Shattuck: Why are we rewarding murderous dictators?

The Boston Herald ^ | 07-02-15 | Tom Shattuck

[calvincaspian]

For decades the American left has done its best to convince us that Cuba is a benign, progressive paradise that just needs to be unshackled from our tyranny. But the record is clear: The Castros are running a murderous dictatorship 90 miles south of Key West that has exported violence around the world.

Enter Barack Obama.

Yesterday he took to the White House Rose Garden to celebrate normalized relations with the most despotic regime in the Western Hemisphere.

It is meant to be his crowning foreign policy accomplishment, which is appropriate, because it’s every bit as ill-conceived as everything else Obama has done overseas.

The Castro brothers are now in the good guys club. They are getting a U.S. ambassador, and no doubt piles of American aid, on top of the cash from trade and tourism.

And they’ve done nothing to earn it. Raul Castro has made no meaningful concessions. In fact, the Castro regime wants the U.S. to “return to Cuba the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base” and “compensate the Cuban people for all the human and economic damages caused by the United States policies.”

And what do we, and more importantly the Cuban people, get? Zilch.

[calvincaspian]

“Imprisoned by the past” seems a poor choice of words while discussing an island gulag.

All indications are the president is more concerned about the 100 or so terrorists we have locked up in Guantanamo Bay than he is about the 11 million people living under the Castro nightmare on the other side of the wire.

[ryan71]

You are who your friends are.

[MrB]

Because evil is good and good is evil.

[onedoug]

Because ø is an enemy islamist dictator. It’s what they do.

[Vigilanteman]

One of my favorite quotes from Jimmy Carter is that dictatorships are a lot easier to deal with than republics or democracies because you only need to talk to one person to understand what everybody is thinking. That's really how these people think. And what they aspire to.

If you can't have a benevolent dictatorship with their elites in charge, the next best thing is a dumbed-down democracy whose opinions are easily manipulated by the media and other "opinion leaders."

[RIghtwardHo]

Because that’s what America has been doing decade after decade for decades.

[I want the USA back]

$h!tface identifies with the castros because he is a confirmed marxist like them. he feels that this country mistreated cuba under Kennedy. He is deliberately and intentionally giving the castros more than they are giving us.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I lean towards the toxoplasmosis theory.

From 11-30 million Americans have the protozoa in them, and it can live in most mammals though it has a primary life cycle between rodents and cats. It is unique because it secretes a chemical retrains the rodent’s brain so that it is attracted to what it should fear and avoid. In the case of rodents, the smell of cat urine.

And human brains have much the same chemistry as do the brains of rodents.

So why are Democrats attracted to tyrants, dictators, aggressive foreign powers, self destructive behaviors, as well as determined to eliminate America’s defenses?

Perhaps a protozoa in their brains wants them to.

[Paleo Pete]

I don’t really understand Obama’s motives, but it’s looking more and more like he is actively trying to destroy this country. Our reputation abroad is in tatters, our allies don’t trust us, or enemies don’t fear us, the economy is on its knees, the people are divided along every line he can think of...political, religious, racial, economic, you name it they’re at each others’ throats.

I didn’t believe it for a long time, I wanted to think maybe he was just incompetent...now I have to start really giving it serious consideration. He’s doing nothing in Iraq/Syria, just enough to say he’s doing something till he can drop it in someone else’s lap, Kerry is making a horrible deal in Iran, about to hand them nuclear weapons on a silver platter, 93 million people have dropped out of the work force, over 45 million on food stamps, 50 million under poverty level, education went down the drain long ago, supreme court and president ignore laws and constitution, ditto for attorney general, she specifically said she would support amnesty for illegal immigrants (just what part of illegal DON’T you understand, Ms Lynch?)

It’s crazy. But it looks more and more like he is simply trying to destroy the country. Making friends with every dictator in sight is part of the plan.