Posted on 12/17/2014 11:08:44 AM PST by Bettyprob
(Reuters) - The United States will restore diplomatic relations it severed with Cuba more than 50 years ago, a major policy shift ending decades of hostile ties with the communist-ruled island, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday.
Announcing the end of what he called a "rigid" policy of isolation of Cuba that had been ineffective, Obama said the United States would move toward normal ties and would open an embassy in Cuba.
Obama discussed the changes with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday in a nearly hour-long telephone call. Castro spoke in Cuba as Obama made his announcement on a policy shift made possible by the release of American Alan Gross, 65, who had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years.
Cuba is also releasing an intelligence agent who spied for the United States and was held for nearly 20 years, and the United States in return freed three Cuban intelligence agents held in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
My point was that foreign policy that is wise treats different countries in different ways.
The embargo against Cuba was lifted by the European continent years ago. Has that action resulted in a better quality of life for the average Cuban? No. The Castro family and the ruling class HAS been enriched.
In the case of China, it seems palpable that while the government still is a strong arm one, the economic conditions for the consumer there are better. I might note, too, that the Christian church is growing by double digit percentage points in Asia....I think that, too, lends itself to a stronger work ethic and wealth pursuit.
Cuba has done nothing substantial to show it is serious about pursuing freedom for the population.
Do you have snake handlers at the Christian services on sunday at your church?
About time the Castros wore ties. Oh, wait...
Let us invade with an army of five million tourists all armed with wads of money! Cuban Communism will not last a month. We tried sanctions—they didn’t work. Time for other plans.
It will be a great place for the Mafia too! Just wait til the legalize gambling!
I don’t smoke, but Havana Club Rum (white) is not a lot different than Bacardi. I was on vacation in Bahamas a couple of years ago, and tried it. Nothing special
No one should be surprised. It was clear when Barry first came on the national scene that he was a Marxist simpleton. The people that voted for him own this.
Stand by for more aid and support going OUT of this country instead of taking care of our own.
Who is going to stop those bastards?
From what I can see, no one. In the past, I have been told that the military would stop him. I have been told that the courts would stop him. I was told that Elect a Republican Congress and they would stop him. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn't even been slowed down, let alone stopped.
In 1939, Henry Stimson took his annual trip through the Eastern Establishment recruiting people for government service. In those days, one worked in the private sector first, then in government service, which is exactly the opposite of how it is done today. In that year he recruited the 31 year old Nelson Rockefeller to take over the Latin American desk at the State Department. Because of his family’s oil holdings in Venezuela, Rockefeller spoke Spanish like a native and knew the key players in Latin America on a first name basis.
In 1940, Rockefeller came up with the Good Neighbor Policy, which history books assign to FDR because it was executed on his watch. The logic was based on the international situation of that period. We had been treating our neighbors in this hemisphere as vassals, which caused no small level of resentment. Now we would treat them as equals.
It was becoming evident that we were going to go to war with Germany and Japan in the near future. It was best to get our neighbors on our side rather than Germany’s or Japan’s before war broke out. Thus our new policy.
It is becoming evident today that when our economic collapse finally happens, the American people will need a narrative and an external enemy, lest American anger be vented on segments of its own population. We’re setting up Russia for a war and perhaps many nations of the BRICS alliance as well. If we’re really going to go to war, it would be a major mistake for an island 90 miles away from American shores to be used as a staging area for nuclear attack or even invasion. This is another reason why we’re bringing the Castro brothers into the family. As the old saying goes, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer.”
The goal here is to make Fidel and Raul our communists, rather than communists loyal to our enemies across the globe. It’s a recognition of just how perilous things are becoming.
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