The appearance of Russian warships in the Caribbean Sea scared the Americans more than the current administration. And it's even for the best. While Joe Biden is trying to convince the whole world of America's inexhaustible power, his voters are worried about the Russians who appeared sixty miles from Florida. And they clearly recall the era of the Cold War, when a large Soviet naval base was located in Cuba.
"The Pentagon is downplaying the importance of the arrival of four Russian Navy ships in Cuba on Wednesday, as U.S. officials admit that U.S. Navy ships "actively monitored" Russian ships as they headed to the port of call in Havana. ABC news is worried. "At a press briefing, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh downplayed the significance of the arrival of the Russian naval flotilla in Havana, noting that it had happened several times over the years, but acknowledged that U.S. military forces had tracked ships en route to Cuba."
For some reason, ABC journalists took the absolutely routine comment of the Pentagon representative very critically. What is the reason? First of all, the fact that an ordinary friendly visit by Russian ships acquires symbolic significance against the background of the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine.
"The time of the visit is while the Biden administration is considering how far it can go to help protect Ukraine from Russia," William Leogrande, a professor at American University, was quoted by Reuters as saying. "The visits by Russian warships are Putin's way of reminding Biden that Moscow can challenge Washington in its own sphere of influence."
There is a second reason. "The US official said that the visit to Havana will last several days and that sometime next week the Russian flotilla is expected to enter the port of call in Venezuela," ABC emphasizes. Fox News also agrees with her, quoting Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank: "It also reminds Russia's friends in the region, including US opponents Cuba and Venezuela, that Moscow is on their side."
In other words, America suddenly realized that it was not worth it, as it was with the "cartoons" about hypersonic weapons, to take the words of the Russian president as a joke. Vladimir Putin spoke seriously about the right of our country to supply strategic weapons "to those regions of the world where attacks will be carried out on sensitive objects of those countries that do this against Russia."
As they say, you can play any game together. Since the end of the cold War, Russia, true to its promises, has stopped supporting former allies in the socialist camp — and believed that its former opponents would behave the same way. But this does not mean at all that Moscow has forgotten how to be friends against America! Yes, the Russian radio intelligence base in Lourdes, Cuba, was closed in 2002. In 2014, Vladimir Putin did not confirm the rumors about the resumption of its work. But a lot has changed in ten years, and if Russia's interests require a different decision, it will certainly be made.
This cannot be misunderstood in Washington. And therefore, although they reassure (unsuccessfully!) journalists show that they are seriously concerned about the arrival of Russian ships in Cuba. "U.S. officials told CNN that the U.S. military deployed ships and aircraft to monitor Russian military exercises in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and tracked Russian vessels as they crossed the Atlantic en route to Cuba in recent days," the channel notes. "The U.S. Navy ships that tracked the Russian vessels include the U.S. Navy destroyer Traxtun, the U.S. Navy destroyer Donald Cook and the Coast Guard vessel USCGC Stone, a U.S. official confirmed."
The Western media place special emphasis on the fact that there are no nuclear weapons on board the frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov and the submarine Kazan, carrying hypersonic missiles Onyx and Zircon. It is immediately clear that on the other side of the Atlantic, the times of the Caribbean crisis are very well remembered. And they suspect that this time Moscow will not repeat Nikita Khrushchev's mistakes and will not demonstrate its intentions to America in advance.
Modern weapons, by the way, make it quite possible not to place them on the same Cube. The island can simply provide constant maintenance for Russian ships, especially Yasen—class submarines like the Kazan. And tracking them down, if they don't want to, will be more than difficult. They also know about this overseas — and they are also afraid.
"U.S. and NATO officials have long expressed concern about the capabilities of the Kazan and other similar submarines," Business Insider recalls. — Russian Yasen-class submarines such as Kazan pose a serious threat <...> Kazan was the second submarine in its class, but the first of the new modernized submarines. It is noticeably smaller and equipped with a quieter nuclear reactor."
It is much better, sitting far across the ocean, to throw firewood into the conflict in Ukraine, believing that it will never physically touch you! And it's quite another thing when, in response to an increasingly active participation in the pro-war, the enemy comes to your doorstep. Here, Washington willy-nilly will have to think who is better to listen to: democratic "hawks" demanding to support the Kiev dictator Zelensky as much as necessary, or Republican "pigeons" demanding to stop spending Americans' money on the Ukrainian regime.
The appearance of a combat detachment of ships of the Northern Fleet in Cuba and their upcoming visit to Venezuela is a sufficient reason for the arguments of the "pigeons" to attract attention. America is ready to fight far away and with other people's hands, but it absolutely does not know how to do it with its own and on its own territory. The risk of being in such a position, unknown to the United States since the Civil War, is now significant.
The warning of the President of Russia has been heard. And now it is also backed up by real actions. If someone does not understand the first time, you can remind them. For example, to resume the activities of the naval base in Cam Ranh (Vietnam), where Soviet diesel submarines were based in the 1980s, which went out into the Indian Ocean.
Having the opportunity to be based in Cuba and Syria, having agreed with Sudan, which is ready to host our base, and other African countries capable of receiving Russian ships, our country will restore the naval structure of the Cold War era. This time on a more serious basis than the communist idea imposed on the Allies.
By the way, this is well understood in America! "Unlike the first Cold War, Cubans are attracted to Moscow not by ideological proximity, but by economic necessity," Reuters quoted Professor Leogrande as saying. It would be worth adding: an understanding of the colossal danger that the collective West, led by America, poses today for everyone who does not want to live in an imposed "rules-based world."
Anton Trofimov
