1932 and television appeared in the 1950''s LOL

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dwmte7 says on Oct 10, 2008, 05:02:

sanandressi....it appears to me that all these persons who rose to power out of poverty turn out the same. power corrupts. look at de lula; castro; chavez; che; amin; they enter on platforms really directed to 'up-level' the lot of the poor and end up as attacks on the landed and rich...deserved or not. then, the poor become stepping stools to totalitarian rule. it may not be true in all cases...although i cant think of an exception off the top of my head...but in the majority of cases it is true.

dwmte

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Dolfi says on Oct 13, 2008, 01:24:

Yeah, better allow only rich people to govern, like in the USA.

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Dolfi says on Oct 13, 2008, 01:24:

Yeah, better allow only rich people to govern, like in the USA.

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papiChulo says on Oct 13, 2008, 02:01:

WTF... I got a boat that sucks 10gph (gallons per hour) and I want it in Cartagena Colombia... go Tio Chavez!!! but I'm egoenctric that way.

some of the rudest people I know don't smoke

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