CHAVEZ IN $2BN RUSSIAN ARMS DEAL

RUSSIA HAS AGREED TO LEND VENEZUELA
OVER $2.2 BILLION TO BUY WEAPONS

CARACAS (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia will provide a $2.2 billion credit line for weapons purchases and will jointly develop oil fields and nuclear energy. Venezuela will buy 92 T-72S tanks, Smerch missiles with a range of 90 kilometers and an S-300 Antey-2500 anti-aircraft defense system including radar and missiles with a range of 400 kilometers, Chavez said yesterday during his weekly program “Alo Presidente” on state television. Chavez, 55, visited Russia last week as part of an 11-day trip to allied countries. “Thanks to the help and support of the Russian president Dmitri Medvédev and prime minister Vladímir Putin, we’ve reached an agreement to increase our defensive capacity, and to develop a nuclear energy program for “peaceful means,” Chavez said.

Venezuela doesn’t want to produce an atomic bomb, he said. “We’re not going to make an atomic bomb, so don’t bother us like with Iran,” he said. “We’re going to develop nuclear energy with peaceful purposes.” Mr Chavez said the weapons were intended to boost Venezuela's defensive capacity. The deal comes as tensions grow between Venezuela and Colombia over Bogota's plan to allow the US access to several military bases there. Colombia says the US forces will help in the war against drugs and left-wing guerrillas, and will not destabilise the region. Mr Chavez suggested that Colombia's decision to grant the US access to seven military bases was a threat to Venezuelan security. He said the anti-aircraft rockets systems would make it difficult to be attacked. "With these rockets, it is going to be very difficult for them [the US] to come and bomb us. If that happens, they should know that we will soon have these systems installed, [and] for an enemy that appears on the horizon, there it goes," he said.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Instead of enjoying peace, the leaders of big money-making countries are now making big plans how they can save themselves from the modern destructive weapons, and yet a huge sum of money is being thrown into the sea for experiments with such dreadful weapons. Such experiments are being carried out not only at huge monetary costs, but also at the cost of many poor lives, thereby binding such nations to the laws of karma. That is the illusion of material nature. As a result of the impulse for sense gratification, money is earned by spoiled energy, and it is then spent for the destruction of the human race. The energy of the human race is thus spoiled by the law of nature because that energy is diverted from the service of the Lord, who is actually the owner of all energies.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Journey of Self-Discovery - Chapter 6 - Material Problems, Spiritual Solutions"