A low budget Fidel with a big budget from oil revenue

Approximately 50 years after Fidel Castro looked to the U.S.S.R. as his benefactor and sponsor Hugo Chavez is courting the same constituents. Mr. Chavez was in Russia exchanging views with Putin and Medvedev in the hopes of developing stronger ties. Unlike Fidel, whose appeal at the time to the Soviets was geography, (Cuba's proximity to the U.S. providing an ideal listening post and launch point for the Soviets), Mr. Chavez's Venezuela is in our neighborhood and comes with the added bonus of oil.

Chavez has already stated his intent on seeking closer ties with Iran as well and the money quote from his Russia speech in which he called the U.S. a "terrorist empire" is the following, "The United States wants to dominate the entire world,” he told about 1,000 students. “The empire of the Yanks will fall this century, and I am not talking about the end of the century but in the next decades.”

Along with that speech here is what the Russian university students were treated to during this initial cooperative trip. The title of the video "Hugo Chavez rocks Moscow" is perhaps a bit generous. My guess is the man would not get past the 10-15 second mark with Simon Cowell on American Idol before he got the boot. It is no small wonder that many attendees left early to watch a World Cup soccer qualifying match between Russia and Wales. Anyway, this shows what can happen when dour Russian diplomacy meets the flowery showmanship of an aberrant Latin American leader.