“Questions that the strengthening of the defensive capacity of small states may be a threat to someone, I think, are inaccurate,” [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin said in Caracas. “If the United States doesn’t want to supply weapons to other countries, such as Venezuela, it’s good for us. Let them go on with this. ‘Nature abhors a vacuum’ is what we say in Russia.” We’re in the money, says the Russian factories assembling Kalashnikovs. The Moscow Times reports that Venezuela is spending $5 billion on Russian arms, including lots and lots and lots of Kalashnikovs. And mortgaging its future [note from the U.S.: been there done that].
