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| Europe |
| US threatens to block £890m Spanish arms sale to Venezuela |
| 2005-11-24 |
| The US yesterday threatened to block a record-breaking arms deal under which Spain would sell ships and aircraft to Venezuela, in another sign of increasingly fraught relations between the Bush administration and the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez. The US claimed that a €1.3bn (£890m) arms deal with Mr Chávez, who is a vocal supporter of Cuba's Fidel Castro and a fierce critic of the Bush administration, could destabilise the region. The deal, due to be signed in Caracas on Monday, includes four coastal patrol ships, four corvettes, 10 C-295 transport planes and two maritime surveillance planes. It would be a massive boost to Spain's ailing shipyard industry and to the rest of its defence industry. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #12 Let Spain sell them. Just shoot them down/sink them when they are delivered. Don't admit doing it, even if CNN videos the whole thing. Just deny it and laugh while doing so. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-11-24 22:46 |
| #11 You're on the list Zen. Promises, promises, Ship. (Warmest regards on this Thanksgiving.) |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-11-24 22:39 |
| #10 It might be more than that, AP. Zapatero and Chavez are getting chummy and both want to hurt the US and its influence in Latin America. Re: corvettes, I suspect it's not the car he's buying but a patrol boat a little smaller than a destroyer, fast, well-suited both for attacks on neighboring countries and on subs that get close to Venezuela. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-24 12:52 |
| #9 The EADS CASA C-295 is like a junior sized Herculese C-130 (about half the payload). Looks like a neat plane. I'm sure that Spain is looking at this deal as a good source of foreign exchange. Damn the consequences. Then the US has to clean up the messes that Hugo will make with them. *sigh* |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-11-24 12:42 |
| #8 hi-way 66 |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-11-24 12:07 |
| #7 #6 'where do the corvettes fit into this pic?' there for chavez and pals to hot rod round the streets looking cool! :) |
| Posted by: Glavins Glereting2921 2005-11-24 12:06 |
| #6 where do the corvettes fit into this pic? |
| Posted by: Jerelet Thineling2988 2005-11-24 09:27 |
| #5 It might, if it comes with US-trained technicians from Spain. And in the meanwhile, it will give Chavez' takeover of Latin America a big boost - especially destabilizing Columbia. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-24 08:45 |
| #4 You're on the list Zen. But hell, let Spain sell the stuff, it's not like it'll work in 2 years. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-11-24 07:33 |
| #3 Maybe they shoulda thunk a bit better about this, and some other things. |
| Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu 2005-11-24 04:57 |
| #2 The pain in Spain falls mainly on its planes. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-11-24 02:41 |
| #1 sez more about our "increasingly fraught" relations with Zappy and his ilk |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-24 01:45 |