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Last week, Moscow blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran and gave Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez $2 billion in arms on credit. Chavez claims he needs them for defense, but the bill of sale includes 100 T-90 and T-72M1M tanks.

By supplying Chavez with a small army of tanks, Moscow has lit a fuse that could ignite a war between Venezuela and Columbia — a war that Chavez needs to distract his people from the country’s problems and that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin needs to raise the price of oil.