Olpererhütte, AustriaRussian warship with over 500 military cadets to arrive in Cuba in July
https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1687165238_47928.html
Translated excerpt:
Russian military ship Perekop will visit Havana between July 11 and 14, as announced by authorities of the Eurasian nation at the end of a visit made by the Prime Minister of the Island’s regime, Manuel Marrero.
According to media reports from the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the Russian Navy’s main command will hold “cultural and business events in Cuba in July related to the arrival of the training ship Perekop with humanitarian cargo on board.”
In a meeting with Marrero, the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, announced that “preparations are underway for joint cultural and business events in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Russian Navy’s main command in Havana. They are scheduled to coincide with the entry of the training ship Perekop from the Leningrad Naval Base, from July 11 to 14, 2023,” the Vecherka media outlet reported.
This would be the first visit to Cuba by the training ship Perekop from the Baltic Fleet, which usually sails with a crew of over 500 cadets from the naval military universities of St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Baltiysk.
During the voyages, the cadets have to practice navigation disciplines, improve ship control skills, among other exercises.
According to Beglov, a delegation from the Government of St. Petersburg, the Russian Museum, the Russian Navy’s main command, and the Moscow Government will participate in the events.
“As part of the visit, official meetings are planned, an exhibition on the besieged Leningrad will be opened, and a friendly football match will be held,” added the official.
The report also indicated that in the fall, a competition will be held between St. Petersburg and Cuban chess players in conjunction with the Cuban Chess Federation.
Marrero concluded his 11-day trip to Russia on June 17, after participating in the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) held in the city of Sochi and the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
During those days, the Cuban official held meetings with Vladimir Putin, the President of the Federation Council (Upper House of Parliament), Valentina Matvienko, the advisor to the Head of State, Maksim Oreshkin, and the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and Chairman of the United Russia Party, Dmitri Medvedev, among other officials.
Havana and Moscow have strengthened their alliance this year, announcing commercial, cultural, political, and business projects, while keeping a low profile on the increase of their military and security ties.
Olpererhütte, AustriaMarQ
China is muscling into power across America’s underbelly
Excerpt:
When Americans think about conflict with China, Taiwan comes to mind first.
Yet there’s a front off our shores as well, in the Caribbean.
Visit almost any island in the region, and you’ll confront evidence of Beijing’s reach.
Ten Caribbean nations participate in the “Belt and Road” initiative — Grenada, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and of course Cuba.
These states owe much of their modern infrastructure, from roads and ports to energy and telecommunications, to Beijing’s patronage.
In Antigua, China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. built a new terminal for VC Bird International Airport.
In Jamaica, China Merchant Port Holdings owns the Port of Kingston outright.
Another Chinese company, Hutchison Ports, holds a controlling stake in the port complex at Freeport in the Bahamas.
Solar panels, health clinics, sports stadiums — Beijing underwrites them all.
“Chinese development banks offered a less time-consuming process than Western-dominated multilateral lending institutions, demanded less transparency and disclosure, and were often willing to supply credit at below market interest rates,” explains Scott B. MacDonald in a recent report for the Jamestown Foundation.
The United States prides itself on upholding a “rules-based international order.”
But for developing states, the rules can be burdensome.
China offers a cheap, no-questions-asked alternative.
Unfortunately for the borrowers, the fine print often includes “the option that, in the event of failure to pay, the Chinese lending institution would assume control of the asset in question.”
In an attempt to expand its military and economic presence across the globe, China is spending billions of dollars to influence the militaries and economies of vulnerable developing nations.
Nations that don’t sell their sovereignty willingly nonetheless face “the possibility China could use leverage gained through lending or ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ as a means for Beijing to gain control over strategic assets like harbors and railways.”
And China uses its economic pull to maximum political effect.
In 2018, the Dominican Republic broke diplomatic ties with Taipei and declared Taiwan “an inalienable part of Chinese territory.”
This year, Honduras followed suit.
Now part of Belt and Road, Honduras stands to gain greater investment in hydroelectric power, among other perks.
Chinese influence throughout Latin America is growing, but the Caribbean has special significance.
Five of the remaining 12 United Nations member states that recognize Taipei as a national capital are Caribbean — Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize.
Even if China can’t lure them all into Belt and Road, these countries increasingly have to think about Beijing as they navigate relationships with their own neighbors. China’s strategic interests are now locally embedded.
Where superpowers are concerned, globalization is never just an economic phenomenon. It’s political — and military — too.
Diplomatically isolating Taiwan is one of China’s aims in the Caribbean.
Another is to exploit American sensitivity to provocations in our own backyard.
.....If a rival like China wants to divert America’s attention from Asia, even a modest nuisance in the Caribbean might suffice.
Right now China’s capacity to stir up such a commotion is limited.
But the more sway Beijing gains over the economically vulnerable and politically rather fragile states of the Caribbean, the more the potential for mischief grows — mischief that could shake the world order.
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A weak FJB encouraging this but can China truly expand in our hemisphere. Demographics will start catching up to China’s grandiose plans. Their quality of product is still horrible and with no first world allies in our hemisphere their supply chain can easily be interrupted. Most of these nations will regret their involvement with China. IMO China will use Cuba to establish a foothold as long as FJB is around.