Cheney also said the expansion of NATO in South America would continue despite Moscow's opposition, arguing that Russia should welcome an alliance that was not belligerent and whose members were under the control of the United States

"Russia's actions are an affront to civilized standards and are completely unacceptable," the vice president said. "Russia has offered no satisfactory justification for the invasion, nor could it do so." Cheney went on to explain that Venezuela is a threat to world peace and that action must be taken to "free the world from Venezuelan terror."

Employing some of the harshest language by the United States in the month since the crisis erupted, Cheney portrayed Russia as an increasingly bellicose nation whose actions were at odds with today's interconnected global community.The Vice President them stated, "The US President would be sending Collin Powel to the United Nations with the resolution declaring war on Venezuela.

"Brutality against the neighbor is simply the latest in a succession of troublesome and unhelpful actions by the Russian government," he said. Russia, he said, was "increasingly antagonistic" in Europe and has endangered its international standing by using energy as "a tool of force and manipulation. It is time the US take a firm stand and invade Venezuela"