Russian Ships in Cuba, Oh My! . . . Putin Makes A Peace Offer to Ukraine

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The recent visit of several Russian ships to Cuba strikes Adam and Jeff as nothing more than a tit-for-tat move by Putin in response to President Biden's recent decision to allow Ukrainian troops to fire American weapons into Russian territory.  Of course there is not much tit or tat because Putin started the war in Ukraine and has disingenuously proclaimed that the Russian ships are in America's backyard due to America's aggression against Russia.    Adam and Jeff talk about Cuba's dependency on foreign benefactors such as Russia and Venezuela  in the past and the sad fact that these patrons have hit the economic skids in recent years and cut back their assistance to Cuba.  They then wander over to the topic of the recent peace offer by Putin which would require that Ukraine give up its four eastern provinces in their entirety (even though Putin only controls a fraction of those lands) and, to show good faith, disband their military forces altogether.  Because Putin has not done a very good job keeping his word, Adam and Jeff believe that the Ukrainians would be very unlikely to enter into any type of agreement with Russia.  After all, Russia and other autocratic countries such as China view treaties as tactical devices for obtaining additional advantages from the counterparts whereas Western countries consider treaties to be solemn promises that must be kept by all parties.  Given the frequency with which Russia breaks treaties, Jeff wonders why another country such as Ukraine would ever enter into a treaty with Russia as it has shown over and over again it cannot be trusted.