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I think our politicians are obsessed with Cuba because it was the first colony that got away. There have been several others that have gotten close but the WTO and IMF have shut them down before they could escape.
I expect out Empire to collapse just like all the rest. Probably Venezuela will be next with the rest of South America following. I think this will be good for them because they will be able to reinvest in their own country instead of feeding the money to our banks and we will not have to spend any money supporting the dictators keeping them in the fold. Good for everybody except the exploiters.
the responses in this thread, show more than anything that this forum is full of people who are more comfortable critisizing their own country, than a communist dictator, its not about fear, it is about freedom , human rights, free speech, you know, all those things that you libs are sniveling about Bush taking away from you!
Cuba is a dictatorship. Its leaders have repressed its people, killed thousands of innocents over the years, pointed missiles at the United States and basically been the model of failure over the past 45 years. Its militaristic communism shows what a heavy handed government does to its citizens for power, and all in the name of doing what is best for the people. As silas pointed out, human rights went out the window a long time ago in Cuba.
Cuba ... has ... basically been the model of failure over the past 45 years
Exactly, and this is exactly why the US policy, despite the propaganda to the contrary, is to contribute to keeping him propped up, or at least not to invade (which would probably take all of 45 minutes).
All ruling classes of political entities need a "model of failure" to hold up to those whom they rule.
This is a golden rule of politics since the year one ...
... long before the US Empire came into existence, for better and for worse, and long after it fades into history, for better and for worse ...
... like everybody else, no exceptions ... return to dust, O sons of men!
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silas777
the responses in this thread, show more than anything that this forum is full of people who are more comfortable critisizing their own country, than a communist dictator, its not about fear, it is about freedom , human rights, free speech, you know, all those things that you libs are sniveling about Bush taking away from you!
If it truly was about freedom, human rights, and free speech we'd be attempting to isolate far more countries than Cuba. Personally, I'd place Saudi Arabia high up on the list. It serves as a perfect example of the reality that if you have something we want/need, we really don't care how your citizenry is treated. And let's not forget the Cuban/American votes riding on our treatment of Cuba.
When Fidel Castro took over the Batista regime, many middle-class Cubans who had fled to the US were furious because Castro made Cuba a socialist country where no one class would reign at the expense of another class as had happened under Batista's regime. When Castro took over Cuba, the well-to-do middle class left Cuba. They are really the only ones who still hate Castro. When Kennedy was in office and failed with his Bay of Pigs Cuban Missile Crisis, that was exacerbated any animosity the US had toward Castro because Castro was able to foil any plan that the US attempted to make against Cuba.
And those same Cubans are running Miami, oppressing non-Cubans.
It seems to me (not in the US) that the US and it's citizens either dislike or fear Cuba. Perhaps somone could explain why this is so if true.
Not true for me. I don't dislike any country. Our leaders may not like each other, but I have free will to think for myself. Don't paint a broad brush and think that all of us Americans think alike. That is so far from the truth. I am an individual who does not play into all the media circus and the world leaders acting like spoiled children or bullies.
Some people fear the unknown while others have biases which dominates their view of Cuba. I do not believe in dictatorship or Communism in Cuba. Just like I do not believe in the Cuban cultural elite who mistreated the poor, the Blacks, and the natives before Castro's reign.
I actually have more fear of the things that are going on in our own country. Castro is no threat to me, but the politicians here in the USA are. I am too busy worrying about who our next president is going to be which is a very scary thought.
It seems to me (not in the US) that the US and it's citizens either dislike or fear Cuba. Perhaps somone could explain why this is so if true.
Those of us who were old enough in 1962 to remember, recall that Mr. Castro was eager and willing to have Soviet nuclear missiles placed in Cuba. This was a direct threat and provocation to the United States. The United States and the USSR came very close to war as a result. Under the circumstances, it was logical that many American people feared being nuked, and hated Cuba for embracing, for a short time, a willingness to do so on behalf of her Russian sponsors.
Having said that, I certainly bear no ill will to the Cuban people today. They can't help having been brainwashed by a senile and paranoid regime, which remains mired in a ridiculous Stalinist ideology, and now markets itself once again as a pathetic cha-cha paradise, only this time for rich leftists instead of lugubrious mafiosos.
Cuba is not actually one of the world's worst countries when it comes to repression or human rights violations. It isn't great, but there's really nothing they do that we don't tolerate from 'friendly' dictators like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. Indeed, Cuba doesn't even have the worst human rights record in the Caribbean (Haiti is clearly worse, Jamaica arguably so).
Fundamentally, it is about money and property. Most of the compensation claims against Cuba come from seizures made in the late 1950's. These claims were the basis of laws like the nutty Helms-Burton act of 1996. Under American law, it's perfectly fine for agricultural company officials from Monsanto or ADM to go to Cuba and sign contracts, but it's not okay for an American hotel chain in Mexico to rent its rooms to a Cuban trade delegation. It's bizarre.
It's time for US-based Cubans to give up the dream of regaining their old estates on the motherland. That time is decades past. However, 'Miami Cubans' keep losing political influence and raw numbers to other hispanic groups in Florida, which generally do not care one way or the other about Fidel.
That being said, it's very easy to jump the Treasury Department embargo on Cuba and go see things for yourself. More people SHOULD do that, in my opinion. It's not the proper role of the government to dictate to me or other US citizens where we can travel on this globe.
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