http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/venezuelarussiaenergynucleardiplomacy
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday, after a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, that he was interested in working with Russia to develop a civilian nuclear power program.
Chavez made the announcement in an almost child-like fashion, feeling the need to immediately clarify that the nuclear energy would be used for "peaceful ends of course -- for medical purposes and to generate electricity."
The fact that he assumes that WE assume he might be using this power for anything BUT peaceful ends is a little bit suspicious... especially since he has given the U.S. very few reasons to trust him.
He then went on to note that Brazil and Argentina have such programs as well.
He doesn't have to explain himself, yet he does anyway. Developing nuclear power simply because other South American countries have it is not a strong reason to get your own nuclear power source. Just because they have it, doesn't mean you need it too, Chavez.
Chavez appears to be getting defensive without anyone actually attacking his reasoning behind this decision yet.
Russia also announced Sunday that they made plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in the Venezuelan oil industry. Of course, this is only days after Russia dispatched a helpful naval fleet of warships to the Venezuelan coast, to, as Chavez put it, "increase our defense capability."
Who does Venezuela need to protect itself from? And why are they enlisting help from Russia? These questions pose deeper issues now that the Venezuela-Russia alliance is strengthening over touchy issues - oil deals, military support, nuclear support. Venezuela has not been on good terms with the U.S. for years, and of course, as of late, neither has Russia. It will be interesting to see where this relationship between the two countries goes and how the U.S. reacts to it.
--Hannah Morris
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