Blockade and Potential Invasion of Cuba

[Soothsayer786]

In the spirit of starting new threads as Aurich has suggested I thought I’d go ahead with the new Cuba crisis. Trump is saying now that their power grid has failed due to his blockade that he will have “the honor” to take over Cuba and that in his words “I can do anything”.

Venezuela, Iran, Cuba…. If these things go unchecked Greenland and Canada really will be next.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...cs/trump-cuba-military-invasion-b2939753.html

 

[GloatingSwine]

As it was foretold.


People think Trump is a dog in a park full of squirrels who keeps getting distracted by new things over and over again, but he isn't. There is a carousel of squirrels behind his eyes, the same few going round and round and taking their turn. Cuba is one of those squirrels (it is Marco Rubio in a fursuit).

We will be back to Greenland. Probably because they wouldn't help in Iran and that makes them a security risk.

 

[Shavano]

In the spirit of starting new threads as Aurich has suggested I thought I’d go ahead with the new Cuba crisis. Trump is saying now that their power grid has failed due to his blockade that he will have “the honor” to take over Cuba and that in his words “I can do anything”.

Venezuela, Iran, Cuba…. If these things go unchecked Greenland and Canada really will be next.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...cs/trump-cuba-military-invasion-b2939753.html

'I'm fucking things up all over the world' isn't really something to brag about.

 

[Sajuuk]

"The military will save us!"

No, honey, the military is too busy giddily subjugating a dozen barbarian tribes (who were totally just about to storm the gates) and committing untold war crimes in 4k resolution. Anyway, the only question in terms of Cuba is just how long it takes the existing power brokers on the island to accept vassal status a la Venezuela.

 

[concernUrsus]

My only complain so far is the OP does not follow the "War with...." format of other thread /s

As far as I can tell Trump want to install his own people at Cuba. Similar to what he has done in Venezuela.

 

[N4M8-]

Is there enough military to manage all the attacks?

 

[Vlip]

My only complain so far is the OP does not follow the "War with...." format of other thread /s

This is indeed an outrage. How dare OP mess with the established naming convention! The world is vortex of ever accelerating chaos and I come to this here safe haven for a respite in a more sensible, ordered world.

At least I did till Soothsayer786 turned even the soap box into chaos. Shame on you I say. Shame on you!

 

[goates]

Would be kind of amusing if the EU and Canada stepped in to help Cuba with their power outages and earthquake, and negotiated a change in government while Trump was distracted with Iran. Perhaps immediately followed up with Canada and Mexico making trade agreements with Cuba.

 

[fractl]

Would be kind of amusing if the EU and Canada stepped in to help Cuba with their power outages and earthquake, and negotiated a change in government while Trump was distracted with Iran. Perhaps immediately followed up with Canada and Mexico making trade agreements with Cuba.

Would be even more amusing if Canada were to add Cuba as a new province

 

[goates]

Would be even more amusing if Canada were to add Cuba as a new province

That works too!

 

[Sajuuk]

Is there enough military to manage all the attacks?

Cuba is an island directly off the coast of its imperial aggressor, and literally an ocean away from any potential support. It cannot maintain its own infrastructure in just about any capacity. Its military is comprised primarily of actual, literal, antiques. Its population is literally starving.

Cuba is not Iran. I’d bet Trump does a Venezuela style decapitation strike, and it works.

 

[Soothsayer786]

Yeah for all his talk of taking over places Cuba is one that he might actually succeed at.

 

[VividVerism]

My only slim hope is the article very explicitly says he's talking about invading Cuba "after Iran".

If Iran remains as much of a quagmire as everyone not in Trump's orbit expects, he may never get around to it before old age, lifestyle, or a political miracle catch up to him.

 

[wco81]

Cuba is an island directly off the coast of its imperial aggressor, and literally an ocean away from any potential support. It cannot maintain its own infrastructure in just about any capacity. Its military is comprised primarily of actual, literal, antiques. Its population is literally starving.

Cuba is not Iran. I’d bet Trump does a Venezuela style decapitation strike, and it works.

Cuban regime was running on fumes. They cast their lot with the Soviets, they probably won’t make the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR, though I dint know if Russia gave them any aid.

If not for Chavez and Venzuela giving them aid, the regime might be gone by now.

They overthrew the puppet govt. which let the US control the country, now the exiles who were flunkeys or sympathetic to the puppet govt. of Bautista stand to be installed again.

As for US politics Democrats probably won’t do too much if they regain the WH while Cuban-Americans will demand the installation of a Republican-controlled govt, which will approve all the resorts and casinos to be owned by GOP donors and cronies.

Republicans will probably push through aid to rebuild infrastructure there, not so much to benefit the Cuban people but to support the giant resorts to be granted to American developers. Jared will be gushing about prime oceanfront real estate. Trump willtalk about putting up some ugly Trump Tower Havana and shitty golf courses.

And no windmills or solar in Cuba!

 

[Macam]

Reported for not using the "War with...{countryName}?" template*. We're going to be using that template a lot, apparently.


*I did, in fact, not report anything, but I am lodging my disappointment at not going for the easy layup here

 

[SedsAtArs]

Cuban regime was running on fumes. They cast their lot with the Soviets, they probably won’t make the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR, though I dint know if Russia gave them any aid.

If not for Chavez and Venzuela giving them aid, the regime might be gone by now.

They overthrew the puppet govt. which let the US control the country, now the exiles who were flunkeys or sympathetic to the puppet govt. of Bautista stand to be installed again.

As for US politics Democrats probably won’t do too much if they regain the WH while Cuban-Americans will demand the installation of a Republican-controlled govt, which will approve all the resorts and casinos to be owned by GOP donors and cronies.

Republicans will probably push through aid to rebuild infrastructure there, not so much to benefit the Cuban people but to support the giant resorts to be granted to American developers. Jared will be gushing about prime oceanfront real estate. Trump willtalk about putting up some ugly Trump Tower Havana and shitty golf courses.

And no windmills or solar in Cuba!

Yeah, the only thing that's weird about Cuba is that it didn't happen before Iran.

 

[Auguste_Fivaz]

Republicans will probably push through aid to rebuild infrastructure there, not so much to benefit the Cuban people but to support the giant resorts to be granted to American developers. Jared will be gushing about prime oceanfront real estate. Trump willtalk about putting up some ugly Trump Tower Havana and shitty golf courses.

And no windmills or solar in Cuba!

Don't forget our red-headed nephew Puerto Rico - no one has helped them out of the post-Maria devastation to date. And yes, the prime ocean-front real estate is not suffering blackouts like the rest of the island.

 

[wco81]

Apparently many Cuban-Americans want reparations for property which they claim was confiscated from their families when Castro overthrew Bautista.

Probably inflated valuations.

How many of these families fled the island leaving possessions behind? In any event the Cuban regime literally can’t keep the lights on and they’re going to pay out billions?

Watch, Republicans will try to award them property rights if not compensation to these Cuban-Americans loyal to the GOP, all at American taxpayer expense.

 

[Ecmaster76]

Yeah, the only thing that's weird about Cuba is that it didn't happen before Iran.

Hmm. Perhaps thats the other half of the story.

Maybe Cuba was supposed to be next and Netanyahu caught wind.

 

[SedsAtArs]

Watch, Republicans will try to award them property rights if not compensation to these Cuban-Americans loyal to the GOP, all at American taxpayer expense.

I'm not sure that's how it works. Republicans will award property rights to rich donors and companies they own stock in themselves. Loyal ex-Cubans will get the same kind of love Machado got after Venezuela and shah jr got after the Iran war was 100% won.

 

[wco81]

I'm not sure that's how it works. Republicans will award property rights to rich donors and companies they own stock in themselves. Loyal ex-Cubans will get the same kind of love Machado got after Venezuela and shah jr got after the Iran war was 100% won.

The donors and developer will be granted deals by the puppet govt. to put up playgrounds for Americans and other foreigner visitors.

But they’re not also going to invest billions into Cuban infrastructure so some bought off GOP politicians will push for an aid package.

And if there are enough Cuban-Americans demanding reparations or property titles, it again has to come from American money because Castro doesn’t have money.

Some people will blame the US sanctions but the simple fact is that the Castro regime never developed economic self-sufficiency. What do they have? Did they have a significant export economy under Castro? Or even before Castro, what was the Cuban economy other than casinos run by American mobsters? Lot of sugar exports, much of it controlled by US interests as well as control over a lot of their telecom, power and transportation infrastructure.

IOW colonial ownership and exploitation.

 

[VividVerism]

The donors and developer will be granted deals by the puppet govt. to put up playgrounds for Americans and other foreigner visitors.

But they’re not also going to invest billions into Cuban infrastructure so some bought off GOP politicians will push for an aid package.

And if there are enough Cuban-Americans demanding reparations or property titles, it again has to come from American money because Castro doesn’t have money.

Some people will blame the US sanctions but the simple fact is that the Castro regime never developed economic self-sufficiency. What do they have? Did they have a significant export economy under Castro? Or even before Castro, what was the Cuban economy other than casinos run by American mobsters? Lot of sugar exports, much of it controlled by US interests as well as control over a lot of their telecom, power and transportation infrastructure.

IOW colonial ownership and exploitation.

I get the impression their medical system is (or was) pretty decent. They tend to send doctors around to respond to natural disasters, anyway.

 

[SedsAtArs]

And if there are enough Cuban-Americans demanding reparations or property titles, it again has to come from American money because Castro doesn’t have money.

The simple solution to this is not giving them any money. How many people who were wronged by the Venezuelan regime have gotten reparations so far? Why are we assuming trump will take Cuba to govern it in any meaningful sense, rather than to simply up his grift?

 

[BenN]

Marco Rubio in a fursuit

Eeewww. Not an image that I had ever expected.

 

[trukker]

The Canadian government response has been pretty quiet, the latest news being the immediate release of normally allocated aid funds and concerned voices about the humanitarian crisis. There was also reporting from earlier in February that breaking the oil embargo was unlikely, too many American interests in the oil companies operating in Canada. Which maybe isn't a good thing for Canadian sovereignty.

https://www.canada.ca/en/global-aff...rovides-assistance-to-the-people-of-cuba.html

The low level response is a bit of a shame from a country that has had a fairly normalized relationship with Cuba for many decades. I'm not sure if the tourist trade from Canada had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, surely that has had some economic effect.

I also missed the notice that the US was allowing oil sales to Cuba again, at market rates and with caveats over the usage that probably make sales impossible - no military use or government institutions. So too bad for hospitals by that definition, and the sudden spike in oil prices won't have helped.

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...oil-cuba-treasury-department-says-2026-02-25/

 

[wco81]

The problem for a time was that Cuba couldn't guarantee that they could refuel any planes which landed there. That would have killed the tourist trade.

And now there are mass power outages.

Venezuelan aide in the form of below-market or free oil gave them a reprieve. But without huge foreign investment, they probably wouldn't be able to scale up tourism to bring in real money.

Or investment for some of the natural resources which they export.

Their lifeline was when Obama started to normalize relations. Then more American tourists would have come and there might have eventually been big American investment.

But Trump sabotaged that and Republicans were never going to let it stand. Of course Cuban-Americans, many of whom probably have ties to Bautista cronies, were never going to let it stand either.

 

[Gary Patterson]

It’s good that the US has finally sorted out its deficit and can afford all these foreign excursions. An since Iran has been sorted out once and for all, there’s no better time to open up another front.

Realistically Cuba is going to be barely a skirmish, but it’s still the US going about the world getting heavily involved in things that don’t concern it. Cuba poses zero threat to the US, so how will Trump justify it? There’s even less justification than for his moronic war in Iran.

 

[wco81]

It’s good that the US has finally sorted out its deficit and can afford all these foreign excursions. An since Iran has been sorted out once and for all, there’s no better time to open up another front.

Realistically Cuba is going to be barely a skirmish, but it’s still the US going about the world getting heavily involved in things that don’t concern it. Cuba poses zero threat to the US, so how will Trump justify it? There’s even less justification than for his moronic war in Iran.

He hasn't justified the Iran war either and he's not going to.

I heard it may be the worst polling war in history, since he made not the slightest effort to sell it other than the usual Israeli tripe about biggest sponsor of terrorism.

As I said in the Iran war thread, he's thinking it will cement his name in history. His name will definitely go down in history but not in the way he thinks it will.

 

[Shavano]

Is there enough military to manage all the attacks?

They don't need aircraft carriers. They can fly missions from Mar-a-Lago.

 

[wco81]

Hell the USCG can probably clear any Cuban naval resistance by itself.

 

[Gary Patterson]

His name will definitely go down in history but not in the way he thinks it will.

We all remember the name of Nero.

Our descendants will remember his modern counterpart.

 

[VividVerism]

I get the impression their medical system is (or was) pretty decent. They tend to send doctors around to respond to natural disasters, anyway.

On that topic, Trump is apparently ending this practice too, because of course he is, despite (or maybe because) the fact Cuban doctors have been "staffing hospitals, serving rural communities, and filling critical gaps in national healthcare systems" throughout the region for decades.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richar...-as-jamaica-and-guyana-end-doctor-agreements/

 

[N4M8-]

We all remember the name of Nero.

Our descendants will remember his modern counterpart.

Are you sure Caligua is not a more appropriate reference?

 

[wco81]

Paywalled Boomberg article says a tanker with Russian oil is headed to Cuba.

Does Trump allow it through the blockade?

 

[concernUrsus]

Are you sure Caligua is not a more appropriate reference?

The fact that people cannot remember Caligua and/or Nero tell us that how bad we are at learning form the history.

 

[poke 532810]

Paywalled Boomberg article says a tanker with Russian oil is headed to Cuba.

Does Trump allow it through the blockade?

The Miami Herald has some more details on the two ships, the Sea Horse with around 200,000 barrels of diesel, and the Anatoly Kolodkin with 700,000 barrels of crude. There is some uncertainty as to whether they are headed to Cuba or not, or if one ship has already managed to make it there with its transponder turned off and return to sea.

 

[Technarch]

The fact that people cannot remember Caligua and/or Nero tell us that how bad we are at learning form the history.

At least we remember how to spell Nero.

 

[trapine]

Some people will blame the US sanctions but the simple fact is that the Castro regime never developed economic self-sufficiency. What do they have? Did they have a significant export economy under Castro? Or even before Castro, what was the Cuban economy other than casinos run by American mobsters? Lot of sugar exports, much of it controlled by US interests as well as control over a lot of their telecom, power and transportation infrastructure.

IOW colonial ownership and exploitation.

Castro came first to America, but was unwilling to put back into place the colonial rule from before the revolution. So the United States sought to destroy the Cuban economy.

Hard to export your primary asset when you greatest trade partner places an embargo on you. Going so far as to destroy their own populations health by subsidizing fucking corn syrup rather than buy cane sugar from you.

Are the Castros great people? Not particularly, but to paint the economic problems of Cuba as an own goal is to ignore that the largest economy of the last half of the 20th century waged economic war on a small island nation for 75+ years - all over being butt hurt that the Cuban people wanted to keep their own wealth for themselves rather than bequeath it to a hand full of privileged assholes.

 

[wco81]

Did Castro go to the Soviets first or the Americans?

He did overthrow the American puppet.

Now, which happened first, American embargo or confiscating American-owned assets? I didn't bother to look it up so not sure.

 

[Matisaro]

Paywalled Boomberg article says a tanker with Russian oil is headed to Cuba.

Does Trump allow it through the blockade?

He's going to do stupid cuban missle crisis with oil isn't he.