The U.S. Treasury Department stated that Cuba is prohibited from receiving delivery of Russian crude amid the island’s energy crisis. “Two tankers carrying Russian oil and gas are thought to be on their way to Havana,” CNBC stated. The U.S. has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba since January. Two shipments of Russian oil and gas head to Cuba in defiance of US https://t.co/bZmGbAujpt — Financial Times (@FT) March 18, 2026 CNBC explained further: In a general license published Thursday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Cuba to a list of countries that would be blocked from transactions involving the sale, delivery or offloading of crude or petroleum products that originate from Russia. The U.S. had temporarily authorized the purchase of Russian oil stranded at sea last week, as part of an effort to stabilize energy markets during the U.S. and Israeli-led war on Iran. The short-term measure suspended sanctions that were first imposed on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The update comes as maritime intelligence providers have been tracking two tankers carrying Russian oil and gas heading toward Cuba. Beset by blackouts and a worsening economic crisis under a U.S. oil blockade, the communist-run Caribbean island is currently facing its biggest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union. U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier in the week that he thinks he’ll have the “honor” of taking Havana in some form. Russia, which has been allied to Cuba for decades, has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s fuel blockade and pledged to provide the country with “necessary support, including financial aid.” According to The Moscow Times, one tanker has “likely” delivered diesel to Cuba. Thursday’s amendment came after reports emerged that a Russian tanker delivered diesel to Cuba this month as it grapples with a deepening energy crisis that has caused widespread blackouts in recent days.https://t.co/7Fu4hye3s5 — The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) March 20, 2026 More from The Moscow Times: The Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse “likely discharged its cargo of approximately 190,000 barrels of gasoil in Cuba in early March,” maritime intelligence firm Windward reported on Wednesday. If confirmed, this would be the first arrival of a refined petroleum product to Cuba since January, according to Windward, which did not say in which port it might have docked. A second ship, the sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, is also on its way to Cuba carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil, maritime analytics firm Kpler said Wednesday. Additionally, Reuters reports that a “tanker carrying fuel originally bound for Cuba on Friday changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago.” A tanker carrying fuel originally bound for Cuba on Friday changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago, according to LSEG ship-tracking data, a blow for the island amid a severe fuel scarcity that has triggered power blackouts. https://t.co/BQUTD5iq3O — Reuters Africa (@ReutersAfrica) March 20, 2026 Earlier this week, Cuba experienced a “total collapse” of its electrical grid. DEVELOPING: Cuba Experiences “Total Collapse” Of Electrical Grid

This is a Guest Post from our friends at The Self-Reliant American. The $2,000 Oil Change Last month, my neighbor paid $2,000 for an oil change. Not because the oil was special. Not because his car was exotic. He paid $2,000 because he ignored a simple maintenance task until it destroyed his engine. This is the tax on incompetence. And it’s expensive. The Real Cost of Not Knowing My neighbor’s story isn’t unique. Every day, Americans pay premium prices for problems they could have prevented—or fixed themselves—if they’d had basic skills. The $300 plumbing bill for a $5 washer replacement. The $800 HVAC service call for a filter change. The $1,200 car repair that started as a $30 maintenance item. These aren’t hypothetical. They’re the daily reality for people who never learned how things work. But the financial cost is only part of it. There’s also the cost in time, stress, and dependence. Waiting for service appointments. Arguing with contractors. Feeling helpless when something breaks at 2 AM. Competence has value. Incompetence has cost. How We Got Here Two generations ago, most men could do basic maintenance on their homes and vehicles. Women managed food preservation, gardening, and household repair. Teenagers understood how engines worked because they helped maintain them. Then specialization took over. The narrative changed. “Focus on what you’re good at.” “Hire experts for everything else.” “Your time is too valuable for manual labor.” There’s truth in this. Specialization drives economic growth. I’m happy to pay a surgeon for surgery or a pilot for flying. But the pendulum swung too far. We started outsourcing things we should understand. We traded competence for convenience. And we woke up dependent on systems we don’t control. The Competence Dividend Here’s what they don’t tell you in economics class: skills pay dividends forever. A person who can perform basic home maintenance saves thousands per year. Someone who cooks at home saves thousands more. Add financial literacy, basic automotive care, and DIY repairs, and the annual savings can reach five figures. That’s not counting the earning potential. Handymen charge $75-150 per hour. Good cooks can cater. People with skills always have options. But the biggest dividend isn’t financial. It’s psychological. Competent people aren’t anxious about breakdowns. They don’t panic when systems fail. They sleep better. They take better risks. They help others more effectively. Confidence built from competence is life-changing. The Learning Curve “But I’m not handy,” people say. “I don’t know how to do these things.” Neither did anyone else—until they learned. Competence isn’t genetic. It’s practiced. Every skilled person started as a beginner. The difference is they started. The first time you change your oil, it’ll take an hour and you’ll make a mess. The tenth time, it’ll take twenty minutes and you’ll save $60 each time. The first garden might fail. The second will be better. By the third, you’ll have vegetables. This is how all learning works. The gap between incompetent and competent is just repetition and willingness to try. The Self-Reliant American is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Start With Maintenance If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start with maintenance rather than repair. Maintenance is preventing problems. Repair is fixing them. Maintenance is easier, cheaper, and more predictable. Learn to: • Change your HVAC filters quarterly • Check your car’s fluids monthly • Clean gutters twice a year • Inspect your home for issues seasonally • Maintain your appliances per manufacturer guidelines These simple habits prevent the expensive emergencies that destroy budgets. The $2,000 Lesson My neighbor’s expensive lesson wasn’t really about oil changes. It was about consequences. Modern life insulates us from consequences—for a while. You can ignore maintenance. You can spend without budgeting. You can eat poorly and avoid exercise. The consequences are deferred, not avoided. Eventually, the bill comes due. Usually at the worst possible time. Competence is paying attention before the crisis. Learning skills before you need them. Building resilience while things are stable. It’s boring. Unsexy. The opposite of viral content. But it works. Your Challenge This Week Pick one maintenance task you’ve been ignoring. Something small. Something you’ve been meaning to get to. Learn how to do it. Watch a YouTube video. Read a manual. Ask someone who knows. Then do it. Not perfectly. Just done. That small act is the beginning of competence. And competence, repeated over time, becomes self-reliance. Don’t be the person paying $2,000 for a $40 lesson. Be the person who could have taught that lesson—and saved the money for things that matter. — Isaac Abraham

by Jim Rickards After correctly predicting the 2008 and 2020 stock market meltdowns… I believe this AI company is about to trigger the next crash. (Click here to see its name, completely free of charge.) Look, I’m not the only one warning. The research firm Bernstein Research said this AI company “has the power to crash the global economy for a decade.” The CEO of this AI company also just issued a CODE RED in an internal memo… Warning his employees that they’re dealing with a critical situation. Another company executive even implied they might need a government bailout. The last time I saw something like this was in 2008… When I predicted a stock market meltdown… Just three weeks before Lehman went under. Make no mistake… The stage is set for a meltdown of historic proportions. So please click here and I’ll show you why I believe this is a $1.4 trillion ticking time bomb… That will destroy the foundations of the entire AI economy… And ruin the retirement of millions of unprepared Americans. The good news is you don’t have to be a victim. In fact, I’m recommending you take these five simple steps to prepare, before it’s too late. (Note: Thank you for supporting businesses like the one presenting a sponsored message in this article and ordering through the included links, which benefits WLTReport. We appreciate your support!  MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!)

by Jim Rickards After correctly predicting the 2008 and 2020 stock market meltdowns… I believe this AI company is about to trigger the next crash. (Click here to see its name, completely free of charge.) Look, I’m not the only one warning. The research firm Bernstein Research said this AI company “has the power to crash the global economy for a decade.” The CEO of this AI company also just issued a CODE RED in an internal memo… Warning his employees that they’re dealing with a critical situation. Another company executive even implied they might need a government bailout. The last time I saw something like this was in 2008… When I predicted a stock market meltdown… Just three weeks before Lehman went under. Make no mistake… The stage is set for a meltdown of historic proportions. So please click here and I’ll show you why I believe this is a $1.4 trillion ticking time bomb… That will destroy the foundations of the entire AI economy… And ruin the retirement of millions of unprepared Americans. The good news is you don’t have to be a victim. In fact, I’m recommending you take these five simple steps to prepare, before it’s too late. (Note: Thank you for supporting businesses like the one presenting a sponsored message in this article and ordering through the included links, which benefits WLTReport. We appreciate your support!  MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!)

When asked by a reporter why the United States didn’t tell Japan or other allies about attacking Iran prior to its operation, President Trump made a comparison to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. “For one thing, you don’t want to signal too much,” Trump responded. “We went in very hard and we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he continued. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Trump said. “You believe in surprise, I think, much more than us,” he added. Trump made the comments during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. When asked why the U.S. didn’t tell allies about attacking Iran prior to the strikes, President Trump says, “we wanted surprise.” “Who knows better about surprise better than Japan. Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Trump says, alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae… pic.twitter.com/NNgQaxg6Wl — CBS News (@CBSNews) March 19, 2026 NBC News shared further: During the bilateral meeting, the president answered several other questions about U.S. military operations in Iran, including questions about an upcoming funding request from the Pentagon and rising oil prices that have stemmed from the ongoing war. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Defense Department plans to request $200 billion from Congress to support ongoing military operations in Iran. The president confirmed that number, but said the request for that amount is “for a lot of reasons, beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran.” “This is a very volatile world, and the military equipment, the power of some of this weaponry is unthinkable. You don’t even want to know about it. Oh, you could end this thing in two seconds if you wanted to,” Trump added. He also said that oil prices have not jumped as high as he anticipated they would after the war began. The president’s comments come as prices have surged in recent weeks as Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime passageway in the Middle East. “Everything was going great, the economy was great, oil prices were very low, gasoline was dropping too,” Trump told reporters. “And I saw what was happening in Iran and I said, ‘I hate to make this excursion, but we have to do it,’ and I actually thought the numbers would be worse.” “President Donald Trump urged Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to do more as he pressed allies for support over the war with Iran and rising oil prices, while defending the secrecy of the campaign by invoking Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,” Reuters wrote. President Donald Trump urged Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to do more as he pressed allies for support over the war with Iran and rising oil prices, while defending the secrecy of the campaign by invoking Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor https://t.co/Ab1R5sX04c pic.twitter.com/7GNWMxAkDH — Reuters (@Reuters) March 19, 2026 The White House later shared a photo of Trump and Takaichi. President Donald J. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister @takaichi_sanae. pic.twitter.com/grhiffju8t — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 19, 2026 CBS News has more: Japan and the U.S. have officially been allies since 1952, although the scars from World War II took longer to heal in many cases. In 2016, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a somber visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial site alongside then-President Barack Obama. Abe offered his “sincere and everlasting condolences” to the Americans who lost their lives in the surprise Japanese attack of Dec. 7, 1941, and in all of World War II. Abe said he was “rendered entirely speechless” by the deaths of so many U.S. service members. More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack. “On behalf of the Japanese people, I hereby wish to express once again my heartfelt gratitude to the United States and to the world for the tolerance extended to Japan,” Abe said at the time. “…Japan and the United States, which fought a fierce war that will go down in the annals of human history, have become allies with strong ties rarely found anywhere in history.” Mr. Trump also had strong ties with Abe, a friendship that hasn’t been matched with more recent prime ministers. Abe was assassinated during a speech in Japan in 2022.