Of course Obama's intentions are unclear. You can't win an election by stating your intentions. You have to be ambiguous: Be everything to everybody. Obams does this well.
The US embargo has also caused considerable and needless suffering for the innocent Cuban population.
Uh, no. Make no mistake about this: It's the Cuban government. Cuba needs to make economic reforms before the US lifts sanctions. Trade with Cuba should benefit the people of Cuba, not the corrupt government.
Posted by Muck at July 19, 2008 10:30 AMuh, no, muck. our policy is a failure. the rest of the world engages with cuba. and we engage with china, saudi arabia, etc. but hypocrites such as yourself don't care about what works, or about policy succeeding. it's all about toeing the dogmatic line.
Posted by Turkana at July 19, 2008 10:38 AMTrade with any country always benefits the ruling elites of that country. All ruling elites are corrupt to some degree. The extent to which trade benefits the people, however you want to define that group, it is largely incidental.
The question is whether the embargo of trade with Cuba serves any useful purpose for the people of the United States. Every policy, foreign or domestic, ought to be judged by that standard.
Posted by James E. Powell at July 19, 2008 10:39 AMTurk, if the "rest of the world" engages with Cuba, then why is Cuba failing? Answer: No economic incentive for people to take risks.
China made economic reforms and has a free market. That's why we trade with them.
Yeah, and what do we get from China other than cheap ass products laden with lead?
Posted by Judith at July 19, 2008 11:21 AMMuck;
Do you get the Repug TPM Fax from ROVE? You always seem to tow the party line. Have you ever had an original idea that is contrary to your party? Just curious because we Dems disagree with Obama on issues and are vocal on them. Are there any issues that you disagree with McLame on? If so, what are they?
mucktroll, you were bad enough as a shill for the clearly failed Bush Economic policy. Now you are presenting yourself a a foreign policy wonk....still failing.
Posted by T2 at July 19, 2008 01:56 PMThe embargo has always been about the Castro regime insisting on its rules for business - not the rules of the American big & mob businesses.
Posted by idiosynchronic at July 19, 2008 02:31 PMA couple of weeks ago I heard an interesting interview on Fresh Air . T.J. English has written on the Mafia that controlled Havana before the Cuban Revolution and the way American big businesses benefited from it. He said that the mob had always wanted to actually run their own country, and in Cuba at that time, they actually did. You saw bits of this in Godfather II, which is apparently historical. It was immensely profitable for the mob, and very corrupt and exploitative of the Cubans, needless to say.
Anyhow, it's worth considering that the Cuban Revolution didn't come out of nowhere, and naturally, the US has taken the course that any rational person could predict would have cemented Fidel in power for his natural lifetime.
Posted by Delia at July 19, 2008 04:41 PMObama's intentions are not 'unclear.' He has been more than willing, when in South Florida, to pander to the Cuban Exiles and the idiotic policy we currently "enjoy." Even though said policy is contrary to the policies we used to open China and Russia.
Obama doesn't deserve any breaks. He funded the war too many times, he ran away on women's' rights, he backed down to corporate interests, he's the NRA's bitch, and he's more than willing to PISS ON THE CONSTITUTION if he can get one more nut-job to vote for him. I can't think of an important promise that he's made that he's kept.
And I sure haven't seen him stand up to anything or anyone.
Posted by Moses at July 20, 2008 07:33 PM"But Conason makes a needless leap into the questionable, when he writes the following:"
Nice catch, Turkana. I think that's my first real disagreement w/ anything Smokin' Joe has written.
And, yeah, unlike (sch)muck, we can tolerate a little disagreement among ourselves.
The best way to end the trade embargo is to go after its corporate sponsors. Do you know that Bacardi was (and continues to be) one of the main supporters of the embargo? They even drafted legislation to extend it in 1996.
Please let everyone know about this boycott: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/boycott-bacardi-buy-better-booze
If the US doesn’t lift the embargo themselves we need to hold the corporations that fund it accountable!