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From today's White House briefing... CNN's JIM ACOSTA: You're not ruling it out? EARNEST: I guess the point is that the president has had the leaders of both Burma and China to the United States and for that reason I wouldn't rule out a visit from President Castro.

MIAMI — They were known as the Cuban Five, members of a spy ring that descended on South Florida in the 1990s and infiltrated exile groups and military installations. They, along with other members of the ring, tried to make themselves indispensable to the exile groups whose secrets they stole. One of the operatives worked at the Naval Air Station in Key West, while another worked undercover in Tampa. “They were very good,” said Ramón Saúl Sánchez, the founder of the Movimiento Democracia, one of the exile organizations that was infiltrated. “When you trust somebody who you honestly believe is...

The ruble weakened against the dollar and euro on Thursday with traders saying President Vladimir Putin had so far offered no concrete measures to pull Russia out of a crisis at his end-of-year news conference. At 0954 GMT (04:54 a.m. EST), the ruble was around 3 percent weaker against the dollar at 62.04 RUBUTSTN=MCX after opening more than 1 percent higher. The rouble was also around 2 percent weaker versus the euro at 76.50 EURRUBTN=MCX on the Moscow Exchange.

Some Republican and Democratic leaders, along with many of my colleagues in conservative talk radio were quick to criticize President Obama’s move on Wednesday to restore diplomatic ties with Havana; they claimed it rewarded dictatorship and damaged America’s global posture and bargaining position. Missing in much of the national conversation is how this White House maneuver checks Russia’s growing influence in Cuba, where Moscow, in Cold War fashion, has been flexing its military and economic muscles just 90 miles from the US coast in an overt challenge to our national security. A clear-minded analysis of Obama's move may impart future...

So who benefits the most from this new ‘relationship’ between the United States and Cuba? Aficionados’ will soon be able to smoke fine Cuban cigars without having to smuggle them into the U.S., but beyond that what exactly has the U.S. gained by Barack Obama’s diplomatic overture towards the brutal communist dictatorship in Havana? The Caribbean island has been locked in the 1950’s for decades as the rest of the world moved into the twenty-first century. But while trapped in the past Cuba has certainly been involved over the years in current events, and usually not in a particularly positive...

The historic plan announced by President Obama on Wednesday to normalize relations with Cuba was met with heavy bipartisan resistance on Capitol Hill, raising questions of whether Congress will even consider easing a more than 50-year trade embargo against the communist state -- let alone end it. Obama said the United States will cease what he called an “outdated approach” with Cuba, and take steps to normalize diplomatic relations -- including opening an embassy in Havana -- after American Alan Gross was released from the country following five years in prison as part of an agreement that also included the...

On the rare occasion I find myself in agreement with President Obama, I get nervous. It just feels like a setup. Like someone's going to pull the rug out from under me at any moment. But right now, I have to admit, I was very pleased to hear the news that the U.S. and Cuba are moving to normalize relations.

A long time ago, on an island not too far away, a pair of brothers was ejected from a good Jesuit school. The one was reportedly a better student, the other less impressive, but together, they preferred other things – politics, rabble-rousing, war. When the brothers grew up, they fell in with a bad crowd – the worst of crowds, in fact. Far across the oceans, Chinese communists were consolidating their power, Soviet communists were drawing an iron curtain down the center of Europe, Korean communists were settling in for the long haul in Pyongyang, Vietnamese communists were revolting against...

The Vatican played a significant role in healing relations between arch foes Cuba and the United States, officials said Wednesday. Pope Francis was personally involved in secret negotiations between the longtime enemies, sources said Wednesday, as the historic announcement was made in Washington D.C. The pontiff sent private letters to President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro over the summer, urging them to turn their swords into ploughshares. The Pope expressed "warm congratulations for the historic decision" to resume relations, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday. The Vatican and an undisclosed Canadian location served as top-secret areas for negotiations...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he's glad that American "hostage" Alan Gross has been released from a Cuban prison after five years, but he opposes the process by which his release was secured -- "because it puts a price on every American abroad." "Governments now know that if they can take an American hostage, they can get very significant concessions from the United States." As part of the deal to free Gross, the United States will release three Cuban spies: "They're not just benign Cuban spies," Rubio -- the son of Cuban exiles -- told Fox News on Wednesday. "These...

After years in Cuban captivity, Alan Gross is free. But what has he come home to?

Cuba's Castro Brothers Get Big Present From Santa Obama Foreign Policy: Just as its patron Venezuela hit the rocks, Cuba got a last-minute rescue from none other than President Obama, who announced a Santa Claus-like package of wish-list goodies for the Castro brothers. Why? In many ways, President Obama's announced plan to normalize relations with Cuba, lift the embargo, extend trade credits and remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terror list is about on par with the rest of his foreign policy. It was done by executive order without consulting Congress, just like last month's decision to temporarily legalize...

"With new leaders in charge in both Washington and Havana, there have been numerous speculations about changes/improvements in U.S.-Cuba relations. For example, in December Raúl Castro floated the possibility of releasing from his gulag certain political prisoners in exchange for five Cuban spies convicted of spying, murder and other charges in the United States. The idea is a non-starter because there is no comparison between the so-called "Cuban Five," convicted in open American courts, and political prisoners, convicted without any semblance of due process, locked away in Castro's dungeons because of their opposition to his communist regime. But it did...

It's good that we live in a country where citizens feel free to criticize elected officials to their face. Just wondering, though: when was the last time that freedom was exercised on MSNBC to tell a Dem official that something he said was "inane?" On today's Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch angrily asked Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami "why do you say an inane thing like that?" Deutsch's diss came in the context of an exchange in which Diaz-Balart told Donny that his notion that the Cuba deal was "liberating" for the Cuban people was "naive." Deutsch later retaliated in...

President Obama declared yesterday the United States would begin a new chapter with Cuba. Obama already began negotiating with Cuba regarding a prisoner swap among with other issues. For years Obama has told Congress he would keep them in the loop regarding Cuba. Predictably Congress had no idea the Obama administration was negotiating with the Communist dictatorship. Yesterday’s announcement came as a surprise to everyone. As with every other negotiation with a hostile foreign power, Obama got completely taken by the Cuban Communists. Obama negotiates from a position of American weakness because he doesn’t believe in American strength. Obama’s flirtations...

President Barack Obama’s decision to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba may lead to more commercial opportunities for Americans within the island nation. But don’t expect U.S. oil producers to move swiftly to take advantage of them. Although geologists believe billions of barrels of crude may be lurking off Cuba’s coast in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies have had a hard time finding that black gold. When Repsol, Petronas and other oil companies bored exploratory wells in 2012 and 2013, they turned up dry. In some cases, oil wasn’t found, and in others, the discovery was not...

Marco Rubio calls out pope on Cuba By Lauren French and Seung Min Kim | 12/17/14 2:14 PM EST | Updated 12/17/14 4:23 PM EST Sen. Marco Rubio, a Catholic, criticized Pope Francis on Wednesday after the pontiff played a key role in helping the United States and Cuba forge an agreement that resulted in the release of American Alan Gross from Cuba. Rubio said he would “ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.” The Florida Republican said he didn’t criticize Francis’ personal appeals to help facilitate Gross’ release, but was speaking in response to...

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Local Cuban exiles in Little Havana Wednesday voiced their thoughts on President Barack Obama's announcement to re-establish relations with Cuba. The commander in chief's abrupt use of U.S. executive authority came after the release of American Alan Gross, who had been held in Cuba for five years, in exchange for three Cubans jailed in Florida. Wednesday afternoon, dozens gathered in front of Versailles restaurant off Southwest Eighth Street as soon as rumors of loosening restrictions surfaced. Cuban coffee was served with a side of political discourse as City of Miami Police officers were present to ensure decorum...

My cell phone has been going off for hours with messages and angry conversations with fellow Cuban-Americans and conservatives in the U.S. I hear this question over and over: what did the U.S. get out of this deal? The answer is nothing, unless you are one of those who believes that the Castro regime is about to reform the economy, allow an independent media, and hold multi-party elections. I have a unique perspective on this issue. I can address it as a Cuban-American and as a U.S. citizen. In other words, I want the best for those on the island...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement on President Obama’s plans to ease U.S. restrictions on Cuba and normalize diplomatic relations: “We agree with President Obama that he is writing new chapters in American foreign policy. Unfortunately, today’s chapter, like the others before it, is one of America and the values we stand for in retreat and decline. It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs, and adversaries, diminishing America’s influence in the world. Is it any wonder that under President Obama’s watch our enemies are emboldened and our...