Hugo Chavez backs Russia in Caucasus crisis

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez supported Russia’s position in its dispute with Georgia. “We support Russia. Russia is right and is defending its interests,” remarked Chavez on Friday as he backed Russian recognition of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions from Georgia. Chavez also accused the U.S. of exploiting Georgia to try to counter Russia.

Venezuela and Russia have established closer political and economic ties; last month, Chavez visited his counterpart Dmitri Medvedev where both signed agreements on energy and arms.

Coincidentally, on the same day Chavez made the above remarks the Wall Street Journal published a scathing (perhaps too harsh?) editorial declaring a new “axis of evil”:

The term "axis" has been overused in recent years, and in misleading contexts. But Russia, Iran and Venezuela are acting very much as Japan, Italy and Germany did in the 1930s, when each took advantage of each other's aggressive moves to extend their own regional power at the expense of liberal democracy -- and, as a result, propelling the world to the brink of war.

The chessboard of traditional competitive geopolitics is back with a vengeance…The third player in this new axis, Venezuela's President Chavez, hopes for an oil and natural gas monopoly over the natural resources of neighbors like pro-Chavez satellites Bolivia and Ecuador.

Image- BBC News

Sources- PRESS TV, IHT, The Latin Americanist, Reuters UK, Wall Street Journal