United Liberty

Given all the priorities he is compelled to adhere to, common sense dictates that the last one on Barack Obama’s mind would be launching a full-scale invasion of Cuba. Nevertheless, the Cuban leadership is sending a different message:

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba began its biggest military maneuvers in five years on Thursday, saying they were needed to prepare for a possible invasion by the United States.

Despite a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations and assurances last week by President Barack Obama that the United States has no intention of invading the island 90 miles from Florida, Cuba’s state-run press quoted military leaders as saying there “exists a real possibility of a military aggression against Cuba.”

The war games, which are being called “Bastion 2009,” also will get the military ready to deal with social unrest the United States may try to foment in this time of economic crisis in Cuba, ahead of an invasion, they said.

The claims of formenting “social unrest” are critical here. Cuba is likely in a precarious leadership spot. With the elder Castro no longer in power and the entire world facing a collective economic recession, the country may be more ripe for change that any time since the 1950s. The Cuban government is playing the paranoid card that the world’s despotic regimes play in order to place fear and hatred into the minds of its starving citizens. It’s a move right out of 1984.