On June 12, a fleet of Russian warships docked in Havana, Cuba. They were “greeted” by the American and Canadian armies, in an unprecedented maneuver that represents a new escalation of tensions in the context of the New Cold War.
In an expression of “friendly relations” between the Caribbean nation and the Russian Federation, four Russian ships visited the island for five days. Canadian and American troops were deployed to track their movements. The United States even deployed a nuclear-powered submarine to the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba as a show of force. Meanwhile in Havana, the Russian detachment was greeted with a 21 gun salute, a run-of-the-mill military ceremony, to kick-off their week of Carribean military exercises.
While the arrival of Russian ships is not rare, this most recent exercise — and the American response — is qualitatively different, representing another escalation in the New Cold War inter-imperialist power struggle between blocs led by US and Chinese imperialism. But, this escalation did not materialize out of thin air. It follows months and years of increasing imperialist ambitions and polarization between the world’s superpowers. Similar military exercises have also been organized by Beijing in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
Cuba in the Age of Disorder
The economic realities of global economic disorder are impacting Cuba. According to Granma, the official party press of the Communist Party of Cuba, to accommodate the world situation, the country requires an economic overhaul. It is unquestionable that the US embargo on the country contributes disproportionately to the economic woes and isolation of Cuba. The heightened inter-imperialist tension, trade wars, and economic decoupling have also had an undeniable economic impact on Cuba and the support it receives from abroad.
In an effort to improve their economic situation, Cuba has long tailed the BRICS coalition led by China, which promotes it as an economic and geopolitical counterweight to the G7 countries. In recent months, Cuba has not only reaffirmed its ties with BRICS, but has also boasted of strengthening economic ties with Iran and Belarus, two vocal allies of Chinese and Russian imperialism.
The pressure to increase relations with opponents of western (predominantly American) imperialism has only strengthened over the years. Since the restoration of capitalism in China and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba has been impeded by bureaucratic degeneration and found itself increasingly economically isolated. However, the rising tensions between the inter-imperialist blocs have renewed China and Russia’s interest in the island, which sits a mere 90 miles (144km) from the US coastline.
In addition to allowing Russia to dock warships to taunt the United States, the Communist Party of Cuba has happily cozied up to Vladamir Putin and describes Cuba as a “key partner of Russia in Latin America.” In regards to China, the country has lauded recent state visits and boasts of warming relations between the two countries. Granma even explicitly describes the two Asian nations as allies in the fight against western hegemony.
To understand Cuba’s position, it is important to understand the origins and formation of today’s two major economic blocs.
From One Cold War to Another
In the decades following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the global economy has experienced a stomach-churning rollercoaster ride. As the world’s capitalists tore into the newly accessible markets of the former-USSR and Eastern Bloc, they made unfathomable fortunes by sacrificing public services and selling off publicly-owned enterprises that used to function outside the profit motive.
The exploitation of these new markets brought a certain stability to the imperialist countries of the Western bloc. But since capitalism must constantly generate value and profit, the “economic respite” achieved at the expense of the former Soviet countries was short-lived.
Workers across Britain, France, the US, Canada and Quebec began to feel the heat as capitalist governments brought their newly-tested policies of austerity, privatization, and liberalization home to roost. In the absence of an organized working class ready to fight to defeat these policies, aggressive neoliberalism caused economic inequality to skyrocket.
The 2008 financial crisis shook the global capitalist system and pushed the world’s largest economies to the brink of collapse. The Great Recession and the ruling class’s attempts to “fix” the economy at the expense of workers fed into a sharp rise in political polarization, nationalist sentiments, and the resurgence of today’s far-right.
During this process, Chinese capitalism found itself in second place and became the primary challenger to American imperialism.
But the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on China’s rapid growth. The new period of economic global slowdown can no longer be saved by a growing China’s stabilizing role. Coupled with other capitalist crises, it’s the inauguration of the Age of Disorder. The unprecedented intervention in the economy by capitalist governments during the COVID pandemic was an act of desperation to prevent all-out economic collapse. This highlights the ability of governments to act when they want to, while also exposing the deadly incompetence and malice of the capitalist class in the face of a global health, climate, and economic crisis.
The post-pandemic economy also finds itself riddled with supply chain shortages, trade wars, and the reshoring of industries as the US and China decouple their economies. All the while, capitalists are spending unprecedented amounts of money on military defense and preparation as the imperialist wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue to wreak havoc and threaten to expand.
Against ALL Imperialism!
While the leaders of China and Russia chauvinistically position themselves as global defenders against American imperialism and espouse hollow rhetoric, the reality is they represent the other side of the same imperialist coin.
Workers cannot have faith in any imperialist power, no matter which bloc they fall into. For imperialists, the interests of the capitalist class will always come first (and always at the expense of the working class). In the age of disorder, it is essential for workers to take up an independent struggle for our own class interests to bring an end to the embargo, global wars, and begin the construction of a genuine workers economy and socialist world!
