Russia's quest for a post-American world is being stress-tested in the Western Hemisphere more than anywhere else. Here, far from Moscow's backyard, the United States is resorting to fast-and-furious power projection to reassert its eroding and increasingly contested influence, forcing Latin America to choose between the West and the “Rest.”

After losing a battle with Lula’s Brazil but winning big in Venezuela, Mexico and Ecuador, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio are now planning a takeover of Cuba. Should they succeed in bringing an end to the Cuban revolutionary experience, the Moscow–Beijing axis would bear the brunt.

SIGINT, soldiers, strategic projection and sugar — this is what Moscow has mainly got from Havana ever since President Vladimir Putin decided that resuming the old Cuban-Soviet friendship had to be a top priority for his nation. That decision was made in late 2000, when Russia-U.S. relations were far from bad, when Putin visited the Caribbean island, meeting Fidel Castro and laying the foundations of an all-sector partnership that still lasts.

Cuba and Russia exchanged best practices, helped each other, restored beloved old traditions such as the Soviet-era barter agreements and prevented Washington’s blockade from leading to regime change. Over the years, Putin’s Russia became Cuba’s greatest lifeline, offering and sending critical aid whenever Havana requested food, fuel, basic goods and medical supplies and equipment, against the backdrop of recurring financial support and joint........

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