Sunday, October 05, 2008

Colombia and a new "Cold War"

It seems that this "new Cold War" theme is all the craze, no matter how inaccurate it is. The new twist is that Colombian Defense Minister (and future presidential hopeful) Juan Manuel Santos is now also playing it up:

"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 will promote a return to the Cold War," Juan Manuel Santos said on Colombian radio Caracol.

Speaking ahead of an official visit to Russia, he said the plans for Russian naval exercises in the Caribbean in November could "affect the balance of power in the region and its stability."

In reality, all Russia's maneuvers do is provide an excuse to claim that regional stability is at risk. Colombia has the most to gain by far of making a big deal about Russia's presence, because that will be used as ammunition for passage of the FTA and for more weapons, training, etc. from the United States.

2 comments:

www.thescarletpimpernel.info 9:22 AM  

This looks like the validation of your posting from the other day, to the effect that the countries of Latin America stand to benefit from playing off of the renewed tensions between the US and Russia. Well, I can't say as I blame them. It's one way to get a financial benefit with fewer overt strings attached. The problem is the obscure strings that you don't immediately see.

Greg Weeks 5:17 PM  

Yes, though I was talking about getting goodies from Russia, while the other side of the coin is obviously looking for goodies from the U.S.

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