July 10 (Belly of the Beast) Welcome to the second installment of Belly of the Beast’s newsletter: Cuba in Context.

This is your one-stop shop for breaking news, incisive reporting, and the untold stories about Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations.

INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK: Hal Klepak

Russian warships visiting Cuba are “not even a significant problem for the United States” – Hal Klepak, professor of military history at the Royal Military College of Canada

After the recent Havana visit of Russian warships, Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández interviewed Hal Klepak, professor of military history at the Royal Military College of Canada and former advisor to the Canadian foreign minister, defense minister and commander of the Army.

Klepak puts the visit of the Russian ships in context, responds to the question of whether they represented a threat to the United States and explains how the U.S. government’s economic war against Cuba has pushed the island closer to Russia.

Watch the interview HERE.