Fresh from what he called his most successful “Axis of Evil” tour, the anti-American strongman won not only Russian contracts for new S-300 rocket systems and T-72 tanks last week, but $2.2 billion in Russian cash to buy them.

Given his shaky finances, it likely means they’re gifts. In return, he’s undermining Russia’s foe, western-aligned Georgia, by recognizing two breakaway enclaves — Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He can be expected to do whatever other favors Russia asks.

He’s also giving Russia access to $1 billion in Orinoco energy projects recently confiscated from western oil companies.

Worse still, he announced that his oil-rich nation would take the nuclear path as Iran has. “We’re going to develop nuclear energy with peaceful purposes,” Chavez said, echoing the mullah regime.

“We’re not going to make an atomic bomb, so don’t bother us like with Iran,” he added, making clear he knows what Iran’s true nuclear intentions are, despite the mullahs’ repeated denials.

Clearly, Chavez is a buffoon. But he’s smart enough to know that if he can become Russia’s puppet with financial resources, technology and geopolitical ambitions, he too can threaten the U.S. “empire.” This paints an extraordinarily hostile picture of a regime willing to align with any tyranny for the sake of challenging the U.S.

So far, the U.S. response has been weak.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly correctly called his new announcements “a serious challenge” on Monday.

But diplomacy is limited with a malevolent tyrant like this, and Kelly’s response — “we urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases and very clear about the purposes of these purchases” — is unlikely to be effective in the long run.

It’s not that Chavez is going to use his weapons on the U.S. any time soon, though protesting Venezuelans in the streets or Colombians across the border could be another matter. Nuclear technology, for energy or weapons, takes know-how, and years of scientific development. Chavez hasn’t even started on that front.

Right now, Chavez’s actions are designed to alarm us, but they are also there to test our resolve. If we show very little of it, other than appealing to him to be “transparent,” the day will come when he’ll be a real threat. And unlike U.S. presidents, Chavez will have unlimited power and no term limits — just like his idol, Fidel Castro.

Right now, the U.S. approach is mainly diplomatic.

If Venezuela were a democracy, that would be the right approach. But for Chavez’s nondemocracy, it isn’t. Unlike Iran, Chavez has had the best of both worlds, being recognized as a democracy while governing as a dictatorship.

The U.S. is busily slapping sanctions on Honduras for not being a democracy over the legal ouster of its president, a Chavez “Mini-me.” But the fact is, the ouster of ex-President Zelaya was entirely and properly constitutional, and showed the nation’s commitment to democracy and rule of law. Chavez shows exactly the opposite.

The U.S. squeeze on Honduras, through sanctions, assures Chavez that his actual power is more important than how he governs, at least in the U.S.’ judgment.

So long as he’s recognized and treated as a democratic leader who can be negotiated with, he has plenty of time to continue to develop his threatening military and nuclear plans. Who knows? Maybe he’ll pick up where Castro leaves off, once the Cuban dictator dies.

So far, Chavez has pursued a strategy that echoes what Iran has done in driving circles around nuclear sanctions. Unless it’s stopped with something harder than diplomacy, the problem is only going to get bigger.

Source: IBD Editorials