Global Security Newswire

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday asserted President Obama for political gain had spread "doubt" over his government's new atomic cooperation deal with Russia, Agence France Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 20).

"President Obama has started a war by spreading doubt with his words. He asked that we do not use the plant to produce nuclear arms," Chavez said at a media event with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

"Of course we will conform but Obama has sowed doubt," he charged.

Last week, Caracas inked an agreement with Moscow to have Russian firms build two 1,200-megawatt power reactors at a facility in the South American nation.

Obama on Tuesday said of the deal: "We have no incentive nor interest in increasing friction between Venezuela and the U.S., but we do think Venezuela needs to act responsibly."

"Our attitude is that Venezuela has rights to peacefully develop nuclear power," he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Oct. 21).