Trump threatens Cuba

[Warlord]

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realdonaldtrump (https://www.instagram.com/realdonaldtrump/)

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!

[RonZeplin]

:warning: Prez Trump has exclusive rights to causing death & destruction to constitutions, Cuba must back off.

[Zippyjuan]

Will he treat Russia the same for aiding Venezuela? Maduro was said to be on his way to a jet out of the country when Russia encouraged him to stay. Has 50 years of sanctions on Cuba accomplished anything? The US basically has no trade with Cuba so we can't add much more in terms of sanctions.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-in-venezuela-why-vladimir-putin-backs-nicolas-maduro-in-standoff-with-donald-trump-us/


While Russia does have close ties with the Maduro regime, defense and foreign affairs analysts see the recent developments much more as a power play by the Kremlin, aimed more at goading the U.S. than defending the Venezuelan leader.

"Harsh confrontation with Washington over Venezuela, according to the Kremlin's logic, boosts Russia's significance in the eyes of the U.S.," foreign affairs analyst Vladimir Frolov told CBS News. "It's political theater, and theater needs proper decorations."

One-way street
Venezuela has been Russia's biggest partner in Latin America since the early 2000s, Tatyana Rusakova, Latin America analyst at the Moscow-based Center for Crisis Society Studies, told CBS News. She said those ties have been largely "a one-way street, and are based on political agenda."

Russia owns two lucrative gas fields just off the Venezuelan coast, through the state-backed oil giant Rosneft.

Moscow has also earned $11.4 billion selling military equipment to Caracas, and currently exports about $70-$80 million per year worth of non-military goods to the country.

All that said, trade with Venezuela accounts for only about 0.01 percent of Russia's foreign trade turnover.

The Kremlin loaned at least $2 billion to Caracas to enable Venezuela to buy the Russian military equipment, and Venezuela still owes Russia $6 billion of a total $17 billion worth of loans handed out since 2006, according a recent Financial Times report.


Given those circumstances, Rusakova said she "wouldn't say that, in terms of trade and economy," Venezuela is a significant Russian partner.

Military cooperation
While Venezuela doesn't account for much overall trade with Russia, 2006 and 2013 Caracas was among the four biggest purchasers of Russian military hardware, and cooperation on that front continues.

Two Russian factories -- one that will make Kalashnikov assault rifles and another that will make ammunition for them -- are currently under construction in Venezuela, according to Konstantin Makienko, deputy director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based defense think-tank.

Makienko, who is also a member of the defense expert council in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, told CBS News in written comments that Moscow also continues to supply parts for equipment sold to Venezuela previously, and carry out vital maintenance work to keep that equipment operational.

That second aspect of the bilateral military cooperation has intensified recently, Makienko noted.

The Russian military also gives Venezuela's military guidance and advice.

"The group of Russian military personnel that arrived (last week) are consulting Venezuelan troops on (military action) in case the U.S. or anyone else carries out a military intervention," Makienko said.

But another analyst says these consultations are likely to be the extent of Russia's military involvement -- there is no incentive for the Russian military to go on the offensive for Maduro, or fight on his behalf.

"Venezuela isn't Russia's military ally, like, say, Belarus or Kazakhstan," Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, told CBS News.

So what's the endgame?
Moscow sees the crisis in Venezuela as another opportunity -- just as Syria was -- to portray itself as a force to be reckoned with -- a force capable of keeping U.S. power in check, according to analyst Frolov.

"The strategy to confront the U.S., wherever it can be done at a reasonable cost, is grounded in the Kremlin's idea of a new world in which the U.S. doesn't have the freedom to overthrow regimes anymore, because Russia is there to stop it," he said.

Venezuela fits the profile perfectly, because undermining Washington's agenda there doesn't require too many resources and offers a chance to retaliate for the 2014 revolution in Ukraine, which brought a U.S.-aligned government to power. The Kremlin believes the revolution was masterminded and orchestrated by the U.S.

"The logic is… that we can also make your life harder in your backyard, just like you did in ours," Frolov said.

[Anti Globalist]

We've had sanctions on Cuba since the 1960s.

[Zippyjuan]

We've had sanctions on Cuba since the 1960s.

Didn't make much difference on anything, did it?

[Superfluous Man]

I look forward to reading the entertaining arguments that the Trump trolls will make in defense of Cuban sanctions.

[enhanced_deficit]

GOP-neocon wing/MAGA's neocon funders looking to create a southern border like rush at Miami beaches also?

Or this is just to distract attention from recent Mueller letter/Deputy AJ Rosenstein resignation news? There were rumors allegedly sourced to Steve Bannon that he had attacked AG Jeff Sessions suddenly (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/23/swamp-diary-breitbart-bannon-kushner-216166) one time to distract attention from some Kushner scandal at the time.


Related

Venezuela Regime Change: Armed Government Overthrow Attempt Launched at Air Base (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?533998-Venezuela-Armed-Government-Overthrow-Attempt-Launched-at-Air-Base&)

Trump's Venezuela Military Option Gains Backers as Millions Flee
bloomberg
Sep 26, 2018
Venezuelan migrant exodus hits 3 million: U.N. - Reuters
Nov 8, 2018