Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits a resurgent Russia this week on an arms shopping trip that raises the anti-US leader's profile and will irritate his hosts' rivals in Washington.
Chavez, a firebrand socialist who supports Russia's increasingly bold opposition to US foreign policy, will use the trip to burnish his own credentials as a fierce critic of what he calls the US Empire.
Moscow's friendship with Chavez, Washington's main foe in the Western Hemisphere, highlights the distance between the Kremlin and the White House, which has widened as they jockey for influence in places such as Kosovo and Georgia.
Chavez, an ex-paratrooper who accuses Washington of backing a brief coup against him in 2002, predicts the superpower's star will fade as giants such as Russia and China awaken.
"Russia has moved forward as a great geopolitical force on the international stage," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said last week. "President Chavez has built a strategy of profound political trust with Russia's principal leaders."
Chavez will rub shoulders with Russian leaders such as new President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who have clashed with Washington this month over military exercises in Georgia and US plans to base a missile defence system in the Czech Republic.
It is Chavez's fifth visit since taking office in 1999. He wants to buy submarines, tanks and surface-to-air missiles to extend a major retooling of Venezuela's armed forces.
He has already bought several billion dollars worth of fighter jets, helicopters and rifles on trips that are partly aimed at reminding voters back home he has influential friends who also want to see a shift in power away from Washington.
Venezuela is not the only South American country replacing its aging defence system. Others such as Brazil, Chile and Colombia are also spending heavily, their buying sprees funded by a boom in mining and agricultural exports.
Still, Chavez's shopping trip will further antagonize Washington, which refuses to sell weapons or spare parts to repair Venezuela's rusting fleet of US F-16 fighter jets.
The US Government cites Chavez's lack of cooperation on anti-terrorism issues and Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said last week that Venezuela, which is friendly with Iran and Cuba, "seeks out" America's adversaries as allies.
TWISTING THE LION'S TAIL
Russia is the world's 10th largest economy and has enjoyed nine years of an oil-fueled boom, a far cry from the economic chaos of the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia's government is not left-wing like Venezuela's but its control of key Russian energy companies and its distrust of Washington sit well with Chavez's own robust patriotism and use of huge oil revenues for nationalistic ends.
Beyond the arms deals and a growing investment in the gold mining industry, Russia's economic interests in Venezuela are small, but Chavez hopes to boost them.
He wants to set up a joint development fund with Russia and will fish for investment in his OPEC nation's oil industry, even though existing ventures in the South American country by Russia's LUKOIL have faced delays.
LUKOIL wants to launch Venezuela output projects to supply a Cuban oil refinery and its U.S. network of filling stations.
Russia gains from ties with Chavez because its arms sales diversify its clients while serving to rattle Washington.
"The Russians think of Chavez as a useful tool to annoy the Americans," said Peter Zeihan at political risk company Stratfor. "They see it as an interesting way to twist the lion's tail."
Broadly popular in the Russian media where he is depicted as a victim of US pressure, Chavez will likely enjoy a warm welcome from Medvedev.
Putin's successor will give Chavez space to speak in depth about the need for a "multipolar" world, but the newly elected president can be expected to keep a safe distance if the Venezuelan lashes out at the US too aggressively.
In his former post as president, Putin hosted Chavez's last visit to Moscow in June 2007. During that trip, Chavez called Putin "brother" but the Kremlin kept him at arm's length and avoided echoing his blunt language against the "empire."
By Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters
