Looks like Hugo and Mahmoud are getting even friendlier. The events of last week – the furor over Obama’s speech to US school children, his health care address to a joint session of Congress, September 11th commemorations, and the 9/12 Washington march – overshadowed the announcement of a new strategic deal between Venezuela and Iran.

According to the AP, “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sealed an agreement to export 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline to Iran, state TV reported Monday. The deal would give Tehran a cushion if the West carries out threats of fuel sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.”

That’s not the end of the deal, though. There’s a more sinister side for the West:

Chavez said Venezuela will import machinery and technology from Iran in return for its gasoline exports, the TV report said.

The broadcast also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the two countries agreed to set up a bank together to help finance joint projects.

Just what type of machinery and technology? Venezuela has been accused of sending uranium to Iran. It’s plausible that any deal between the two countries may include mining, refinement, and enrichment equipment and technologies. Additionally, any bank is likely to provide a sanctions work-around and cover for financing of WMD development and acquisition.

Iran and Chavez must see plenty of “greenfield” opportunities – beyond Hugo’s buddies in FARC and Hizbollah-managed operations – to destabilize Latin America and by extension distract a domestically-weakened US President who may be eager to improve his standing at home by gaining a foreign policy win, even if it means appeasement. In the meantime, Chavez continues to put Obama on the defensive by pointing out imagined US military bases in Latin America, while Ahmadinejad continues his game of embarrassing the west by agreeing to talks to control other countries nuclear programs.