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Richard Cochrane is trained in chemistry and metallurgy but is far more interested and practiced as a political and fund raising consultant, writer and amateur historian. He grew up in a Navy family and with his two younger brothers carried on its 500+ year tradition of naval service to Great Britain and the USA then enjoyed a career with one of the largest advertising and public relations agencies working with numerous Fortune 500 companies and many of America's premier educational institutions. He maintains friendships and acquaintanceships around the world. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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Russia–Libya Rift Symptomatic

November 19th, 2008 • Richard Cochrane
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Qaddafi Tweaked Putin's Nose Just As His Grand Scheme Is Going South

Tripoli figures into the birth of the US Navy and MarinesRussia is exasperated that Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi balked at signing contracts worth up to $4.5 billion during his recent three-day visit to Russia. The Russian analyst said Moscow offered Libya the most advanced weaponry, much of it still unavailable to the Russian military.

Sources said Putin, had agreed to write off Libya's old $4.5 billion debt, when he met Qaddafi in Tripoli in April 2008, and the two leaders agreed to promote defense and energy cooperation. "Everything is moving very slowly, much too slowly for Putin," a Russian defense source said.

During Qaddafi's visit to Moscow, the Libyan leader was shown the Su-35 multi-role fighter, the T-90 MBT, the S-300PMU2 air defense system and the Ka-50-2 attack helicopter. No deals were announced. Part is the reason maybe complaints from other about the reliability and effectiveness of Russian weapons.

Qaddafi tweaked Putin’s nose negotiating for Soviet-era S-300 air defense platforms in Belarus and Ukraine. The sources said both Kiev and Minsk offered the platforms at a much cheaper price than Moscow.

Plus, Qaddafi has other fish to fry as his country appears about to fly apart as unrest and revolution is growing and entrenching as a new guerrilla force that is attracting outside interest.

Russia is cash strapped and Libya maybe miffed by being excused from the recent natural gas cartel meeting involving Iran, Qatar and Russia. Plus as crude oil use crashes in China prices are plummeting. Europe is less enthusiastic about its dependency on Russia’s natural gas. All this presents Putin with the worst of all worlds.

Grudgingly Putin is recognizing that his personal plans for a new Russian empire will have to be delayed until the world’s economic downturn turns around. He’s buying time by signaling willingness to get closer to the West including the USA, and apparently believes a new Obama administration will make it easier to get what he wants.

This posting is adapted, edited and supplemented from a November 18, 2008 Moscow datelined World Tribune article.

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