Cuba on the brink.

On Monday, Cuba’s electrical grid failed, causing a blackout that affected the island’s nearly 11 million inhabitants. Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed that it was investigating a complete disconnect of the island’s grid, which sparked both violent and non-violent protests. After 29 hours, power was restored to most of the island, although much of the country remains without service as of Wednesday morning. Cuba has been experiencing worsened power disruptions since the United States increased its economic pressure on the island. On January 11, President Donald Trump announced he would prevent Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba, then announced heightened tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba on January 29. 

Ad-free podcasts are here!

To listen to this podcast ad-free, and to enjoy our subscriber only premium content, go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!

Stranded in the Middle East.

When the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February, airspaces shut down and commercial flights were cancelled across the region. For Americans in the Middle East, the following days were marked by chaotic attempts to evacuate and inconsistent communication from U.S. embassies. Associate Producer Aidan Gorman has experienced embassy evacuations firsthand, and in our latest YouTube video he breaks down what happened, what should have happened, and the stark realities of evacuation policies. Check it out here:

Join us on Reddit!

Over the past year, our community on Reddit has been growing — as have the discussions about our coverage. In the past month, threads titled “Under-discussed Topics around Iran War,” “The State of the Union was bad, but not for why Tangle thinks,” and “Justice for Isaac’s lost right socks” have garnered a lot of participation. If you want to start a discussion on a specific issue, a broad theme with our coverage or anything to do with the Tangle podcast, join our Reddit community at r/TangleNews!

You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.

You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. 

Take the survey: What do you think of the current situation in Cuba? Let us know.

Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.

This podcast was written by: Isaac Saul and audio edited and mixed by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.

Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.