He was there on a working visit, but it’s still festive–he inaugurated the Simon Bolivar Latin American Cultural Centre in Moscow, and got a lot of love from the locals–especially some ladies who showed up wearing floral crowns in the colors of the Venezuelan flag. No purchase of nuclear weapons or subs, contrary to all the flap-and-squawk going on in the US media. But there WAS talk of getting Russian expertise on gas and oil extraction, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Lukoil, the Russian firm, stepped in where ConocoPhillips (in a fit of cutting off its nose to spite its face) buggered off. Their loss is sure to be someone’s gain, and I have a strong feeling that that someone is Russian.
