I'm John Batchelor, the New World Report. We go immediately to Cuba, Headline from Reuters. Russian oil tanker begins

discharging cargo in Cuba's terminal. The Russian flag tanker, says Reuters, carrying some 700,000 barrels of crude

oil docked in Cuba's Matanzas oil terminal, shipping data showed, making the first

significant oil delivery to the island since President Trump's administration cut off its fuel

supply. In response, the U.S. is commenting that it has no objection to the discharge of the

oil and that the policy remains in

place. What policy? What plan? Professor, the oil tanker traversed the whole of the Atlantic

in a slow roll, so there was lots of time. There was no surprise here. My general understanding is that Cuba is in bad shape

and that the Trump administration has been permitting or vouchsafing the delivery of oil to

private resources, whatever that means, but that generally the food security and the medical

security of the island are wobbly to

non-existent. Therefore, the 700,000 barrels looks positive, at least for the least among them,

except there's a sense that the Russians handed this oil directly into the hands of the bully boys

who run the country and that the state

within a state is now replenished for these next days. What is your assessment of why the Trump

administration permitted the oil to land, given the cutoff that it's been maintaining with Cuba,

as leverage to change direction.

And what is your sense of the negotiation or the policy between Washington and Havana now that the oil is no longer the centerpiece of discussion?

Thank you.

John, there's some things, especially for me, as a Republican, having served in the first administration, where you look at what's happening and you just scratch your head.

My best sense is this is a reflection of some series of backroom negotiations that we will probably never be privy to.

But certainly it seems to reflect, you know, it could be in part a conversation between

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