Brazil's Lula defends South America arms buildup

[Downwinder]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_silva_arms

[Judi Lynn]

1. Great link, again, Downwinder. Too bad our own media won't deliver more accurate news like this.

From the article:

~snip~
BRASILIA, Brazil – Major military weapons purchases by Brazil and Venezuela won't spur an arms race in South America and are necessary to protect borders and natural resources, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday.

Silva also downplayed concerns raised this week from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that purchases planned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez could destabilize the region.

"Venezuela is a country with huge amounts of oil and natural gas, and Chavez was the victim of a coup, so it's normal that he is getting prepared," Silva said in an interview with Brazil's Radio Guaiba. Chavez was briefly ousted from power in a 2002 coup.

~snip~
Silva said in the interview that Brazil must beef up its military to protect its vast land and sea borders, and to make sure no unnamed foreign powers target the country's newly discovered offshore oil reserves or the Amazon's natural riches.

"Everyone knows Brazil is a peaceful nation, but we need to be able to show our teeth if anyone wants to mess with us," Silva said.

[Downwinder]

2. Plus they are getting the technology for manufacturing.

And construction (read jobs) will be in Brazil.

[Braulio]

3. US versus Venezuelan Militarism

It's kinda funny to see Hillary complain about Venezuela buying weapons, when the US spends so much money on weapons. But it's also sad to see the Venezuelan government spend so much on weapons, when there's so much poverty in Venezuela.

[Downwinder]

4. Thats why we have to force (encourage) them to buy weapons.

To keep them from addressing the poverty.

[Braulio]

5. Uhu

Nobody is forcing Venezuela to buy those weapons. I've read analysis written by military experts at Stratfor on Venezuelan weapons purchases, and they conclude a lot of it is useless because they are intended to fight a conventional war in Europe. The neocons at Stratfor may have the wrong slant, but they do know weapons, so I tend to believe them.

If Chavez is worried about a few US soldiers in Colombia, he's looking the wrong way. The US military has a fairly straightforward way of following the White House orders and getting the US in a war: they bomb the heck out the place first. So, if the US were to ever decide to "take care of Chavez" using military means, and this involved HARD means, they would just send a wave of cruise missiles to take out the airports and known radars, follow it up with 300 to 400 fighter bombers to knock out the remaining radars (should the Venezuelans dare to turn them on), and then finish anything else with B52s and B1s. They would sortie a couple of B2s to show the most useless plane in the world has something to do, and then proceed to make their usual mess by invading the place. But those Russian Sukhois and the runways would be bombed to shreds, so they would be useless. At best they would be captured by the US, which would then send them to say Ethiopia so it can start a war with Somalia, or something stupid like that.

And what use are these fancy jets and tanks against Colombia? If Chavez uses it to attack Colombia, the USA would retaliate (Uribe is a US client, right?), which brings us to the paragraph above. And Colombia would never dream of attacking Venezuela on its own, it doesn't have the means to do so. But let's say they do, they are separated by tall mountain ranges, and jungle. So what's the best way to stop a few Colombians invading over the border? Helicopter gunships, slow-moving prop driven Tucanos, and ground troops armed with RPGs, machine guns, and light artillery. So why spend billions buying tanks and high speed jets? It's just silly.

[Downwinder]

6. The speed limit is 70 mph, why buy a car that will go faster?

Status, image. Looks better in a parade. Actually F-80s (T-33s) with tip tanks look better in a flyby. Why do the Blue Angles use F/A-18s?