"Secretary of State Marco Rubio describes Cuba not simply as a chronic adversary but as an active “national security threat” tied to migration, Chinese influence, and regional instability."
Marco Rubio, like me, must also describe Cuba as the home of his relatives--actual people who are actually suffering not at the hands of their own government, but ours. A fuel embargo is slowly starving people who have nothing to do with China or anything but survival. Most Americans know only the sad one-dimensional accounts provided by the news--Cuba is a target. Cuba is a prize. No: Cuba is people. My people. Our neighbors. Pawns, of course, in the quest to assuage Trump's ego.
Please, Contrarians, remember that there are millions of people just like yourselves who only want to live their lives in some measure of comfort and dignity. At this point, that is the most that they can hope for.
Well said, but the magats view Cuba as "communist." most of them not knowing what "communist" or "socialist" really means, and there is a big difference between the two.
At the moment, there is really not such a big difference between "communist" Cuba and "capitalist" USA, strangely enough. In both cases, the upper echelons live high on the hog, while the average Jane and John Doe have to fight for survival every day.
Also, somehow a “capitalist” government wants stakes in large, lucrative corporations. Meanwhile, a wealth tax won’t fly. What kind of hypocrisy is that?
Absolutely. We have friends in Cuba and hear about the dire conditions they are experiencing. Food and daily necessities are scarce and expensive. Most of the common people can get enough and we struggling to hang on. This on going blockade should end and food and resources be supplied.
I would like coverage of Ukraine to be a stand alone situation. I would like coverage of European nations provisioning Ukraine and strengthening NATO defenses against Russian encroachment, such as recently occurred against Romania and Baltic. Trump washed his hands off Ukraine and should not profit at all from anything that happens there.
The war in Ukraine is a war against a totalitarianism that is seeping with old line corrupt communism, a situation where our allies are in danger and we are in danger. It is shameful that we've stoped giving aid to Ukraine and heroic that they, and what's left of NATO, have been able to hold the line. The military and economic aid we could have given them might have produced the kind victory that would have pushed Russia towards a more democratic state.
Cuba, like Venezuela and Iran, are so steeped in corruption that they present no current, or even long term threats. But, I wonder, if we had forged economic agreements with them that had depended upon a decent degree of liberalization, what those countries might have looked like a few years down the road. Looks like we'll never know. Whatever happens, none of these countries are going to soon forget what we've done to them.
For Trump to come in now and give piddling assistance to Ukraine in transparent exchange to claim he helped with or caused victory will not go over- IF he would do that. The train has left the station. Dramatic movement is needed: threats to Putin and aid to Ukraine. But this is dreaming. Trump WILL NOT go against Putin even for his precious win. I have not read anything that makes sense of this, maybe there is no sense to be made.
I do not understand why the Congress puts up with Trump either. Why are they so paralyzed? Trump's power? This *gives* Trump power over them.
I am fine with Trump not strengthening his position (our position) at the moment, not until he is gone. We are in the process of taking slowly seeing Trump go down though not fast enough. It takes time and is excruciating, but it will happen.
Ukraine is amazing.. The Euros need to do even more...they are so sclerotic..
Has the EU helped Ukraine? A few FACTS for you to chew on …
“ This brief provides a big-picture overview of support for Ukraine after four years of war. The key finding from 2025 is that Europe has almost offset the 🔻collapse 🔻in US support.
· US aid fell by 🔻99 percent. At the same time, Europe sharply increased its aid allocations, by 59 percent for financial and humanitarian aid and by 67 percent for military aid compared to the 2022–24 average. As a result, total aid in 2025 remained close to previous years.
· Within Europe, financial and humanitarian aid is now dominated by EU institutions, as EU loans and grants account for 🔹89 percent of these flows in 2025.
Military aid is ever more concentrated on a few countries. Northern and Western Europe accounted for about 95 percent, in particular Scandinavia, Germany, the United Kingdom. In contrast, the military aid from Southern and Eastern Europe continued to fall.”
Thanks... my impression is that the KIND of military aid that we can provide to prevail this is not ( cannot be) provided by the Euros. Look this up. I simply asked A I "can or does Europe make up for loss in US military aid?" --which gives sources plus this:
Fragile MAGA egos are rejecting the future, from energy to drones
PAUL KRUGMAN
JUN 9
READ IN APP
Drones have rapidly transformed modern war. The U.S. military, the most sophisticated, best supplied force in history, has been 🔻 humiliated by Iran, largely thanks to Iran’s effective use of inexpensive drones to menace shipping, energy production, and even U.S. bases. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s growing superiority in drone warfare is increasingly giving it the upper hand over Russia. Remember, not so long ago the American far right celebrated Putin’s macho posturing and his supposed military invincibility.
Given this radical turn of events, shouldn’t the United States be eager to make a drone deal with Ukraine, benefiting from its technology and expertise?
Apparently not. The Hill reports that Donald Trump has been dragging his feet on such a deal, quoting U.S. military analysts who say that they don’t understand the delay and that they are “mystified.” But I assume that they’re being 🔹disingenuous and prefer to avoid saying the obvious. In fact, Trump’s unwillingness to make a deal that would clearly benefit America’s national interest is no mystery at all.
I’ll get to the obvious in a moment. First, let me take a slight detour into something that seems unrelated but in fact helps explain drone aversion: this administration’s hostility to renewable energy and its desperate, doomed and wasteful effort to revive the coal industry.
There was a time when “drill, baby, drill” could be portrayed as a realistic, hard-headed position. Does anyone remember the Cheney Energy Task Force? However, in the past few years, radical declines in the cost of solar power, wind power, and batteries — which solve the problem that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — have made 🔹renewables the most cost-effective way to generate electricity. By contrast, coal is completely unviable. Here are the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s estimates for utility capacity additions in 2025:
Yet Trump is trying to block renewable energy projects any way he can and has just invoked wartime authority to spend $700 million subsidizing new power plants using “clean, beautiful” coal.
Why? Part of the answer is 🔹big money. Fossil fuel interests were huge supporters of Trump in 2024. In fact, the Trump presidency is itself the result of billions of dollars spent by the Koch Brothers and others to corrupt and undermine U.S. political institutions -- the Supreme Court very much included. Anti-renewable, pro-fossil fuel policy is their reward, along with the destruction of the Voting Rights Act and the adoption of Project 2025.
💠 What’s the other part? Clean energy has become a bogeyman in the culture wars: mining and burning coal are considered “manly” activities, while renewable energy is portrayed as woke and effeminate. Real men don’t worry about black lung and airborne particulates, let alone climate change.
So a combination of big money and fragile male egos drives Green Derangement Syndrome. And the same is true for both the Iran debacle and the refusal to learn from the catastrophe by turning to Ukraine.
Why was the United States so unprepared for the Iranian drone threat, despite the obvious successes of Ukrainian drones against Russia? Well, as investigative reporters delve into the story, I would urge them to follow the money.
America has a huge, highly profitable 🔹defense industry, dedicated to a suite of technologies that are rapidly being rendered 🔹obsolete, as $4 million Patriot missiles, that take years to build, are being used to shoot down $35,000 Shahed drones that can be manufactured in months.
So it wouldn’t be surprising if 🔻defense-industry interests are playing a significant role in the Trump administration’s refusal to admit that the rules of war have changed — the same way that fossil fuel companies have campaigned against the new realities of energy technology. After all, a deal with drone-savvy Ukrainians would mean less money going to US defense contractors.
While this is speculative, we do know that recognition of the drone revolution in warfare by Trump and his inner circle would require that they abandon their fantasy of macho military power. Pete Hegseth has been purging the military of capable officers — especially Blacks and women — he considers insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Beyond loyalty tests, however, he has exalted the importance of “warrior ethos” and physical fitness, as if he were leading the 🔹300 Spartans rather than a high-tech military in an age of drones and electronic warfare.
It’s true that Hegseth, perhaps chastened by his abject failure in Iran — why does he still have a job? — recently admitted that the U.S. has learned from Ukraine. But an admission that his entire conception of war was wrongheaded will be a step too far for him.
Likewise, Trump himself is in love with big, expensive weapons as 🔻symbols of virility and power. He’s still pushing for giant “Trump-class” battleships, even though they would be sitting ducks in a modern war. Just ask the Ukrainians, who have used missiles and naval drones to force Russia’s once-vaunted 🔹Black Sea Fleet to cower in a fortified refuge. But Trump doesn’t want to give up his fantasies.
And he’s especially unwilling to learn from Ukraine. After all, he cut off aid to Ukraine in a hissy fit over Zelenskyy’s well-deserved reputation for heroism, only to he humiliated by Ukraine’s refusal to lose its war. Admitting that he needs Ukrainian help would be a further humiliation.
As I said earlier, there is no mystery about why Trump refuses to make a drone deal with Ukraine. Never mind the national interest. In military strategy as in energy policy, Trump is betraying America in the service of 🔹money and 🔹machismo.
Trump is trying to make us into Sparta, I agree. Trump is trying to make the country in his image, a projection of his psychological needs, or his (I will call it) psychosis. And everything that you have laid out, including his chosen ( and confirmed and tolerated) "loyalists" working for him, pertains to that essential fact. This is on us. We have thus far not impeached him. We have not been able to impeach him with the Congress that we have, elected by the people... supposedly, so far. This is on us. So I read your long comment and it''s all about Trump boiled down. A year and a half ago we had a stubborn aging President and his administration that did not do this much harm in his 4 years. This time around Trump is getting what he wants and is also being managed. He has a wall around him of protection. We have to break it down. So who are the traitors? To have a democracy we need participation and informed voters, voters who understand what the majority of us want, what we want our country to be, to become. How did we get to this existential situation? Why do we insist on trying to make rational what is irrational?
Trump is mentally "off", about himself only, tearing us apart, tearing us down. And we have so far been unable to stop him. It's hard work using the system itself corrupted. It's uphill especially if we are avoiding outright bloody revolution. ( We do not have the masses for that either.) Some of us are trying their utmost. ***But this is a very dangerous situation.***
‘Focus shifts to drones’ … graphs displaying Trump’s ZERO support, with very increased EU & other (Japanese) support re: drones … almost gets them to prev. donations.
I’m sure they wd like to have more of ‘everything’, but they are being very inventive & effective with drone warfare. Larger military equipment … I’m not sure they wd advertise in public … unless it was a great increase.
Oh, but if only Trump were a rational actor! If he were to choose to provide Ukraine with more money, munitions (do we have any left to spare?), additional sanctions (why are there always "additional" sanctions to apply?) and public support, Ukraine might actually emerge victorious. Trump might legitimately claim to have ended a war. And yet, here we are...
Trump is incapable of recognizing opportunities that can help him if they don't look like clear and obvious wins.
He could have let ACA subsidies continue or even reduced them but concede some continuing amount and the impact on his approval ratings not to mention the continued subservience of GOP reps whose constituents were affected would have been much more positive than what actually happened.
If he had immediately, publicly pulled ICE attacks back even a little bit he would have mitigated the fallout tremendously.
Maybe don't let Israel push you into a war with Iran or at least listen to the experts so you're not shocked by the closing of the Straight of Hormuz.
Trump is his own worst enemy. A few minor concessions could have kept his approval ratings in reasonable territory and the forecast wouldn't have been so dire for the midterms and he might have been able to continue doing whatever he wants.
That's the one benefit of his abject stupidity...self-destructiveness.
"Secretary of State Marco Rubio describes Cuba not simply as a chronic adversary but as an active “national security threat” tied to migration, Chinese influence, and regional instability."
Marco Rubio, like me, must also describe Cuba as the home of his relatives--actual people who are actually suffering not at the hands of their own government, but ours. A fuel embargo is slowly starving people who have nothing to do with China or anything but survival. Most Americans know only the sad one-dimensional accounts provided by the news--Cuba is a target. Cuba is a prize. No: Cuba is people. My people. Our neighbors. Pawns, of course, in the quest to assuage Trump's ego.
Please, Contrarians, remember that there are millions of people just like yourselves who only want to live their lives in some measure of comfort and dignity. At this point, that is the most that they can hope for.
Well said, but the magats view Cuba as "communist." most of them not knowing what "communist" or "socialist" really means, and there is a big difference between the two.
At the moment, there is really not such a big difference between "communist" Cuba and "capitalist" USA, strangely enough. In both cases, the upper echelons live high on the hog, while the average Jane and John Doe have to fight for survival every day.
Also, somehow a “capitalist” government wants stakes in large, lucrative corporations. Meanwhile, a wealth tax won’t fly. What kind of hypocrisy is that?
A normal fascist hypocrisy.
Absolutely. We have friends in Cuba and hear about the dire conditions they are experiencing. Food and daily necessities are scarce and expensive. Most of the common people can get enough and we struggling to hang on. This on going blockade should end and food and resources be supplied.
They pose no threat, other than a moral one when we fail to do the right thing.
I would like coverage of Ukraine to be a stand alone situation. I would like coverage of European nations provisioning Ukraine and strengthening NATO defenses against Russian encroachment, such as recently occurred against Romania and Baltic. Trump washed his hands off Ukraine and should not profit at all from anything that happens there.
That's Trump and his misplaced adoration of Putin. Many of us much prefer to help the Ukrainians.
And then there is the theory that Trump is Putin's puppet.
a) + long responsible for Trump’s financial stability via ‘loans’.
b) dirt on him re: Epstein.
c) one despot to another … he admires Putin’s ‘success’ that way.
— Putin already has his extravagant ballrooms & dictatorship.
The war in Ukraine is a war against a totalitarianism that is seeping with old line corrupt communism, a situation where our allies are in danger and we are in danger. It is shameful that we've stoped giving aid to Ukraine and heroic that they, and what's left of NATO, have been able to hold the line. The military and economic aid we could have given them might have produced the kind victory that would have pushed Russia towards a more democratic state.
Cuba, like Venezuela and Iran, are so steeped in corruption that they present no current, or even long term threats. But, I wonder, if we had forged economic agreements with them that had depended upon a decent degree of liberalization, what those countries might have looked like a few years down the road. Looks like we'll never know. Whatever happens, none of these countries are going to soon forget what we've done to them.
For Trump to come in now and give piddling assistance to Ukraine in transparent exchange to claim he helped with or caused victory will not go over- IF he would do that. The train has left the station. Dramatic movement is needed: threats to Putin and aid to Ukraine. But this is dreaming. Trump WILL NOT go against Putin even for his precious win. I have not read anything that makes sense of this, maybe there is no sense to be made.
I do not understand why the Congress puts up with Trump either. Why are they so paralyzed? Trump's power? This *gives* Trump power over them.
I am fine with Trump not strengthening his position (our position) at the moment, not until he is gone. We are in the process of taking slowly seeing Trump go down though not fast enough. It takes time and is excruciating, but it will happen.
Ukraine is amazing.. The Euros need to do even more...they are so sclerotic..
Has the EU helped Ukraine? A few FACTS for you to chew on …
“ This brief provides a big-picture overview of support for Ukraine after four years of war. The key finding from 2025 is that Europe has almost offset the 🔻collapse 🔻in US support.
· US aid fell by 🔻99 percent. At the same time, Europe sharply increased its aid allocations, by 59 percent for financial and humanitarian aid and by 67 percent for military aid compared to the 2022–24 average. As a result, total aid in 2025 remained close to previous years.
· Within Europe, financial and humanitarian aid is now dominated by EU institutions, as EU loans and grants account for 🔹89 percent of these flows in 2025.
Military aid is ever more concentrated on a few countries. Northern and Western Europe accounted for about 95 percent, in particular Scandinavia, Germany, the United Kingdom. In contrast, the military aid from Southern and Eastern Europe continued to fall.”
https://www.kielinstitut.de/publications/europe-steps-up-ukraine-support-after-four-years-of-war-19486/
Thanks... my impression is that the KIND of military aid that we can provide to prevail this is not ( cannot be) provided by the Euros. Look this up. I simply asked A I "can or does Europe make up for loss in US military aid?" --which gives sources plus this:
https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/european-aid-to-ukraine-fails-to-offset-loss-of-us-study-shows
Fragile MAGA egos are rejecting the future, from energy to drones
PAUL KRUGMAN
JUN 9
READ IN APP
Drones have rapidly transformed modern war. The U.S. military, the most sophisticated, best supplied force in history, has been 🔻 humiliated by Iran, largely thanks to Iran’s effective use of inexpensive drones to menace shipping, energy production, and even U.S. bases. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s growing superiority in drone warfare is increasingly giving it the upper hand over Russia. Remember, not so long ago the American far right celebrated Putin’s macho posturing and his supposed military invincibility.
Given this radical turn of events, shouldn’t the United States be eager to make a drone deal with Ukraine, benefiting from its technology and expertise?
Apparently not. The Hill reports that Donald Trump has been dragging his feet on such a deal, quoting U.S. military analysts who say that they don’t understand the delay and that they are “mystified.” But I assume that they’re being 🔹disingenuous and prefer to avoid saying the obvious. In fact, Trump’s unwillingness to make a deal that would clearly benefit America’s national interest is no mystery at all.
I’ll get to the obvious in a moment. First, let me take a slight detour into something that seems unrelated but in fact helps explain drone aversion: this administration’s hostility to renewable energy and its desperate, doomed and wasteful effort to revive the coal industry.
There was a time when “drill, baby, drill” could be portrayed as a realistic, hard-headed position. Does anyone remember the Cheney Energy Task Force? However, in the past few years, radical declines in the cost of solar power, wind power, and batteries — which solve the problem that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — have made 🔹renewables the most cost-effective way to generate electricity. By contrast, coal is completely unviable. Here are the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s estimates for utility capacity additions in 2025:
Yet Trump is trying to block renewable energy projects any way he can and has just invoked wartime authority to spend $700 million subsidizing new power plants using “clean, beautiful” coal.
Why? Part of the answer is 🔹big money. Fossil fuel interests were huge supporters of Trump in 2024. In fact, the Trump presidency is itself the result of billions of dollars spent by the Koch Brothers and others to corrupt and undermine U.S. political institutions -- the Supreme Court very much included. Anti-renewable, pro-fossil fuel policy is their reward, along with the destruction of the Voting Rights Act and the adoption of Project 2025.
💠 What’s the other part? Clean energy has become a bogeyman in the culture wars: mining and burning coal are considered “manly” activities, while renewable energy is portrayed as woke and effeminate. Real men don’t worry about black lung and airborne particulates, let alone climate change.
So a combination of big money and fragile male egos drives Green Derangement Syndrome. And the same is true for both the Iran debacle and the refusal to learn from the catastrophe by turning to Ukraine.
Why was the United States so unprepared for the Iranian drone threat, despite the obvious successes of Ukrainian drones against Russia? Well, as investigative reporters delve into the story, I would urge them to follow the money.
America has a huge, highly profitable 🔹defense industry, dedicated to a suite of technologies that are rapidly being rendered 🔹obsolete, as $4 million Patriot missiles, that take years to build, are being used to shoot down $35,000 Shahed drones that can be manufactured in months.
So it wouldn’t be surprising if 🔻defense-industry interests are playing a significant role in the Trump administration’s refusal to admit that the rules of war have changed — the same way that fossil fuel companies have campaigned against the new realities of energy technology. After all, a deal with drone-savvy Ukrainians would mean less money going to US defense contractors.
While this is speculative, we do know that recognition of the drone revolution in warfare by Trump and his inner circle would require that they abandon their fantasy of macho military power. Pete Hegseth has been purging the military of capable officers — especially Blacks and women — he considers insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Beyond loyalty tests, however, he has exalted the importance of “warrior ethos” and physical fitness, as if he were leading the 🔹300 Spartans rather than a high-tech military in an age of drones and electronic warfare.
It’s true that Hegseth, perhaps chastened by his abject failure in Iran — why does he still have a job? — recently admitted that the U.S. has learned from Ukraine. But an admission that his entire conception of war was wrongheaded will be a step too far for him.
Likewise, Trump himself is in love with big, expensive weapons as 🔻symbols of virility and power. He’s still pushing for giant “Trump-class” battleships, even though they would be sitting ducks in a modern war. Just ask the Ukrainians, who have used missiles and naval drones to force Russia’s once-vaunted 🔹Black Sea Fleet to cower in a fortified refuge. But Trump doesn’t want to give up his fantasies.
And he’s especially unwilling to learn from Ukraine. After all, he cut off aid to Ukraine in a hissy fit over Zelenskyy’s well-deserved reputation for heroism, only to he humiliated by Ukraine’s refusal to lose its war. Admitting that he needs Ukrainian help would be a further humiliation.
As I said earlier, there is no mystery about why Trump refuses to make a drone deal with Ukraine. Never mind the national interest. In military strategy as in energy policy, Trump is betraying America in the service of 🔹money and 🔹machismo.
Trump is trying to make us into Sparta, I agree. Trump is trying to make the country in his image, a projection of his psychological needs, or his (I will call it) psychosis. And everything that you have laid out, including his chosen ( and confirmed and tolerated) "loyalists" working for him, pertains to that essential fact. This is on us. We have thus far not impeached him. We have not been able to impeach him with the Congress that we have, elected by the people... supposedly, so far. This is on us. So I read your long comment and it''s all about Trump boiled down. A year and a half ago we had a stubborn aging President and his administration that did not do this much harm in his 4 years. This time around Trump is getting what he wants and is also being managed. He has a wall around him of protection. We have to break it down. So who are the traitors? To have a democracy we need participation and informed voters, voters who understand what the majority of us want, what we want our country to be, to become. How did we get to this existential situation? Why do we insist on trying to make rational what is irrational?
Trump is mentally "off", about himself only, tearing us apart, tearing us down. And we have so far been unable to stop him. It's hard work using the system itself corrupted. It's uphill especially if we are avoiding outright bloody revolution. ( We do not have the masses for that either.) Some of us are trying their utmost. ***But this is a very dangerous situation.***
Right … More recent info on that here vs Dec.2025 info — what a shame to ‘America’ (Trump).
https://www.kielinstitut.de/publications/news/ukraine-support-tracker-military-aid-holds-steady-as-focus-shifts-to-drones/
‘Focus shifts to drones’ … graphs displaying Trump’s ZERO support, with very increased EU & other (Japanese) support re: drones … almost gets them to prev. donations.
I’m sure they wd like to have more of ‘everything’, but they are being very inventive & effective with drone warfare. Larger military equipment … I’m not sure they wd advertise in public … unless it was a great increase.
Now they’re inviting King Charles to visit!
Oh, but if only Trump were a rational actor! If he were to choose to provide Ukraine with more money, munitions (do we have any left to spare?), additional sanctions (why are there always "additional" sanctions to apply?) and public support, Ukraine might actually emerge victorious. Trump might legitimately claim to have ended a war. And yet, here we are...
Trump is incapable of recognizing opportunities that can help him if they don't look like clear and obvious wins.
He could have let ACA subsidies continue or even reduced them but concede some continuing amount and the impact on his approval ratings not to mention the continued subservience of GOP reps whose constituents were affected would have been much more positive than what actually happened.
If he had immediately, publicly pulled ICE attacks back even a little bit he would have mitigated the fallout tremendously.
Maybe don't let Israel push you into a war with Iran or at least listen to the experts so you're not shocked by the closing of the Straight of Hormuz.
Trump is his own worst enemy. A few minor concessions could have kept his approval ratings in reasonable territory and the forecast wouldn't have been so dire for the midterms and he might have been able to continue doing whatever he wants.
That's the one benefit of his abject stupidity...self-destructiveness.
Except break the law…
Orange Mussolini can’t do anything.