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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Russians Try to Screw Venezuelans |
| 2006-04-06 |
| April 6, 2006: After receiving initial deliveries of Russian AK-103 assault rifles, the Venezuelans quickly discovered that some of the weapons are not new, but older models "remanufactured" to newer standards. As a result, they have suspended the contract (for 100,000 rifles). The Russians have long pulled stunts like this, and have acquired a shady reputation as a result. Even some of their major customers, like India, get hit, and come back with lawsuits and cancellations and renegotiations. Apparently the Russian arms industry can't resist any opportunity to put one over on a customer. These scams often work, but when they don't, the blowback is ugly. In this case, the Russians may believe that that Venezuelan president Chavez has alienated too many other weapons suppliers, and will tolerate some Russian skullduggery. Apparently the Russians missed all the Chinese arms merchants visiting Venezuela lately. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 It's the same the world over. I remember being grossed out from an Alaskan friend when they provided canned salmon for a Russian contract--made from *lake* salmon, half-rotted and falling apart in chunks. At one point the canners quit because the smell was so intense. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-04-06 16:17 |
| #6 You mean we haven't accumulated nearly a half a million of those little pop guns by now with all the colorful tourist packages in Afghanistan and Iraq? Me Ghads. I'd dump a million of those things in Venezuela along with about a hundred rounds apiece into the country, just not to the select 100 thousand that Hugo baby wants to have them. |
| Posted by: Phererong Hupeans7359 2006-04-06 16:00 |
| #5 My guess is this is not about rooski scamming, but more to do with the fact that the concept of customer service and satisfaction did not exist on Soviet Russia. The old 'we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us'. "Go ahead and ship it, Boris. If they wanted working guns, they would have said so on the purchase order." |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-04-06 14:44 |
| #4 Dumb Russians didn't have the brains to put the best apples at the top of the box. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2006-04-06 14:13 |
| #3 Is Hugo sure he wants to arm a large segment of his population? Guns can be aimed at him as well as us. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-04-06 13:52 |
| #2 Picky picky picky |
| Posted by: V. Putin 2006-04-06 12:18 |
| #1 I got a bunch of stuff to sell Chaves,but only if he opens it himself!!!! |
| Posted by: ARMYGUY 2006-04-06 10:06 |