From our Bureau of 21st Century Neocolonialism with some assistance from our Bureau of Expansive Totalitarian Kleptocracies
Those Russian “economic experts” sent to Cuba by Czar Vlad the Invader are on an important mission: Turning Cuba into a colony that is a mirror image of Russia, symbiotically dependent on it.
Make no mistake about it, these so-called “experts” are representatives of the Putinian kleptocratic oligarchy, a new breed of pseudo-capitalists whose sole aim is to enrich themselves, expand their reach, and ensure that no one can ever dislodge them from their privileged position.
Call them a politburo of greedy billionaires who act like Mafiosi on steroids. Everyone knows this. Ask any Ukrainian.
Castro, Inc. is probably well aware that whatever these “experts” propose will turn Cuba into a Putinian colony, but they don’t care. Their prime directive is to stay in power, and if that means letting Grand Putinia take over Cuba, that is perfectly alright with them. Whether the Russians would allow Cuba’s new kleptocrats to remain in power is a question they probably don’t want to ask. As always, they are thinking only of the present and the immediate future, and much like recovering alcoholics, they approach their governing one day at a time.
This first proposal to be announced — digitizing all trade within Cuba — would eliminate paper transactions, kill the black market, and funnel every cent earned or spent by Cubans — as well as all income from apartheid tourism and all remittances sent from abroad — through Castro, Inc. and Grand Putinia. Talk about total control: This is Big Brother on hyper-steroids. As Rafaela Cruz points out in the article below, such a system would turn Castro, Inc. into the Eye of Sauron, giving it the ability to see everything that goes on in Castrogonia.
Redacted, abridged, and loosely translated from Diario de Cuba
It is no coincidence that the first piece of news to come out of the talks between Russia and its Cuban counterpart refers to monetary digitization and banking.
Digitizing trade is nothing more than taking the social and economic control of the Castro monopoly to a higher level, with which the Russians would not be proposing anything that Castroism has not been trying to do for years. Up until now, the only reason the Cuban dictatorship has not been able to achieve total digitalization has been lack of resources.
.Russia can help the dictatorship overcome that obstacle, and, at the same time tighten its grip on Cuba.
That monopoly and manipulation of information that allows for such effective social control is the basis of totalitarianism, an omnipresent government that mediates all human relations and, like the Eye of Sauron, sends its orcs —policemen, rats, soldiers, judges, bureaucrats— to abort any attempt at opposition as soon as it arises, without waiting for it to mature.
In a totalitarian system, “electronic commerce” is not Amazon, PayPal or eBay, but state platforms, the only ones authorized, that use only state payment methods. Without fearing to appear colonialist, the Russian media that has divulged this piece of news states: “The participants in the discussion emphasized that, within the framework of the concept, Cuba should not allow cryptocurrencies to circulate.”
According to Andrey Vanin, former senior vice president of Sberbank: “Smart payment terminals have been created in Russia that accept any payment method. They are also boxes with online auditing for tax authorities. Business has become paperless.”
And if there is no money in cash, the black market will disappear (at least as we understand it today), which will end all anonymity and the possibility of resisting the predatory economic policies of Castroism. In addition, he will know in great detail how everyone lives, where the resources come from and how he spends them, where he was or who he saw. Thus, any vestige of freedom on the Island will have disappeared, and the State, finally and definitively, will be the owner of each Cuban.
Whole story HERE in Spanish
No, the Castronoid oligarchs don’t care about anything except retaining their positions and the associated perks. They’re perfectly willing to strike a deal with the very devil if that’s what they think will do the trick.