From Chavez's point of view, is there any political advantage to having the Russians mine LC instead of the Chinese?

As long as the "Transnationals" are replaced by some politically acceptable entity I can't see why he would risk antagonizing the Chinese by favouring the Russians at this point.

I see Chavez's last statement on LC as setting the stage for an announcement.

Please feel free to tear this argument apart, I welcome input.

It would be great to know the name of the JV company at this point, I bet it's very very politically acceptable...