. Greenhill, a research fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, said the circumstances of the current Cuban crisis should be monitored closely for signs of a possible new exodus. ''I would say that the situation bears close watching,'' he said. But he added that Castro might think twice before sanctioning a new exodus. ''I don't think it's impossible we could see another outflow,'' Greenhill said, ``but if I were Castro, I'd think long and hard about launching an engineered migration this time around, given the prevailing environment in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and Iraq. The world looks different today than it did in 1965, 1980 and 1994.''***
WILL RIGHTS BE PROTECTED?
Supporters of Cuban dissidents were right to settle for half a loaf, but we have to ask: If the commission can't use diplomacy to fulfill its most basic mandate -- to spotlight aberrant international behavior and use diplomatic means to redress such behavior -- of what use is diplomacy? When the issue arises again before the commission, as it surely will, it will be good to remember the events of the last few weeks.
The issue is not whether human rights are being abused in Cuba. That question has been asked and answered to the satisfaction of everyone who doesn't wear ideological blinders. The question is whether the commission that is supposed to protect and nurture human rights will be ready to fulfill its duties, or whether, in a world that professes disgust for totalitarian governments, it is already hopelessly out of touch.
A strong condemnation of Cuba would be a signal that, for a change, the world is watching the repugnant actions of Fidel Castro and is ready to declare his government an outcast; that the world understands that Castro's dispute isn't with the United States but with his own people; and that it stands ready to say, with Saramago, ``This is as far as we go.''***