Stardate 20011017.2248 (On Screen): President Putin of Russia has been doing a good job of advancing the Russian cause in this crisis; he's using it as a means of making friends with the west, especially with the United States. It's been quite an impressive performance, and a welcome one to this American. As part of that process, he's decided to remove the last remaining military presence Russia has in Cuba -- and Castro is pissed. Russia and Cuba have been negoatiating about it for a while; Russia said it wanted to pull out and Cuba demanded that Russia "study other alternatives". It's hard to see what alternative there would be to "we all want to go home", but there you have it. So finally Putin got impatient and simply announced unilaterally that Russia was leaving.
The agreement for the Lourdes radio-electronic center is not canceled, as Cuba has not given its approval, and Russia will need to continue negotiating with the Cuban government given the important issues left to resolve.
If all the people running the base have left, what's to resolve? An interesting question. Despite the claim that this is about Cuba's security, the real issue seems to be the $200 million per year that Russia was paying Cuba, which presumably would now end. For a nation like Cuba, that's going to be a pretty big economic blow. But short of refusing to let them leave (which would be an act of war), it's hard to see just what Cuba has to negotiate with here. If all the Russians are gone and they refuse to pay any more money, what else is there to say? (discuss)
