When
asked by Thom Hartmann about the connection between events in Cuba
and attempts to collapse the Russian economy by manipulating oil
prices Prof. Stephen Cohen said, as a professor, “I don’t know”,
but proceeded to talk about how Ronald Reagan had done the exact same
to bring down the Soviet economy.
No
doubt whatsoever about what is going on now.
The American corporations have Cuban resourses in their sights and aim to cut Russia out of the equation while taking revenge on Venezuela.
Cuban
Oil May Prove A Boon For U.S. Companies
Ari Philips
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK
21
December, 2014
With
diplomatic relations warming between the U.S. and Cuba, oil and gas
companies may train their sights on what’s off Cuba’s coast —
large oil reserves. Right now Cuba produces just over 50,000 barrels
per day of oil and relies on Venezuela for around another 100,000
bpd. However with Venezuela’s economy reeling from the staggering
drop in oil prices this year, Cuban officials want to avoid the
impacts of a sudden drop in Venezuelan support. The commitment by
Cuba and the U.S. to normalize relations may allow Cuba to buy more
oil on the open market, and for U.S. companies to bring expertise and
experience to tap into the country’s offshore reserves.
This
outcome is far from certain. With Saudi Arabia refusing to cut oil
output, which would stabilize prices, and previous offshore efforts
yielding unsuccessful results, many experts believe that most of
Cuba’s 124 million barrels will remain inaccessible. Brazilian,
Malaysian and Spanish companies have failed to produce any major
wells during exploration efforts in the last few years. Pavel
Molchanov, an energy company analyst with Raymond James, told
Politico that there is “not going to be a Cuban oil rush.”
Even
if there is no rush, the arrival of U.S. oil and gas firms could help
boost production through better drilling services. Jorge Piñon,
director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the
University of Texas, told FuelFix that if companies like Halliburton
and Schlumberger gave technological assistance to Cuba, the country
could significantly increase the amount of oil it recovers from its
current wells. He also said that Cuba wants to avoid the type of
economic pain it experienced after foreign aid dried up along with
the fall of the Soviet Union — something that could foreseeably
happen with Venezuela if oil prices don’t rebound.
With
a major leap into Cuban oil looking doubtful for economic and
geologic reasons, one actual benefit that may be more likely is an
increase in safety measures and precautions for the drilling and
refining that does take place — including responses to any spills.
Cuba borders the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, and is susceptible
to offshore disasters like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion near
the U.S. coast. Spill containment equipment developed to deal with
Deepwater Horizon-type events will likely be held up by the current
embargo because the products are produced by U.S. firms. The U.S.
embargo of Cuba remains in place as Obama needs the
Republican-controlled Congress to help him in normalizing these
economic relations. As it stands, anything made from more than 10
percent U.S. parts cannot be sold to Cuba or a Cuban contractor.
As
these economic barriers and incentives play out, the U.S., Cuba, and
Mexico will have to determine how to divide up the Gulf of Mexico.
“Previous
agreements between the United States and Cuba delimit the maritime
space between the two countries within 200 nautical miles from
shore,” the White House said in a release. “The United States,
Cuba and Mexico have extended continental shelf in an area within the
Gulf of Mexico where the three countries have not yet delimited any
boundaries.”
The
Cuban government is also looking to diversify its energy sources, and
increase renewable energy capacity in an effort to improve energy
security. Based primarily on solar, wind, and small hydropower, Cuba
aims to get 24 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by
2030. Cuba opened its first solar farm in 2013 and has plans for at
least six more.
Quite a number of people now are saying that the United States (and its proxy) manipulated oil prices to attack its enemies - Russia and Venezuela
It may also, of course, be that the Saudis,as well as attacking other producers (notably, Russia) also had sale oil producers in their sights as well.
US provoked Oil Prices fall to attack Venezuela, Russia: Evo Morales
19
December, 2014
Nowadays
it is impossible to remove presidents with military coups, so
economic means and sanctions are considered, Bolivian President Evo
Morales said, adding that the US has provoked the reduction in oil
prices to 'attack' Russia's and Venezuela's economies.
The
US has provoked the decrease in oil prices, to attack Venezuela and
Russia, the President of Bolivia Evo Morales said to RT in an
interview.
"The
reduction in oil prices was provoked by the US as an attack on the
economies of Venezuela, and Russia… In the face of such an economic
and political attack, the countries have to be united," Morales
said.
Nowadays
it is impossible to remove presidents with military coups, so
economic means and sanctions are considered, the president explained.
Such aggressive US policies, he said, are aimed at dividing
countries, dominate them politically and rob them economically.
"Whatever
economic aggression with oil prices that comes from the US is not
going to last. I am convinced of it," the president reassured.
He explained that the US was not interested in oil prices, but in
conducting economic attacks to topple certain presidents. However,
"this escapade would not work. Our people are conscious. We are
anti-imperialists," he said.
Venezuela's
President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a rally to reject the
sanctions that the U.S. government seeks to impose on officials
accused of human rights violations, in Caracas December 15, 2014.
The
US and the EU introduced several round of sanctions against Russia
over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis. The sanctions targeted
the banking, energy and defense sectors, as well as certain
individuals. However, Russia repeatedly denied its involvement in
Ukraine's internal affairs.
US
President Barack Obama signed a sanctions bill against Venezuela
Thursday. The sanctions target individuals who are allegedly
responsible for human rights violations during February protests
against President Nicolas Maduro's government.
I think, from the Cuban side, that there had to be something to bring it to the negotiating table with the United States.
Plummeting
Oil Prices
Possible Causes of US-Cuba
Deal: Experts
21
December, 2014
Experts
say that the impact on the Venezuelan and Russian economies due to a
drop in oil prices could have forced Cuba to re-establish its
diplomatic relations with the United States, as both will not be able
to help economically as before.
WASHINGTON,
December 20 (Sputnik), Anastasia Sheveleva — The weakening
of the Venezuelan and
Russian economies due to a drop in oil prices could have
forced Cuba to re-establish its diplomatic relations
with the United
States,
experts on Cuba have
told Sputnik.
"With
the decline in the price of oil, Cuba's benefactors,
Venezuela and Russia, both are going to be not as able
to help economically, so Cuba is seeing a decline in economic
assistance from Venezuela and Russia, so that was the incentive
on the Cuban part," Jose Azel, Senior Scholar at the
Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the
University of Miami, told Sputnik Friday.
Eduardo
Gamarra, Professor at the School of International and
Public Affairs at Florida International University (FIU) agrees
with the possibility of plummeted oil prices, pushing Cuba
to restore its relations with the United States.
"That
timing might have been a part of the reason why the Cubans
decided, right now we would better look at his situation in a
different way, because we have to face the future and certainly
the future is not with Venezuela, because their oil in the
first place is expensive," Gamarra told Sputnik Friday.
As
to the United States' incentive to reach the deal at this
particular moment, both experts came to the conclusion that it
was US president Barack Obama's political move.
"On
the part of the Obama administration, I think it is a political
move, there is a new Congress taking over at the beginning
of the year, he [Obama] may be thinking of his legacy, he
wants this to be part of it," Azel said.
Meanwhile
Gamarra stressed that Obama "is already a lame duck" and
"has no possibility after January to have any
influence over Congress", so "it was fairly good
timing [to ease trade and travel restrictions imposed on Cuba]
before the end of the year".
Gamarra
went on, by saying that "you have the anti-imperialist guru
[Castro] is all of the sudden talking to Obama, so I think
we should expect some interesting sets of discussions, whether
that will lead to a very significant change in Russian
presence in the region or Russian relations with Venezuela,
or even Russian relations with Cuba".
However,
the professor from FIU stressed that nothing in the
agreement between Obama and Castro indicates that Russians will
begin to dismantle their interests in the region.
Azel
from the University of Miami said that the Obama
administration did not pay enough attention to the Russian
influence in Cuba.
"The
Russian influence in Cuba should have been a great concern
to the United States, apparently, it was not to this
president," Azel said.
Both
experts agreed that US Congress will not lift Cuba's embargo in the
nearest future partly because Obama did not gain from the
most recent negotiations with Cuba.
"He
[Obama] cannot eliminate the sanctions of Helms-Burton law…he
is not going to get that congressional action. I don't think
Congress is going to eliminate sanctions without concessions
from Cuba, remember that the president [Obama] really got
nothing out of Cuba, this is very bad negotiations," Azel
told Sputnik Friday.
Gamarra
agreed that the embargo is not going to be lifted, explaining,
however, that in might not be as exclusive as it
seems.
"Part
of the mythology of the embargo is very interesting,
because the reality is the United States is the only country that put
a quasi-embargo on Cuba. For the better part of the last
decade American farmers and others have, in fact, been selling
stuff to Cuba," Gamarra said, adding that there are
Brazilian and European investments in the region.
Nevertheless,
the experts doubted that new American investment is going to flow
into Cuba, even in case the US sanctions are eliminated,
because Washington would not agree to partner with the
Cuban government.
On
Wednesday, President Obama announced that the United States was
relaxing trade and travel restrictions on Cuba. An embargo has
been in place since 1961 due to Cold War antagonism
between Washington and the Communist government in Havana.
Back in summer, Vladimir Putin visited Cuba and an agreement was signed to help Cuba develop its own offshore oil reserves.
There was even talk (denied by Putin) of Russia re-opening its listening post in Cuba.
In his Q & A Putin, accused of cold war aggression by the BBC pointed out that not only does Russia spend ten times less on defence than the United States, but its has only TWO military bases (both in its 'near abroad') and had completely closed bases in both Cuba and Vietnam.
Russia’s
Rosneft to help Cuba explore offshore oil reserves
13
July, 2014
Russian
oil company Rosneft will help Cuban State oil company Cupet explore
the country's offshore oil reserves, according to one of the
cooperation documents signed between Russia and Cuba during President
Vladimir Putin’s visit to Havana.
Putin
concluded his first stop on his six-day tour to Latin America in
Havana, Cuba, where he met the nation’s President Raul Castro.
Speaking
at a press conference, Putin confirmed that many major cooperation
deals have been signed between the two nations.
One
of the most significant agreements allows the Russian oil company
Rosneft to help explore and drill on an offshore oil platform on
Cuba’s northeast coast. The area potentially has up to 20 billion
barrels of oil, according to Cupet.
"Developing
new blocks on Cuba's offshore shelf is (expected) in the very near
future," Putin said.
During
the discussions, Putin was joined by Rosneft head Igor Sechin in
order to finalize the deal.
Cuba
has limited onshore production and relies heavily on imports from
Venezuela for its oil consumption needs.
Putin
also confirmed that Russia is writing off 90 percent of Cuba’s
debt, which amounts to $32 billion. The remaining 10 percent will be
reinvested into the Cuban economy, the president added.
"We
will provide support to our Cuban friends to overcome the illegal
blockade of Cuba," Putin said.
Read
more: Russia writes off 90% of Cuba's debt ahead of Putin's 'big
tour' to L. America
Meanwhile,
Russian company Inter RAO Export and Cuba's Union Electrica signed a
contract for the construction of four 200 megawatt units for the
Maximo Gomez power plant.
Other
documents signed on Friday include a bilateral statement on the
non-placement of weapons in outer space and an intergovernmental
agreement on cooperation in the area of international information
security.
During
the visit to Cuba, Putin also met with former President Fidel Castro,
who stepped down due to health concerns in 2008, after 49 years in
power.
Putin
and Fidel Castro discussed international affairs, the global economy,
and Russia-Cuba relations, the Kremlin stated.
Later
on Friday, Putin made a surprise stop in Nicaragua on his way to
Argentina. He will then go to Brazil.
Putin
denies reopening of US-targeting listening post in Cuba
17
July, 2014
Russian
President Vladimir Putin denied media reports that Russia was
planning to reopen the Soviet-age SIGINT facility in Lourdes, Cuba,
once was largest foreign listening post of its kind, but shut down
under US pressure.
Russia
can “meet
its defense needs without this component” and
has no plans to renew its operation, the president assured
journalists on Wednesday.
Earlier
Kommersant business daily reported that Moscow and Havana had reached
a deal on reopening the spy facility during Putin’s visit to Cuba
last week.
When operational, the facility was manned by thousands of
military and intelligence personnel, whose task was to intercept
signals coming from and to the US territory and to provide
communication for Russian vessels in the western hemisphere.
“I
can say one thing: at last!” one
of the sources commented on the news to the paper, adding that the
significance of the move is hard to overestimate.
The
facility in Lourdes, a suburb of Havana located just 250km from
continental USA, was opened in 1967. At the peak of the cold war it
was the largest signal intelligence center Moscow operated in a
foreign nation, with 3,000 personnel manning it.
From
the base Russia could intercept communications in most part of the US
including the classified exchanges between space facilities in
Florida and American
spacecraft.
Raoul Castro, then-Defense Minister of Cuba, bragged in 1993 that
Russia received 75 percent of signal intelligence on America through
Lourdes, with was probably an overstatement, but not by a large
amount.
Following
the collapse of the Soviet Union the base was downscaled, but
continued operation. After Russia was hit the 1998 economic crisis,
it found it difficult to maintain many of its old assets, including
the Lourdes facility. In Soviet times Cuba hosted it rent-free, but
starting 1992 Moscow had to pay Havana hundreds of millions dollars
each year in addition to operational costs to keep the facility open.
Russian President Vladimir Putin,
left, and President of the Council of State and Ministers of the
Republic of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz during a press statement at the
Palace of the Revolution in Havana. (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolsky)
An
additional blow came in July 2000, when the US
House passed the
Russian-American Trust and Cooperation Act, a bill that would ban
Washington from rescheduling or forgiving any Russian debt to the US,
unless the facility in Lourdes is shut down.
Moscow
did so in 2001 and also closed its military base in Vietnam’s Cam
Ranh,
with both moves reported as major steps to address Americans’
concerns. But, in the words of a military source cited by Kommersant,
the US “did
not appreciate our gesture of goodwill.”
No
detail of schedule for the reopening the facility, which currently
hosts a branch of Cuba’s University of Information Science, was
immediately available. One of the principle news during Putin’s
visit to Havana was Moscow’s writing
off of
the majority of the old Cuban debt to Russia. The facility is
expected to require fewer personnel than it used to, because modern
surveillance equipment can do many functions now automatically.
With
the Lourdes facility operational again, Russia would have a much
better signal intelligence capability in the western hemisphere.
“Returning
to Lourdes now is more than justified," military
expert Viktor Murakhovsky, a retired colonel, told Kommersant. “The
capability of the Russian military signal intelligence satellite
constellation has significantly downgraded.
With an outpost this
close to the US will allow the military to do their job with little
consideration for the space-based SIGINT echelon.”
Whether by American corporations or by Rosneft it is a tragedy that Cuba's oil reserves should ever be developed.
In any case, it looks that the Americans are trying to push the Russians out of the equation and grab the reяources for themselves.
The achievement of the Cuban revolution are not only in terms of social equity and its historic role in the National Liberation struggle in southern Africa, but also in the area of conservation.
Now all of this is likely to be lost, including Cuba's hitherto pristine environment.
Castro
the Conservationist? By Default or Design, Cuba Largely Pristine
Will
Cuban President Fidel Castro be remembered primarily as a man of the
people, an authoritarian tyrant—or a conservationist?
28
October, 2010
Some
experts say his environmental policies may be among his greatest achievement.
Though
Cuba is economically destitute, it has the richest biodiversity in
the Caribbean. Resorts blanket many of its neighbors, but Cuba
remains largely undeveloped, with large tracts of untouched rain
forest and unspoiled reefs (map
of Cuba).
The
country has signed numerous international conservation treaties and
set aside vast areas of land for government protection.
But
others say Cuba's economic underdevelopment has played just as large
a role.
Since
the collapse of the Soviet Union—its main financial benefactor—Cuba
has had to rely mostly on its own limited resources. It has embraced
organic farming and low-energy agriculture because it can't afford to
do anything else.
And
once Castro is gone, the experts say, a boom in tourism and foreign
investment could destroy Cuba's pristine landscapes.
Eco-Legacy
"I
think the Cuban government can take a substantial amount of credit
for landscape, flora, and fauna preservation," said Jennifer
Gebelein, a professor at Florida International University in Miami
who studies environmental issues in Cuba.
More
than 20 percent of Cuba's land is under some form of government
protection. The island's wetlands have been largely shielded from
pesticide runoff that has destroyed similar areas in other countries.
Castro
handed power to his brother last week to undergo emergency intestinal
surgery. His health remains uncertain, fueling rampant speculation
about his legacy.
And
since Castro seized power in 1959, logging has slowed significantly.
Forest cover has increased from 14 percent in 1956 to about 21
percent today.
In
addition, the more than 4,000 smaller islands surrounding the main
island are important refuges for endangered species. The coastline
and mangrove archipelagos are breeding grounds for some 750 species
of fish and 3,000 other marine organisms
"Because
Cuba's tourist industry has not developed quickly in regard to reef
exploitation, the reefs have been spared the fate of Florida's reefs,
for example," Gebelein said.
At
about 1.5 million acres (600,000 hectares), the Ciénaga de Zapata
Biosphere Reserve is Cuba's largest protected area and has been
designated a "Wetland of International Importance" by the
Ramsas Convention on Wetlands in 1971.
"The
Zapata Swamp is the Caribbean's largest and most important wetland,"
said Jim Barborak, who is based in San Pedro, Costa Rica, and heads
the protected areas and conservation corridors program for
Conservation International.
Jewel
of the Caribbean
Originally,
Cuba was in the Pacific Ocean, not the Caribbean Sea. Continental
drift slowly brought the island into the Caribbean some 100 million
years ago, and an astonishing variety of life emerged.
"Cuba
has tremendous biological diversity," Barborak said. "The
levels of plant endemism—unique species limited to Cuba—is
particularly high, especially in highland ecosystems in eastern
Cuba."
More
than half of Cuba's plants and animals, and more than 80 percent of
its reptiles and amphibians, are unique to the island.
Endemic
birds include the Cuban trogon, the Cuban tody, and the Cuban pygmy
owl. The world's smallest bird, the bee hummingbird—which weighs
less than a U.S. penny—is found there.
"Important
populations of many North American migratory birds, whose declining
populations require international action to conserve both breeding
and wintering grounds, spend much of the year in Cuba," Barborak
said.
Cuba
is only one of two nations with a primitive mammal known as a
solenodon, a foot-long (0.3-meter-long) shrewlike creature.
The
island also has a great diversity of giant lizards, crocodiles, and
tortoises.
Intellectual
Infrastructure
A
key player in Cuba's green movement has been Guillermo García Frías,
one of five original "comandantes" of the 1959 Cuban
revolution.
A
nature lover with strong ties to Castro, García has pushed for a
strong environmental ethic for a generation of scientists and
government officials.
"Comandante
García's enthusiasm for nature conservation has been critical to the
successful development of a conservation infrastructure in Cuba,"
said Mary Pearl, president of the Wildlife Trust in New York City.
Cubans
are leaders in biological research, with thousands of graduates from
the country's ten universities and institutes devoted to work in
ecology.
"The
country has the best intellectual infrastructure for wildlife
conservation in the Caribbean," Pearl said.
Students
in every department at the University of Havana, for example, have
had the opportunity to share a bonding experience by living in an
impoverished fishing village while working to protect marine turtles.
"As
a result, many of Cuba's leaders in all spheres have had a common
experience reconciling poverty alleviation and nature conservation,"
Pearl said. "It is not surprising that this has left a legacy of
concern for nature, despite the country's economic challenges."
Embargo
Woes
But
Cuba has earned its green credentials partly by default.
Isolated
in part because of the U.S. trade embargo against the island, Cuba
has been excluded from much of the economic globalization that has
taken its toll on the environment in many other parts of the world.
"The
healthy status of much of the wetlands and forests of Cuba is due not
to political influence as much as the lack of foreign exchange with
which to make the investments to convert lands and introduce
petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers," Pearl said.
Since
the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Cuban factories and
agricultural fields have sat dormant. The island has had to become
self-sufficient, turning to low-energy organic farming.
It
has had to scrap most of its fishing fleet because it can't afford to
maintain the ships.
Population
pressure has also been a nonissue, with many Cubans fleeing the
country for economic and political reasons.
However,
Conservation International's Barborak says it would be wrong to think
Cuba's environmental success is simply due to its economic
underdevelopment.
"If
this were true, then Haiti could be expected to be a verdant
ecological paradise, instead of being the most environmentally
devastated country in the region, with just a tiny fraction of its
forest cover intact," he said.
"Cuba's
stable population, high literacy rate, clear land-tenure system,
large cadre of well-trained conservationists, and relatively strong
enforcement of laws and regulations are certainly all associated with
its conservation achievement."
So
what will happen if Castro's regime falls and a new, democratic
government takes root?
Conservationists
and others say they are worried that the pressure to develop the
island will increase and Cuba's rich biodiversity will suffer.
Barborak
said he is concerned that "environmental carpetbaggers and
scalawags will come out of the woodwork in Cuba if there is turbulent
regime change.
"One
could foresee a flood of extractive industries jockeying for access
to mineral and oil leases," he said.
"A
huge wave of extraction of unique and endemic plants and animals
could occur to feed the international wildlife market. And a
speculative tourism and real estate boom could turn much of the
coastline into a tacky wasteland in short order."
"If
foreign investments take a much firmer hold, more hotels will be
built and more people will descend on the reefs," added
Gebelein, the Florida International University professor.
"If
the Cuban government does not have a swift policy framework to deal
with the huge influx of tourists, investors, and foreign government
interests, a new exploitative paradigm will be the beginning of the
end for some of the last pristine territories in the Caribbean."
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