What is the Real Reason Behind Obama’s New Cuba Policy?

Opinion: What is the Real Reason Behind Obama's New Cuba Policy?
January 20, 2015
by Pascal Robert
Editorial.

On December 17, 2014 president Barack Obama made a public statement
announcing a change in America's over fifty year old Cold War strategy
of isolating The Republic of Cuba. Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959,
and the Island's turn to Communism under the leadership of Fidel Castro,
the United States has made a consistent effort to choke the life out of
the Cuban nation through economic embargo. In a seemingly drastic change
of that policy, President Obama stated he would further loosen travel
restrictions to Cuba, open limited financial interaction with the
country, and eventually move to building a U.S. embassy in Havana. Due
to the 1996 Helms-Burton Act signed by President Clinton, Obama would
still need Congressional approval to get much of this accomplished.

Obama's statement was greeted with joy by many Americans who viewed this
Cold War policy as antiquated and redundant. In a world where the
Communist Soviet Union has long since collapsed, what sense does it make
to keep punishing the Cuban people? Obama supporters used the
president's initiative as evidence of his superior statecraft in the
face of Republican opposition by Cuba hard-liners like Florida Senator
Marco Rubio.

What most Americans do not realize is that Obama's change in policy is
not the product of some enlightened awakening concerning foreign policy.
Obama is reacting to occurrences that pose a significant geopolitical
challenge to American hegemony in the Western hemisphere. The Russians
and the Chinese have come knocking on America's back door. From July
11-17, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled through a multi
nation Latin American tour ending with a summit of the BRICS nations
(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in Fortaleza, Brazil.
These nations are among the fastest developing economies in the world,
and their combined efforts have been posing significant geopolitical
challenge to America and its European allies all over the globe. This is
particularly the case since the 2008 economic crash.

The first stop on Russian president Putin's tour was the Republic of
Cuba. It was announced by the Russian Kremlin's news service that Putin
agreed to absolve 90% of Cuba's 32 Billion dollar debt to Russia, and
according to the Russian Times, the remaining 10% of Cuba's debt would
be re-invested back into Cuban infrastructure. For a relatively poor
country like Cuba to have 90% of the debt to its once greatest economic
benefactor forgiven is of epic importance to the Island nation.
Furthermore, the Russians announced plans to develop infrastructure to
build oil rigs for the valuable resource discovered off the coast of
Cuba. As stated in this July Russian Times article entitled: "Putin's
Latin America "big tour' Deal Done:"

"The Latin America tour started with the visit to Cuba, where Putin
signed a new agreement on oil exploration in Caribbean waters which
contain most of the estimated 124 million barrels of the Island's crude.
The exploration will take place a few dozen miles from the US coast."

Of even more strategic concern to the United States, Russia stated a
desire to re-open a Spying outpost once used by the Soviet Union to
intercept American communication. The move by Russia to reoccupy that
spy station, as well as modernize it, could open Russian access to
American intelligence less than 200 miles away from U.S. shores. As
stated in this article in The UK Guardian entitled: "Russia to Reopen
Spy Base In Cuba as Relations with the U.S. Continue to Sour."

"Russia has quietly reached an agreement with Cuba to reopen a
Soviet-era spy base on America's doorstep, amid souring relations
between Moscow and Washington.

"The deal to reopen the signals intelligence facility in Lourdes, south
of Havana, was agreed in principle during president Vladimir Putin's
visit to the island as part of a Latin American tour last week,
according to the newspaper Kommersant.

Opened in 1967, the Lourdes facility was the Soviet Union's largest
foreign base, a mere 155 miles from the US coast. It employed up to
3,000 military and intelligence personnel to intercept a wide array of
American telephone and radio communications, but Putin announced its
closure in 2001 because it was too expensive – Russia had been paying
$200m (£117m) a year in rent – and in response to US demands.

After Putin visited Cuba on Friday, the Kremlin press service said the
president had forgiven 90% of Cuba's unpaid Soviet-era debts, which
totaled $32bn (£18.6bn) – a concession that now appears to be tied to
the agreement to reopen the base."

Though Putin's actions in Cuba were most significant to the change in
American policy, his dealings in other Latin Countries were quite bold
as well. On his visit to Argentina, Putin executed an agreement with the
nation's president Cristina Fernandez to construct two nuclear power
plants in the face of that country's frigid relations with the United
States as a result of American Hedge Fund managers demanding Argentina
satisfy all of its debt. Furthermore, in Brazil, Putin executed a
memorandum of understanding to commence development of nuclear power
plants as well as a spent fuel storage facility. What is most
humiliating for the United States in all this is that these agreements
are being executed at a time in which America has been trying to force
international co-operation to isolate Russia resulting from the
political crisis in the Ukraine. Putin's actions in Cuba, combined with
other Latin countries, illustrates that not only is Russia far from
isolated, it is planting its geopolitical footprint directly in
America's back yard. As the The UK Gaurdian article above states:

"During Putin's Latin American tour, he also signed agreements to
establish positioning stations in Argentina, Brazil and Cuba for
Glonass, Russia's answer to the United States' global positioning system
(GPS). He also made a surprise stop to discuss placing a Glonass station
in Nicaragua, where president Daniel Ortega called Putin's first visit
to the country a "ray of light."

"The goal of Putin's visit to Cuba, Nicaragua and Argentina was to
strengthen geopolitical connections with Latin America in response to
the United States' attempts to isolate Russia," Alexei Pushkov, the
chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's parliament,
tweeted after the trip.

Yet that alone is not the degree to which the Russians are making a
strategic pivot to Latin and South America. At the BRICS summit the
member nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed
to dedicate over 100 billion dollars to start a Central Bank among the
nations with 100 billion in reserves as well. The ultimate goal of this
Central Bank is to de-leverage the BRICS nations from the U.S. dollar as
the world's reserve currency. This could pose a great threat to
America's position in the world.

Compounded with Russia's geopolitical pivot, China has now strongly
entered the Latin nations with its plan to build a canal through
Nicaragua to rival the Panama Canal. This move would also greatly
challenge American hegemony in the region.

Contrary to popular belief, Obama's change in Cuba policy is not an
indication of his foreign policy brilliance; it is a product of
America's foreign policy desperation. The Russians have been making
serious power moves in Latin and South America while American policies
have been alienating countries like Argentina and Brazil. Over the
weekend an embarkation of Democrat party Senators lead by Pat Leahy met
with Raul Castro to ascertain how to improve relations with the two
Countries. This is not the action of a United States negotiating from a
position of strength, but the behavior of a nation trying to catch up
with its geopolitical challenger, the Russians. As stated in a recent
article on the trip in the New York Times entitled: "U.S. Lawmakers in
Cuba for Three Day Visit," Leahy said

"In the statement, Mr. Leahy's office said the trip was intended to
"seek clarity from Cubans on what they envision normalization to look
like, going beyond past rote responses such as 'end the embargo.' " The
office said that the trip would "help develop a sense of what Cuba and
the United States are prepared to do to make a constructive relationship
possible."

By Leahy's own admission, the Cuban's are calling the shots and the
United States is being forced to play catch up. Now the Cubans are in
the old Cold War position many third world countries found themselves in
by being able to play the Russians against the Americans and ask one
simple question: Which one of you is willing to offer more? It looks
more and more like the Cold War all over again.

Source: AllHipHop » Opinion: What is the Real Reason Behind Obama's New
Cuba Policy? -
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