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In Breakthrough, US and Cuba To Resume Diplomatic Relations
HughPickens.com writes: Peter Baker reports at the NYT that in a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, the United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century. In addition, the United States will ease restrictions on remittances, travel and banking relations, and Cuba will release 53 Cuban prisoners identified as political prisoners by the United States government. Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for now, the administration signaled that it would welcome a move by Congress to ease or lift it should lawmakers choose to. "We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. It does not serve America's interests, or the Cuban people, to try to push Cuba toward collapse. We know from hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed state," said the White House in a written statement. "The United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people."
I wonder if it's any accident that this happened AFTER the mid-term elections, but well before the 2016 presidential election season really gets underway...
(You think Christmas comes early? Hah!)
Cuban exiles are a big voting block in a big battleground state, but obviously somebody decided to risk kicking this hornets' nest now in the hopes that the furor will die down by 2016.
(Real) Cuban leaf is good. IMHO, Sumatra is better. Cuban cigars are desired primarily because they are illegal, and the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. I have never had real Cuban rum, so I will not opine.
The Cuban people survived 55 years of near total trade embargo, with universal healthcare intact, and no one starving in the streets.
A definite failure if I ever heard of one.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Exactly. On the one hand I'm surprised it took over 50 years to figure out the embargo wasn't going to work. Even more surprising is that it's over 20 years since the fall of the Soviet empire. But hey, when have politicians every been quick learners?
Sure, all of the Cuban refugees will be really pissed off for a while. But in the long term, I think this will be a good thing for both countries.
When the whole rest of the world wants sanctions, as with South Africa, they may be useful. When the whole rest of the world trades with Cuba and we don't, we're just shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, the South African government was far more malleable because it was elected by white citizens who suffered from sanctions -- the Cuban government is not elected by anyone who can be hurt by sanctions.
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The Cuban people survived 55 years of near total trade embargo, with universal healthcare intact, and no one starving in the streets.
Cuba survived by getting huge payments from the USSR, then from Venezuela. I hope 'no one starving in the streets' isn't how you measure success these days.
As for me, the economics are irrelevant. I'd rather live in an impoverished country with the right to insult my president and point out problems, than live in a rich dictatorship without those rights.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
No, it's the Platt Amendment (the one which allows Guantanamo) and the American embargo which has made Cuba a failed state.
You seem to know nothing at all about Cuba.
America has been fucking with Cuba for over 100 years, and seldom to the benefit of the Cubans.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
They probably would have been bankrupted by the bankster cabal like everyone else. They may actually have been better off with the embargo.
I have seen the oil wells in Cuba. The oil offshore is some of the dirtiest and lowest quality available. The only reason for the Chinese and Canadians to be assisting with oil exploration was so that Cuba could have some self-sufficiency.
*** Don't be dull.***
So what your saying is that if we took all the illegal -- uh "undocumented" immigrants from third-world countries that Obama lets in and dump them into the socialist paradise of Cuba that America's healthcare statistics will look massively better than Cuba's.
Oh, and that infant mortality statistic is complete B.S. In Cuba, they just let the premature babies die and it never counts as a live birth to mess up the statistics. In the U.S. they bend over backwards to save babies but since they aren't always successful, the statistics get skewed.
Proof: http://www.nationalreview.com/...
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
I doubt the US administration "realized" anything.
Very likely a conglomerate of US companies sees business opportunities and is pulling strings behind the scene.
Pretty much every business in the US has wanted to reopen trade with Cuba since the day after the US Closed it. They've been tugging on those strings for a long time with no luck.
You must be American.
I'm Canadian. I have traveled to Cuba for vacation a couple of times.
It is (or was) an absolutely beautiful place. Pity that will end with the arrival of Americans.
Last time we were there we stayed in a 5 star resort. (Cuba's 5 star is not the same as a North American's 5 star.)
My son cut his foot on a broken tile in the pool. The pool attendant patched it up best he could, with what he had.
I went to the 'International Clinic' down the road for bandages. It was close enough for me to walk to.
Keep in mind, this 'facility' is targeted towards foreigners/tourists, and is kinda a combination of emergency room/hospital/pharmacy.
The 'Pharmacy' is about the size of my bathroom at home, and less well stocked. What limited item selection they had, they only had 1 or 2 of each item. They had surgical tape for sale, but did not have any gauze. It was not what I would call a 'clean' facility. I had to speak to the doctor on call to explain the injury, and ask for gauze. While speaking to him, we ended up in an examination room. It had a plain steel table, an open window with no screen. He went and found the gauze, and took it from the hospital's supplies. It came wrapped in a brown paper wrapper, folded over (reminded me of industrial paper towel).
More photos. https://www.google.ca/search?q=cuban+healthcare+expose&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ZNSRVO_HPIf9yQTK7oG4BA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=789
Many of the lights in the hallways/rooms were not functioning.
The tape was the equivalent of 3 or 4 dollars for the roll. The gauze was 'free'.
Keep in mind, the a local cuban worker only makes between $18 and $22 per month. The maid cleaning my room made more than that just from tips. Currently, they have more incentive to be a maid or bartender, than a Dr, Engineer, etc. It will cause some upheavel when this changes - people who have been making (relatively) good money being maids and the like no longer will be, and 'skilled' people such as trades, Doctors, engineers, etc will make huge gains.
Things you take for granted, like baby Tylenol is just not available. What is available is completely unaffordable for them. Imagine having a headache, but a bottle of aspirin costs 1/3 of your monthly income.
Every time I go, I bring along over the counter medicine and other supplies and give it away.
People are not starving in the streets, because they will be jailed.
The only way people survive without starving is by participating in the black market, and prostitution.
Our tour guide admitted to buying food from the black market for his family to keep from starving.
The police have road side checks - they are not checking for impaired driving, or seatbelts - they are checking cars for people with 'illegal' food (ie - maybe a Cuban went fishing, and caught a fish).
So - yes they have survived 55 years of near trade embargo, but they have not thrived. People are hungry, and the poverty is crushing.
But - the attitude is changing. Last year we had a conversation with out guide that would have not happened the on our 1st visit.
I believe that the American embargo has certainly contributed to this, but is not fully responsible. The embargo seems more than a little hypocritical seeing as the USA has trade relations with North Korea, but has an embargo with Cuba.
Catpcha: intruder
Only reason it took this long is that the last few times castro caused diplomatic incidents.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Apparently the 70-90% top marginal tax rate in the 1960s didn't prevent job creation.
Only President Obama could get gas to $2.50
Gas is that low despite him, not because of him. Get your basic facts straight.
end 2 wars
Which two was that? There's more war in Iraq than there was when he took command, and the war in Afghanistan that he said was the important one is still going on. There's also some new NEW war going on in Syria, where he's now got our forces involved, and we have some lead being slung around in places like Ukraine. "End" two wars? Which ones?
get bin Laden
You mean, be in office when the people who were already working on the task before he took office finally got things lined up and got it done? His main contribution: watching from the situation room. And the intel/SF people who made it happen aren't very happy with him leaving the Pakistani doctor who helped make it possible to twist in the wind after the deed. Classy.
bring unemployment below 8%
That fake number only works if you pretend that huge numbers haven't simply given up looking for work. The real number is much higher than that. Which you know. Which everyone knows. Please, show a little integrity.
then be told he's failing as president
Well, he is. So there's something to be said for being honest about it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.