[ceejayoz]

A thin layer of plausible deniability does not stop something from being a blockade.

[Manuel_D]

What stops it from being a blockade is the fact that ships that are legally registered continue to dock in Cuba.

[ceejayoz]

That’s disingenuous. The blockade is specific to oil.

[Manuel_D]

Ships carrying oil are free to dock in Cuba. But whatever country is selling that oil will be subject to tariffs in the US.

You can call it a blockade a thousand times, that doesn't make it true.

[ceejayoz]

> Ships carrying oil are free to dock in Cuba.

You know this isn’t true, but continue to assert it. I gave you a link to a non-false flag tanker that was forced away by the Coast Guard and escorted out for several days.

[Manuel_D]

As I explained in my reply, that tanker was not forced away. It lied and said it was headed to the Dominican Republic, but tried to sail to Cuba - presumably to surreptitiously sell oil without triggering retaliatory tariffs. When it realized it was being followed by the Coast Guard, it turned around and sailed to its stated destination.

The ship could have made port in Cuba and unloaded it's oil. But then Colombia would be hit with tariffs. The threat of tariffs made the ship turn around on its own volition, not because the coast guard deployed force to stop the ship.

[ceejayoz]

So:

Seizing ships isn’t a blockade.

Turning away ships isn’t a blockade.

The UN, Cuba, and major national and international news outlets considering it one doesn’t count.

Running out of oil and massive power outages doesn’t count.

Trump’s threats of strikes don’t count.

Apparently nothing does. The Cuban Missile Crisis doesn’t even meet your standard.