FOREIGN POLICY/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Russia is solidifying its footing close to U.S. shores, in the Caribbean, a region Moscow abandoned after the Cold War and has gradually returned to with investment, diplomacy and military hardware.
In recent months Russia has developed a multidimensional relationship with the tiny nation of Grenada, whose name has resonated with many Americans since President Ronald Reagan invaded in 1983 rather than see another leftist-revolutionary government follow Cuba and mature in the Caribbean.
Russia’s presence in the Caribbean is now ‘stronger than at any time since the end of the Cold War,’ said the Caribbean Council, a London consulting firm. The stakes in a regional U.S.-Russia rivalry are small compared with the Cold War era, with its Cuban Missile Crisis and fears of nuclear war.
But that hasn’t halted a competition for influence in the Caribbean and Latin America. Gen. John Kelly, who is now White House chief of staff and was then in charge of the U.S. military’s Southern Command, said in 2015 that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia was challenging the U.S. in the region… Russia has been pursuing its own avenues. Grenada opened an embassy in Moscow last summer, installing a Soviet-born dual U.S.-Grenadian citizen, Oleg Firer, as ambassador. In September, Grenada—population 111,000—and Russia (140 million) granted each other’s citizens visa-free travel.
For Grenada, it is all about investment, trade and tourism.”
-Brett Forrest, “In Cold War Echo, Russia Returns to U.S.’s Backyard,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 31, 2018 08:00am