"Mr. Bush seems to think that elections that are for sale and government that is for sale to the corporate commercial interest conform with democratic processes," he said.
"I think that putting our elections and our government up for sale nullifies the votes of the American people," he said, urging Bush to press for public funding of U.S. elections.
Nader, who won 3 percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential elections, said free trade negotiations in the Americas lacked provisions to protect labor and environmental standards and would only benefit multinational corporations, an anti-globalization view shared by Castro.***
Under the accords -- which ended the last rafter exodus in 1994 -- the regime accepts Cubans who have been interdicted by U.S. cutters at sea, and the United States provides 20,000 visas annually to Cubans who wish to come here.
Breaking the accords and unleashing an uncontrolled exodus could easily backfire. President Bush isn't Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. Indeed, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned that his brother's administration would react strongly to such an exodus, which would be considered ``an act of aggression.''
How might the U.S. government react?
o It could stop U.S. remittances to the island.
o It could send ships to cordon off South Florida, block boats from going to pick up Cubans and interdict Cubans attempting to enter U.S. waters.
The emergency plan exists.
The first measure would wreak economic disaster. The regime is already desperately short of hard currency. Its two biggest revenue sources, tourism and remittances, already are down because of the recession. Per-capita sugar production is approaching the lowest levels since the 1890s independence war.
Venezuela has cut off cheap oil shipments, and no other country wants to lend the regime money because it has stiffed so many. Castro has alienated even once-close allies such as Mexico and Canada.
Combine economic desperation with a drastic cut in the steady outflow of disaffected Cubans, and the conditions are ripe for an internal explosion. Imagine the hot Caribbean summer, power outages, food shortages, increasingly repressive crackdowns. In 1965, 1980 and 1993, Castro relieved pressure by allowing Cubans to take to the seas. [End Excerpt]
the man, his politics and his economic views are all in-line.
Dear INS: Give Naders visa a "special inspection" when he returns.
...
< /SARCASM >
Gee, you mean Ralphie-boy didn't condemn his Leftist buddy's wholesale confiscation of businesses?!
It must not have been an important point...
President Bush was in a unique position to clean up corporate America because he had been an "irresponsible corporatist" Ralph Nader
When will this mans 15 minutes of fame be over?