What about the Monroe Doctrine? How does that play ....

All of this is bluster. Chavismo owes BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars (or the equivalent) to Russia and China. They want that debt repaid, BUT if part of that debt can be forgiven so Putin can take a jab at Trump, Maduro is all for it.

The island in question is a tiny speck, with no infrastructure, close to Gran Roque. It used to be a "summer cottage" for various Venezuelan dictators over the years, The landing strip cannot handle anything close to a bird that big. And this is nothing more than a "handshake agreement" between two wankers.

Maduro, for his part, doesn't care what the Constitution says... he is in the process of having it re-written anyway.

Building a Russian base won't happen in my opinion. The US would let the birds land then send a cratering cruise missile over the airstrip, wiping it out and sending "a Monroe Doctrine" message. All of this nonsense is symbolism for Trump backing out of the START 3 agreements.

word "temporary". They say that 'nothing is so permanent as something that is "temporary"'.