This tense, relentlessly gray capital embodies many of Venezuela's problems, with crumbling apartment towers and food lines often sharing the same sidewalk with cheering crowds eager to greet their departed Comandante.

NPR: Hugo Chavez Coffin Parades Past Venezuela's Ills

One of the reasons Russia and Venezuela have turned to China is that other forms of capital are no longer available to them, not only because of the financial crisis, but because of their own recent expropriations of previous investments by Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and Statoil (in Venezuela's case) and BP and Shell (in Russia's).

ECONOMIST: What China wants and can offer for its money

The Caricuao zoo in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, is a shadow of its former self.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela and Cuba

Since mid-July, Caracas, Venezuela's capital, has been racked by a spree of vigilante killings as crime-weary residents take the law into their own hands.

ECONOMIST: Mob law

Even if OPEC's resolve collapses, countries like Venezuela no longer have the capacity to significantly increase production without a multiyear round of capital expenditures.

FORBES: Where oil is cheap