> Hari Kumar wrote:
>
> >3) a neo-colony, a former colony which has become a semi- colony,
> >continuing to be dominated by a greater power for the benefit of
> >the latter's ruling class, e.g., Tunisia, Jamaica.
Ulhas:
> I don't know much about Cuba, but how would you describe
> Cuba's relationship
> to the fSU? Fraternal ties?
My impression is that the old USSR subsidized Cuba big time, by buying sugar at a (usually) above-market rate and selling oil to them at a (usually) below-market rate. Thus, when the USSR went south, Cuba's economy went into severe crisis (which they have adapted to very well, considering). Cuba, and the USSR's support for it, made the USSR look good.
On the other hand, the Cuban foreign policy couldn't differ too strongly from that of the USSR. For example, I've seen evidence that the USSR cut oil supplies to Cuba in order to insure that Castro endorsed the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. On the other hand, I don't know what the Soviet Union's attitude was toward the Cuban role in Africa.
Jim
