United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz labeled Cuba a national security threat on Sunday, accusing China and Russia of collecting intelligence around U.S. military bases. Waltz stated that China and Russia maintain intelligence posts, signals collection posts, and military officers in Cuba, located just off U.S. shores. He asserted that the Cuban regime poses a threat not only to its own people but also to U.S. national security, indicating that the Trump administration will not tolerate the situation.

Waltz Warns Of Intelligence Posts

Waltz told Fox News’s "Sunday Morning Futures" that China and Russia are "collecting information around our military bases in Cuba." He argued that the Trump administration had successfully pushed back against Moscow and Beijing in other regions, including Venezuela, Central America, and the Panama Canal. The ambassador's remarks highlight ongoing concerns regarding foreign military presence near the U.S. mainland.

Trump Administration Maintains Hard Line

The comments follow President Donald Trump’s declaration in January that Cuba’s policies constitute an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and foreign policy. Trump cited Havana’s intelligence and defense ties with Russia and China as the basis for this designation. The administration's stance involves maintaining pressure on Cuba while demanding changes in its international alignments.

Diplomatic Contacts And Warnings

Despite the hard line, rare U.S.-Cuba contacts occurred in May. The Associated Press reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials in Havana to convey that Washington was open to engagement on economic and security issues, provided Cuba made fundamental changes. Conversely, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Josefina Vidal, accused Washington of inventing national security pretexts and warned that the danger of military aggression against Cuba is growing.

Political Pressure Intensifies

The pressure campaign has gained urgency following the death of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a defense hawk who advocated for regime change in Cuba. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates has also warned that Trump’s threats against Cuba could trigger a migration crisis and impact U.S. security. Trump has previously stated that Cuba remains "on our mind" while downplaying the need for immediate military escalation.

Household financial pressure is increasingly showing up at the grocery store, where more Americans are relying on debt and savings to pay for food, according to a new Urban Institute study released Monday. The nonpartisan think tank found that more than one-quarter of working-age adults who used credit cards to buy groceries either could not pay their balance in full or missed the minimum payment. This trend highlights growing financial distress as food affordability becomes a primary concern for U.S. households.

Grocery Costs and Payment Struggles

The Urban Institute said grocery prices have climbed 32% over the past five years. The findings are based on a December survey of 7,500 adults between the ages of 18 and 64. About one in 10 adults relied on buy now, pay later loans to cover grocery purchases, and roughly one-third of those borrowers missed a payment during the past year. Around 20% of working-age adults also said they had dipped into long-term savings, including emergency funds, at least once in the previous 12 months to pay for groceries.

Rising Financial Distress

Kassandra Martinchek, a public policy expert at the Urban Institute and co-author of the study, noted that households face the added burden of repaying debt, which could make it more difficult to regain financial stability. The study found that the share of working-age adults who missed a minimum credit card payment after using the card for groceries increased by 1.6 percentage points since 2023. Martinchek indicated that even a relatively small increase represents millions more Americans struggling to meet minimum payments.

Financial stress was particularly severe among lower-income households. About 12% of low- and middle-income adults who used credit cards to pay for groceries missed a minimum payment last year, roughly three times the rate among higher-income consumers. Lower-income borrowers were also about four times more likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment.

Broader Economic Indicators

The findings add to broader signs of financial pressure on U.S. households. Earlier this year, data highlighted by The Kobeissi Letter showed serious credit card delinquencies climbed to 13.1% in the first quarter, the highest level since 2010. Separately, research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found more households were dipping into savings to cover everyday expenses while food insecurity continued to rise.

The report also noted that enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) declined over the past year following stricter federal work requirements, with about 37 million people enrolled as of March. Food prices could also remain under pressure, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected the weakest U.S. wheat harvest since 1972.