The New Axis

A strengthening alliance between anti-American President Hugo Chavez's oil-rich Venezuela and powerhouses Russia and China threatens to create a new world order hostile to the West.

Chavez declared during a visit to China in April, "A new world is being born, a new balance, the multi-polar world that we have all dreamed about for a long time.

"The unipolar world went down, the power of the empire of the United States, and Mao Zedong ended up being right when he talked of the 'paper tiger' of the empire."

TMIGroup.org pointed to these ominous signs of economic and military cooperation among the three nations:

• Venezuela spent $3.4 billion on military equipment from Russia in 2007 and plans to spend another $4 billion this year.
• Venezuela and Russia held joint naval exercises last year, and a Russian official said the Latin American nation has offered Russia a base for Russian strategic bombers in Venezuela.
• Oil shipments from Venezuela to China are expected to reach 1 million barrels a day within four years, and China is building three refineries to handle the Venezuelan oil.
• Trade between China and Venezuela now stands at $40 billion a year, up from $200 million a decade ago.
• China and Venezuela are jointly developing oil fields in Venezuela's Orinoco region, and constructing a jointly owned fleet of oil tankers.
• Two Russian companies are also set to develop oil fields in the Orinoco region.
• Chavez confirmed in September 2008 that Venezuela had purchased 24 Chinese jets.
• A Chinese rocket launched Venezuela's first telecommunications satellite into space from a site in southwest China last October.

"Chavez's dream of a new world order is no pipe dream," according to TMIGroup's publication called Memorandum to File.

"He is using the oil riches of his country to forge military and economic alliances with Russia and China, in an effort to counter U.S. influence in Latin America.

"He is also using these alliances to extend his own influence over the region, with the help of Cuba's Raul Castro."