Obama to Normalize Relations with Cuba

[Vandalshandle]

Cuba welcomes you, senior!

http://www.cubaweb.cu/

 

[Flopper]

The GOP will rapidly come around on Cuba. They just have not quite figured out what a vast untapped market is on that island. As soon as they run the numbers, they will be fighting for a place on the Cuba bandwagon.

Yep. Cuba needs just about everything the US produces. You can bet that in boardrooms across the country, there's a discussion going on about opening Cuba to American business which means lots of pressure from lobbyists on GOP congressmen.

The US backing of the incredibly corrupt Batista regime in the 1950's gave Castro no choice but to look elsewhere for support. After defeating Batista in 1959, Castro came to the US to meet with Eisenhower to ask for help. However, he was snubbed by the administration. In fact, Eisenhower made golf plans so his calender would be filled during Castro's time in Washington. Castro ended up meeting with Nixon who made it clear that there would be no help coming from the US. Nixon latter commented that Castro had either already aligned himself with Russia or he just didn't didn't understand communism. Within months of Castro's visit, the US began planning the invasion of Cuba followed by over 50 years of attempts by the US government to force Castro out of power. However, the only thing that policy accomplished was to keep the Cuban people in poverty, and make Castro a hero in eyes of the people.

 

[Vandalshandle]

The GOP will rapidly come around on Cuba. They just have not quite figured out what a vast untapped market is on that island. As soon as they run the numbers, they will be fighting for a place on the Cuba bandwagon.

Yep. Cuba needs just about everything the US produces. You can bet that in boardrooms across the country, there's a discussion going on about opening Cuba to American business which means lots of pressure from lobbyists on GOP congressmen.

The US backing of the incredibly corrupt Batista regime in the 1950's gave Castro no choice but to look elsewhere for support. After defeating Batista in 1959, Castro came to the US to meet with Eisenhower to ask for help. However, he was snubbed by the administration. In fact, Eisenhower made golf plans so his calender would be filled during Castro's time in Washington. Castro ended up meeting with Nixon who made it clear that there would be no help coming from the US. Nixon latter commented that Castro had either already aligned himself with Russia or he just didn't didn't understand communism. Within months of Castro's visit, the US began planning the invasion of Cuba followed by over 50 years of attempts by the US government to force Castro out of power. However, the only thing that policy accomplished was to keep the Cuban people in poverty, and make Castro a hero in eyes of the people.

Exactly.Also, the Cubans are well aware of the US foreign policy in Latin America, which has always been, "Whoever wants to throw out the United Fruit Company and arrange for the land to be redistributed to the people of the country, that person is a Commie." The US response has always been to send in the Marines to "protect American interests", and the reformer ends up dead. Combine that with the Monroe Doctrine, in which we stated that only the USA has any say so in what goes on in the Western hemisphere, and what you end up with is a whole lot of people really pissed off at us.
I am constantly amazed that we have any friends left in the world at all. Then again, do we?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Provide

Boss certainly knows nothing of the Cuban situation or the events surrounding it.

Boss is also extremely upset about human rights violations in Cuba. I am sure that is why he wants to shut down Guantanamo, where we have been torturing people.....

Provide actual evidence we are torturing people at Gitmo. Hurry now it should not be hard to find since you claim we are doing it and have been for years.

Why, of course we are not torturing in Guantanamo! We just happen to have this prison there, which is closed to the press, and not on US soil, where absolutely nothing is revealed to the American public because of total isolation and restricted access, and where only military laws apply, not federal laws. Nobody was doing much with it, so we just threw some folks in there a decade or two ago. Habitus Corpus? I doubt if that applies in a military prison on a military base in a foreign country. So, where do you think that the waterboarding took place, Leavenworth?

I repeat provide actual evidence that Torture is occurring at Gitmo.

 

[Vandalshandle]

"I repeat provide actual evidence that Torture is occurring at Gitmo."

The whole POINT of the Guantanamo prison is to avoid human rights protection for those incarcerated there. For example, the right to a speedy trial, which we guarantee to ourselves, but not to our captives in an undeclared war.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Provide

Boss certainly knows nothing of the Cuban situation or the events surrounding it.

Boss is also extremely upset about human rights violations in Cuba. I am sure that is why he wants to shut down Guantanamo, where we have been torturing people.....

Provide actual evidence we are torturing people at Gitmo. Hurry now it should not be hard to find since you claim we are doing it and have been for years.

We tortured folks through 2006 at least.

We don't know now if it is happening.

 

[Boss]

Boss certainly knows nothing of the Cuban situation or the events surrounding it.

Boss is also extremely upset about human rights violations in Cuba. I am sure that is why he wants to shut down Guantanamo, where we have been torturing people.....

You've smoked too much of your own fucking rope, dude.

The human rights issues in Cuba go way beyond torture, or anything remotely related to enhanced interrogation of enemy combatants in time of war. People are killed in Cuba for expressing free speech.

And before you or one of your clones regurgitates the "whutabout China?" chortle... I don't much fucking care for free trade with those Commie bastards either! You see, I am a capitalist and not a corporatist. I don't believe in mixing human slavery and capitalism because that is not fair. You can't have a fair capitalist model when you introduce socialist enslavement of people.... it does not work. It builds tyrant empires. That's all it can do.

US money pouring into Cuba is not going to help Cubans. They don't live in a free market capitalist society like we do. Everything there that is worth a shit belongs to the regime. The people all work for the government and do what they are told.

 

[JakeStarkey]

We don't much fucking care for Boss's silliness and stupidity.

Step along, Boss, nothing for you here.

 

[Flopper]

When you think about it, Castro worked out a pretty good deal for Cuba. he replaced a totally corrupt dictatorship with a communist regime, the major change being that the dictator was no longer stealing the money for himself, but investing it in the infrastructure. Unfortunately for him, the US cut off all sources of money to do that. Castro made lemonade out of lemons by talking the Soviets into propping up his non-economy for about 40 years. The Soviets needed his sugar, and Castro needed everything. The people are satisfied with the government, and Cuba has not had to really produce anything in all that time. His only mistake was that missile thing. Now that the Soviets are no longer propping up their economy, Cuba has to find another sugar daddy. That is a win/win situation for us, because once the Cubans realize that one can buy an American automobile to replace the 1957 Chevy with it's engine replaced by a mule, with a new fuel injected model, the Cubans will embrace capitalism, just like the Chinese are doing. All we can do is to hope that they don't send us another Ricky Ricardo.

It's astonishing to me, the sheer lack of intelligence on this topic. I can read this paragraph and almost hear Peter Griffin's voice from Family Guy.

"The people are satisfied with the government..." Really, Vand Castro? LMFAO!

Again... two groups are pleased about this....

A.) Corporatists who are looking to make a buck.
B.) Socialist-cheerleading Neo-Anarchist Lefties who want to "stick it to the man!"

They've got your bases covered both ways, eh Vandyman?

I have no idea about your option B. Did you come up with that yourself?

Yes I have read that Cubans support Castro. I can't quote it right now, but the whole concept of the bay of Pigs fiasco was that the people were going to rise up and support the invaders, which, of course did not even remotely have a basis in reality. The people who remained after the exodus of the capitalists have supported Castro for all these years. There has never been a serious revolt, or even a demonstration of opposition. In addition, they have been fed propaganda of how the evil USA wants to invade and enslave them, which is similar to the propaganda from our Right, that somehow, a bunch of machete wielding peasants are going to invade Miami Beach and take away our freedoms, or something or other.

And, yes. Corporations are going to love this. Cuba is an island that has not yet been introduced to the wonderful marketing world of Walmart!

There won't be a Walmart in Cuba. If there were Castro would own it. Everything in Cuba is owned by the regime.

Not true. Since the early 1990's Cuban law permitted the construction of condominium style buildings where foreigners could buy an apartment.
Since 2011, individuals have been able to legally buy and sell their own homes at their own prices.

In Sept, the Cuban government announced that 9,000 of the now-state-run restaurants in Cuba will move into the private sector and be run by citizen owners, the island nation's government announced Friday. This is in addition to over 1200 private family run restaurants. There are now 387,000 Cubans, out of a population of about 11 million, that are now self-employed

Cuba is has already started a move toward free markets and private ownership. Obama's action will certainly encourage Cuba to continue in that direction.

At some point the GOP will announce that over 50 years of isolation and sanctions has worked and Cuba has finally seen the light.

Cuba says 9 000 restaurants can now be privately owned - CNN.com
The Way Foreigners Can Buy Property in Cuba Real Estate

 

[Flopper]

Boss certainly knows nothing of the Cuban situation or the events surrounding it.

Boss is also extremely upset about human rights violations in Cuba. I am sure that is why he wants to shut down Guantanamo, where we have been torturing people.....

You've smoked too much of your own fucking rope, dude.

The human rights issues in Cuba go way beyond torture, or anything remotely related to enhanced interrogation of enemy combatants in time of war. People are killed in Cuba for expressing free speech.

And before you or one of your clones regurgitates the "whutabout China?" chortle... I don't much fucking care for free trade with those Commie bastards either! You see, I am a capitalist and not a corporatist. I don't believe in mixing human slavery and capitalism because that is not fair. You can't have a fair capitalist model when you introduce socialist enslavement of people.... it does not work. It builds tyrant empires. That's all it can do.

US money pouring into Cuba is not going to help Cubans. They don't live in a free market capitalist society like we do. Everything there that is worth a shit belongs to the regime. The people all work for the government and do what they are told.

One could have said the same thing about China in 1979.

 

[Boss]

"I repeat provide actual evidence that Torture is occurring at Gitmo."

The whole POINT of the Guantanamo prison is to avoid human rights protection for those incarcerated there. For example, the right to a speedy trial, which we guarantee to ourselves, but not to our captives in an undeclared war.

No it's not the whole purpose of Gitmo. Moron.

The people at Gitmo are enemies captured on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are not US citizens with Constitutional rights of due process. They have human rights through the Geneva Convention and those have been observed.

Your Messiah couldn't get rid of Gitmo, even with senile old McCain cheerleading because there is a legitimate strategic military and national security function for Gitmo. Of course when you're a retarded left-wing fucknut....

 

[JakeStarkey]

Boss, you are a "ihateObama", drone: nothing more.

Get over yourself because nobody has worried about your thoughts except you.

You will be the first on a tour to Cuba.

 

[Vandalshandle]

What bewilders me is what the hell the Right thinks that a continuing embargo on Cuba will accomplish, after having failed to accomplish anything in the last 54 years....

Now, what was that definition of "insanity" that we have all heard, over and over?

 

[peach174]

What bewilders me is what the hell the Right thinks that a continuing embargo on Cuba will accomplish, after having failed to accomplish anything in the last 54 years....

Now, what was that definition of "insanity" that we have all heard, over and over?

It is not just the right that is against it. There are Dems who are too.

 

[Vandalshandle]

QUOTE="peach174, post: 10376510, member: 23262"]

What bewilders me is what the hell the Right thinks that a continuing embargo on Cuba will accomplish, after having failed to accomplish anything in the last 54 years....

Now, what was that definition of "insanity" that we have all heard, over and over?

It is not just the right that is against it. There are Dems who are too.[/QUOTE]

I would not know about that, because I do not follow any party line. I think for myself. As a matter of fact, It was JFK, a democrat, who started all this nonsense.

 

[Flopper]

What bewilders me is what the hell the Right thinks that a continuing embargo on Cuba will accomplish, after having failed to accomplish anything in the last 54 years....

Now, what was that definition of "insanity" that we have all heard, over and over?

It is not just the right that is against it. There are Dems who are too.

As expected, the Republicans strongly opposed restoration of diplomatic relations with a few dissenters and Democrats strongly support it with a few dissenters.

The majority of Cuban-Americans over 65 strongly oppose the action while Cuban Americans under 65 strongly support it. Florida congressmen need to take note of this.

It appears business leaders will strongly support the lifting of embargoes since Cubans want just about everything sold in the US. This should surely influence Republicans in Congress.

 

[I.P.Freely]

Boss, you are a "ihateObama", drone: nothing more.

Get over yourself because nobody has worried about your thoughts except you.

You will be the first on a tour to Cuba.

Jake, thats what worries me.We have been visiting Cuba for the last 20 years, its the most genuine Island in the Caribbean. One of the reasons for this beauty is the lack of American trash like Boss.The day I see an American Walmart of the seas in the cruise terminal spewing out its Senor Frogs shit in baseball hats and check trousers, will mean we have lost.

 

[I.P.Freely]

What bewilders me is what the hell the Right thinks that a continuing embargo on Cuba will accomplish, after having failed to accomplish anything in the last 54 years....

Now, what was that definition of "insanity" that we have all heard, over and over?

It is not just the right that is against it. There are Dems who are too.

As expected, the Republicans strongly opposed restoration of diplomatic relations with a few dissenters and Democrats strongly support it with a few dissenters.

The majority of Cuban-Americans over 65 strongly oppose the action while Cuban Americans under 65 strongly support it. Florida congressmen need to take note of this.

It appears business leaders will strongly support the lifting of embargoes since Cubans want just about everything sold in the US. This should surely influence Republicans in Congress.

America needs Cuba health care expertise and personel, is there a reason why you have the highest 1st day infant mortality rate in the industrialised world

 

[PGreen]

This normalization of the relations with Cuba is nothing, but another crazy scheme of Obama's administration. I don't think there will be some kind of profit. This is an obvious blow to the state of Florida.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

Within 10 years of the time we recognized China, free markets were opening. Within 20 years, the Chinese economy was flourishing. The same thing will happen in Cuba.

Because besides their type of government, Cuba and China have just so much in common. LOL