While the world watches Iran, another rogue regime may be about to collapse. Cuba suffered another devastating power outage this week, as the island nation continues to face an energy and financial crisis exacerbated by the cutoff of Venezuelan oil. The Trump administration sanctioned all Venezuelan oil and then took control of the oil after the arrest and removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier this year. That has left Cuba in increasingly dire straits, without its main energy and financial source.
President Trump laid out the situation last week when he spoke to reporters at the White House. "Cuba is right now, to put it mildly, a failing nation," said Trump. "They have no money, no oil, no food, and it really is right now a nation in deep trouble, and they want our help."
Trump went on to say we may see a "friendly takeover" of Cuba in the near future, and reiterated that point this week, telling Politico "Cuba is going to fall."
If Cuba falls in the aftermath of Venezuela and Iran, it will mark a consistent pattern developing in the second Trump administration. "It's what I think he would call his own Trump doctrine," says Harry Kazianis, foreign policy analyst. "Making sure that rogue regimes around the world are weakened to such an extent that they either collapse, or there is very little in terms of military power or economic capabilities that they can use to hurt U.S. interests."
While Cuba is not a military threat like Russia, China, or Iran, it is strategically vital to U.S. interests. "I think (Trump) sees the long term challenges of all these different rogue regimes," says Kazianis. "Keep in mind, the United States has always been worried about a possible Russian military buildup in Cuba, and God forbid China could even be a possible player there in the future...so I think this is part of a wider strategy, and Cuba is a big part of that."
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