Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has taken delivery of 24 Russian Sukhoi fighter jets, and gave a warning to the U.S. "We've received the 24 Sukhoi aircraft," Chavez said, "They're for defensive purposes; we're not going to attack anybody."

Chavez said the missiles have far greater range than U.S. F-16 fighter jets. "Any gringo ship that sails into brown waters [river waters] will itself turn brown and go to the bottom, because they'll not get through," he said.

A Venezuelan diplomat told a Belarussian news service that the two countries "do not want to be slaves of superpowers." According to Americo Diaz Nunez, Venezuela and Belarus are aware of "what high price one needs to pay for this independence, sovereign position, the wish to respect the role of a people, in particular in the present-day unipolar world, which is nearing its end," adding, "Even with all modesty Venezuela today is becoming an increasingly obvious center of gravity that balances and, instead of threats and aggression, offers its partners beneficial cooperation on the conditions of equality and respect."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is calling for his country to restore its influential position in former Cuba, Russian news reports said yesterday. "We should restore our position in Cuba and other countries," Putin was quoted as saying by a Russian news agency.

An influential analyst and former top Russian defense official Leonid Ivashov added, "It is not a secret that the West is creating a 'buffer zone' around Russia, involving countries in central Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Ukraine...In response, we may expand our military presence abroad, including in Cuba."

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari announced yesterday that Iran has test fired a new weapon, the Great Prophet III, that can destroy any vessel in a range of 190 miles. Jafari said, "This is a completely domestic missile. It has passed the required experiments and is under mass production now...Today, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has the capability to target the enemies' targets with a wide range of missiles and in a few minutes in case of any attack," he said in a press conference.