The Russians arent "supplying" anybody, they are SELLING arms for $$$.
What is the fundamental difference, does anybody who is sober think freaking Venezuala is some great regional superpower because they bought some arms made in Russia?
Its a bunch of hype. Every country on the planet has fighters and tanks and rifles, ect ect, save only the poorest ones, and sometimes even they do.
If Venez bought SSBNS or something, ok, that would be cause for concern.
This is all about Chavez being an anti-Amercican lout who happens to have bought some shiny new arms. Well, thats just the world on any given day folks. He wont be around forever either, so dont let it worry you.
Hey, it looks like Castro isnt going to be with us for long (lets hope), and the regional balance will shift again once he is gone. Tomorrows another day.
...As for the Su-27s themselves, another poor choice by a 3rd world country. He would been better off buying many more counter insurgency and light attack a/c than a top end air superiority fighter like the Sukhoi. They look nifty at airshows, in a real shooting war with the US Navy, they would last about 5 minutes, and everybody knows it.