Christ, I miss the Cold War part II

--A representative of the extremely fun-to-pronounce Russian arms manufacturer Rosoboronexport has announced that sales to Venezuela stand at US$4 billion and they are expected to double or triple in the next couple years. Ships, planes, helicopters, the works. Of course, it's nothing the U.S. couldn't vaporize in two days, but it is more than enough to lend serious credibility to Venezuela as it continues to project its influence throughout less-well-armed Central and South America.

--Russia is also continuing to make its presence uncomfortably felt in the whole Iraq-Iran theatre, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is planning a trip to Tehran to visit President Ahmedinejad, the 2nd major Russia-Iran diplomatic meeting this month. Iran needs a dancing partner to get some leverage against the United States and its allies where Iraq is concerned, and Russia is all too happy to be That Guy these days, as previous posts have shown. While these developments are troublesome for the United States, the good news is that whatever the relationship between these two SOBs, Russia is even less interested in seeing Iran go nuclear than the U.S. is, so their backing of Iran is likely coming in exchange for Iran's total cooperation on the nuclear issue.

--In Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, the government reportedly foiled a "large-scale horrifying terror attack" that targeted Azeri government facilities as well as the British and American embassies in the capital, Baku. The British have closed their embassy and the Americans have reportedly scaled down operations at theirs. The plotters were, duh, a radical Islamist group. It hasn't yet been reported which one.

--The most destabilizing organization in world history, D-Generation X, is reportedly re-forming briefly on the evening of November 5. This analyst is very excited.