Leaked diplomatic papers say the United States, far from planning to invade Venezuela, fretted over the missile buying program and tried to dissuade Moscow from going ahead with the deliveries.
U.S. diplomats argued against any Russian deliveries on the missile deal, reached in 2009, because they feared the weapons could end up with FARC rebels in Colombia or even in the organized crime ranks of Mexican drug warlords.
Diplomatic cables given to WikiLeaks, which released them to various media outlets, said Venezuela may have received at least 1,800 of the SA-24 shoulder-fired missiles from Russia. The Washington Post cited U.N. arms control data on the reported delivery."
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NATO Missile Defense for Europe
NATO has agreed to provide ballistic missile defense or BMD for all of Europe. This NATO BMD will protect NATO (European and American) military forces in Europe. It will also – for the very first time – protect the civilian population throughout Europe from ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction launched from the Middle East.
Much of this NATO missile defense for Europe – known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach – will actually be provided by the United States armed forces. This will include seaborne AEGIS missile defense on board US Navy ships in the Mediterranean, as well as land based radars and interceptor missiles.
This e-book describes how NATO missile defense for Europe will be organized and implemented.
