From Volume 5, Issue Number 31 of EIR Online, Published Aug. 1, 2006
Russia and the CIS News Digest

Chavez Signs Arms, Energy Deals in Moscow

Moscow rolled out the red carpet for a July 27 summit between President Vladimir Putin and visiting President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. A release on the Kremlin website said that contracts signed for Russian arms sales to Venezuela exceed $3 billion in value. In addition, Chavez and his delegation had talks with executives of Lukoil, Russia's largest oil company, and the state-owned natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, concerning Russian participation in joint infrastructure and energy projects. Both of those companies are already active in Venezuela. In remarks today after his talks with Putin, Chavez especially welcomed Russian support for the projected 8,000-km gas pipeline, under Mercosur auspices, from Venezuela to the south of Argentina. President Putin also welcomed the scope of the arms sales and other agreements, while stating that such cooperation is not directed against any third party.

Before coming to Moscow, Chavez met with representatives of the energy companies, in Volgograd. He also toured Russian defense plants in the Volga region. The visit to Russia was preceded by Chavez's talks in Minsk with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka, at the conclusion of which, the two Presidents proclaimed a strategic partnership.

Elements of LaRouche Analysis Publicized in Russia

The Russian weekly Zavtra, which has ties to various intelligence and military circles, came out July 26 with a featured article titled, "The U.S. at a Crossroads," based on a recent dialogue between LaRouche representative Jonathan Tennenbaum and the author, a Russian commentator who writes under the name "Maxim Kalashnikov." Leading with reference to LaRouche's forecast for an economic collapse this autumn, which was widely circulated in Russia in April, the write-up contains extensive discussion by Tennenbaum of Synarchist banker Felix Rohatyn; of the destruction of the U.S. economy by globalization; and of the real United States tradition, as against the Synarchist financiers.

Unfortunately, some sections of the "transcript" were twisted to suit Zavtra's own preconceptions (often wildly hostile and very confused about the U.S.A.), and not all of the corrections supplied by Tennenbaum were used in the publication. Nonetheless, it is useful that a prominent author in this customarily totally anti-American paper concluded the article by saying that the conversation with Tennenbaum left him haunted by the thought, that there are real American patriots, around LaRouche, who are natural allies of Russia against globalization.

The same issue of Zavtra carried an interview with an anonymous source, on the role of neo-con Michael Ledeen—the self-confessed "universal fascist," now at the American Enterprise Institute—in the current crisis (i.e., in shaping U.S. policy). It's attributed to an unnamed Italian intelligence officer, but appears to be largely borrowed from EIR, which is cited by name.

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