US-Cuba Ties Thaw, White House Open To Castro Visit -- AFP
Washington (AFP) - A US visit by Cuban President Raul Castro is a possibility, the White House said, a day after he and US President Barack Obama announced a historic bilateral rapprochement.
With developments proceeding apace, a high-level US diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, revealed she will travel to Havana in late January for the first direct talks to "begin the process of restoration of diplomatic relations."
But amid celebrations on Havana's streets and plaudits ringing out from China to Chile over the prospects of burying a final vestige of the Cold War, American lawmakers smothered prospects of any rapid roll-back of the trade embargo at the heart of the dispute.
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My Comment: I have kept quiet on this news story because everything about the Fidel brothers and the corrupt and wretched system that they and their supporters have imposed on the Cuban people just makes me sick. For as long as I can remember .... ... and this is from a Soviet perspective .... I never understood the Soviet Union's lavish and unquestionable support for Cuba and the Castro brothers. Billions of dollars spent every year to prop up those thugs .... just to be in a position to poke the U.S. in the eye and to aggravate the occupant of the White House. I got into countless arguments over Cuba when I was working in the FO .... and no one ever gave me a satisfactory explanation on why so much money was being spent, and what was the geopolitical benefit from it. No one.
Today .... the left in America are overjoyed that President Obama has decided to restore diplomatic relations with a regime that has a long history of murder, imprisoning political prisoners for decades, torture, the banning of independent unions, complete state control of the media, wide spread internet and communications restrictions, a brutal internal police force, and .... well you get the picture. And while the U.S/ is hoping that this will lead to long term political changes in Cuba .... I am willing to bet that nothing of the sort will happen .... especially now ... because there will be no motivation for the Cuban regime to change. The Cuban regime agreed to the restoration of ties because they want to receive U.S. aid and investment .... aid and investment that they badly need to prop up their government and to pay off their supporters. They have now accomplished this, and what is now left are the details .... details that I am willing to bet that the White House is going to be very open about .... and very accommodating. And as for the Cuban people .... they will get the crumbs .... if they are lucky.
There was a time when the U.S. stood for something .... even when the entire world disagreed with them .... but those days are gone .... long gone. And when Raoul Castro (and maybe his brother Fidel) are invited to the White House and into the Oval Office .... for me .... it will be the final nail in the coffin that the U.S. is not the country that I knew decades ago .... it has morphed into something else .... and with the full support of it's political elite and most of it's voters.
6 comments:
¡Cuba libre! is not just
a good drink.
ofs
Here's the deal:
1. It further isolates Russia. Russia has few friends right now, and this takes another one off the table. It will also minimize Chinese investment and influence in Cuba. That's a good thing.
2. It sets us up for the end of the Castro regime. There are no designated successors who have any chance in hell of keeping things together. It sets up an excuse to liberaize the governmetn and a transition to a post-Castro, post communist regime.
3. As North Korea shows, isolating a nation is not a good thing, especially in this era.
4. It doesn't cost us anything, and in fact it makes us look better. We've kept this up for 52 years with no benefit except strengthening the Castro regime and giving them a demon to blame. This ends that, immediately.
5. It reunites families. It allows people to go home. It allowed us to get over 50 political prisoners back at almost no cost.
6. It REALLY pisses off Russia, Boliva and Venezuela, again, at almost no cost to us.
I think you could have written this about Nixon going to China in the 70's.
Sometimes you have to reexamine a policy and see if it still meets your needs. If I can come up with six benefits to it immediately, there have to be a hell of a lot more than that.
P.S., it will be interesting to see who now gets the explatory rights to the offshore oil and gas deposits...
I pray and hope that you are completely right Trevor.
But in regards to foreign relations .... there will be no change in Cuban policy towards Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia .... that relationship is deep and will be there for a very long time.
But on a positive note .... I cannot argue against the reunification of families. If the Cuban government sticks to that clause .... the flow of people will result in Cuban society being exposed to a lot of people who do not like the government .... and that will guarantee change over time.
RUSSIA ALLIES GOING DOWN THE DRAIN EU SANCTIONS, LIBIYA CIVIL WAR ,SYRIA CIVIL WAR ,UKRAINE CIVIL WAR , CUBA FALSE OPEN ARMS DOING TO ANTAGONIZE RUSSIA US PLANNING COLOUR REVOLUTION SOME TIME DOWN THE LINE ONCE THEY GET THERE EMABASSY IN AND COMUNICATIONS IN ,VENEZUELA OIL SANCTIONS POSSIBLE DEFAULT ,LIST GOES ON RUSSSIAS STILL HAVE LOTS ALLIES BUT THERE LOSING THE HIGH TEC ONES ALSO READ THAT US DID AN OVERT COUP IN UKRAINE BECUSE RUSSIA MESSED UP THERE PLANS ON ATTACKN SYRIA AND BUTTING IN ON THERE MIDDLE EAST GROUNDS OF CONTROL SO THERE MAKING THEM PAY
*Shrugs*...
I've always viewed the American perspective regarding Cuba as flawed irrational hatred for a country that has been propped up by the American propaganda machine, but hey, I live in Ireland, what do I know!
things change. Castro guys will soon be gone forever. our embargo did NOTHING and to blame our left is silly...look now at the Right in Florida!
What has not got mentioned: ignore Cuba and China will soon be all over the place as they are in Africa
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