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Russian Power in Cuba Turned to Nostalgia. Now Even That's Fading
Last week's joint announcement by President Raul Castro and Obama overturned half a century of political discourse in Cuba, where Russia was the good guy and the U.S. the villain.
"Imagine being told everyday for forty years that all your problems are caused by Americans and then all of the sudden hearing from the same people that Americans are your best friends?" said Havana taxi driver Jorge Aguillar. "This is the situation I'm in. It's an overwhelming feeling."
Faced with the ruble's 39 percent slump against the dollar in the past six months, Russian influence is under threat.
Obama's decision "is bad news for Putin geopolitically," Lipman said. "It's a demonstration to the world that America can project soft power while Russia has lost the last vestiges of whatever soft power it once had."
Russian Power in Cuba Turned to Nostalgia. Now Even That's Fading - BloombergRussia will have to forget any hopes of using Cuba in its "bitter confrontation" with the U.S., Dmitri Trenin, head of the Moscow Carnegie Center, said by e-mail. "This means no Russian forces stationed there, no bases for Russian aircraft, no listening facilities."