How does Putin feel about Cuba, now ?

[gotsnowgotslush]

Did Putin leave a few submarines in the Bermuda Triangle, after he paid a visit to Cuba?

 

[neci]

lemme call him up.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

My local PBS TV station recently aired an exposé on how Putin became the Evil Motherfucker, that he is today.

yikes

 

[KingOrfeo]

My local PBS TV station recently aired an exposé on how Putin became the Evil Motherfucker, that he is today.

yikes

Any surprises?

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

I know that I should not feel surprised.
Have been exposed to what Russian has been,
what Russia became.

 

[1sickbastard]

My guess is Putin has enough to sort out with Russia's near-abroad to worry much about an increasingly irrelevant Soviet outpost of the Cold War.
On the other hand, Russia has lots of hydrocarbon energy, and with Venezuela's internal issues and oil production problems, he could exert the leverage to stall Cuba & the US in normalizing relations.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I know that I should not feel surprised.
Have been exposed to what Russian has been,
what Russia became.

Have you lived there?

 

[KingOrfeo]

My guess is Putin has enough to sort out with Russia's near-abroad to worry much about an increasingly irrelevant Soviet outpost of the Cold War.
On the other hand, Russia has lots of hydrocarbon energy, and with Venezuela's internal issues and oil production problems, he could exert the leverage to stall Cuba & the US in normalizing relations.

I don't see what leverage Putin would have there.

 

[1sickbastard]

I don't see what leverage Putin would have there.

Oil, naturally.
Venezuela has been Cuba's primary source of oil for a number of years, and at subsidized prices.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Oil, naturally.
Venezuela has been Cuba's primary source of oil for a number of years, and at subsidized prices.

So? Venezuela therefore has leverage over Cuba, but what leverage does Putin have over Venezuela? Or, will he offer to sell Cuba Russian oil even cheaper if Cuba will stop making nice with the U.S.? Frankly, I don't think that would be enough; the Cubans are sick to death of having hostile relations with the U.S., they want it over with.

 

[1sickbastard]

So? Venezuela therefore has leverage over Cuba, but what leverage does Putin have over Venezuela? Or, will he offer to sell Cuba Russian oil even cheaper if Cuba will stop making nice with the U.S.?

Venezuela's got a shit-ton of internal problems, and since they nationalized the oil industry, their production has been declining as needed funds to maintain the oil infrastructure have been siphoned off for domestic spending.
When oil was selling north of $120/bbl, the Venezuelan gov't could afford subsidizing oil sales to their regional ally, Cuba.

With the current price of oil under $50/bbl (Venezuelan oil is selling at under $40/bbl), the Venezuelans literally cannot afford to subsidize Cuban energy prices.
Some 90% of Venezuela's foreign currency earnings and over half it's annual budget come from oil income. Source; BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19649648
Before Chavez came to power, Venezuela's largest customer was the US. Afterwards, international oil prices and particularly demand from China & India made sure the country had a ready stream of income.
Now we have low oil prices, slackening demand from East & South Asia. The lower the oil prices go the higher percentage of those revenues Maduro has to spend to keep Venezuela's poor on his side, or else he has to start paying his security forces more to quell unrest

Yes, the Russian are hurt by low oil prices as well, but they have far more robust cash reserves and a built-in market in Europe, not to mention other revenue streams (raw material, weapons, technology etc)

It could be the Putin is only here to tell Raul, "Adios y Buena Suerte", but he needs leverage on the US who he sees as meddling in with Russia's near-abroad (the Ukraine & the Trans-Caucaus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). And with Cuba being in a transitional state itself AND with the US making moves to normalize relations with the island nation, why wouldn't he do what he could to increase Russian influence?

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Sadly, no.

Russians have been up and down the East Coast.
(Interesting things, washed up on the beaches, when they were chased by the Coast guard.)
I was annoyed at Reagan for telling the Russians to stay away.
They liked to trade dark strong tabacco for American cigarettes.

I listened to a Russian propagandist on shortwave, for years. It was a culture shock to me, when he came to America, and started to take part in radio talk shows.

It was entertaining when they invaded Boston en masse.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Did Putin leave a few submarines in the Bermuda Triangle, after he paid a visit to Cuba?

[shrug] If he did, he'll never see them again.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

hmmmm-
Vladimir Posner ?

The music of Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsk, was finally exposed to the American public.

We pissed off Russia, when Mikhail Baryshnikov chose to stay in the USA. heh heh heh.

Academia is not paranoid.
Scientists are not paranoid.

Boston PBS was always ahead of the curve.