Today's WSJ carries an advertising supplement from our good friends in the Kremlin. We have seen these paper touts before, nominally called"Russia Beyond The Headlines", ( RBTH) often following some indiscretion or another. Is Ukraine an indiscretion? Hmmmm. Seems like it's business as usual for old Vlad the Putin.
Within the sheets(8pgs) is a story about an alleged agreement signed with Nicaragua, China, and Russkya to build a new east/west canal through central America. According to our friend Yuri Paniev, staff writer for the RDTH rag, the project will include an oil pipeline, an airport, two seaports, and a wider/deeper ship channel. Costs estimated to be $40 billion and take about 15 years to complete. Workers will come from China and Central America. Russia's role will be to provide security for construction crews. We know about excitable locals in and around the Isthmus.
Major funding will come from China's HKND, which received a 100 year concession from Managua.
A special agreement is alleged to have been signed by Russia and Nicaragua allowing Russky warships into local waters for 6 months of the year and to carry out coastal patrols. ( Will the Russky naval vessels include the new French built amphibious ships?) Hmmmm.
Whatever ships were to show up in either the Caribbean or the Pacific Oceans, clouds of drones would be their closest companions throughout the operation(s).
Emil Dabagyan, of the Institute of Latin America at the Russian Acad. of Sciences, says the U.S. will lose control of the area with this new canal option.
So, we have Vlad moving pawns into the U.S. front yard. I guess NATO will have to start spending a few more Euro's on uniforms, boots, and foul weather gear as winter approaches in eastern Europe.
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