New Delhi, March 17 -- On a day when the lights went out across Cuba, Donald Trump switched his own on. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, the US president declared that he believed he would have "the honor of taking Cuba". Trump's move on Cuba follows a now-familiar playbook: in January, US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after he refused to step down, making Venezuela the first Latin American nation to fall within Washington DC's expanding sphere of influence.

"Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it," Donald Trump said. "They're a very weakened nation right now."

The timing was not coincidental. Cuba is enduring a nationwide blackout, its fuel reserve...