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U.S. and Cuban officials have held mid-level discussions in Washington and Havana 'We're in talks' with Cuba on a wide range of issues, agreed Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Tuesday Middle-men including Latin American diplomats have also been carrying messages back and forth between Washington and Havana The handshake seen 'round the water cooler was no fluke, it turns out.

Tuesday’s greeting between Obama and Castro comes after six months of quiet diplomacy between the United States and Cuba—and Castro signaling he’s ready for bigger talks. “There has been a string of emissaries, both private citizens and Latin American leaders, who have begun to nudge Obama forward on engaging in talks with Cuba and also carrying a message from Castro that he’s willing to talk,” said Steve Clemons, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation who has exceptionally close ties to the Obama White House... on Tuesday, as Obama and Castro shook hands in South Africa, authorities detained about...

Fox News’ The Five began its broadcast Tuesday with what has somehow becomes the biggest news story of the day: President Barack Obama’s handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. (Obama’s “funeral selfie” is a close second, and the show took that on moments later). “President O sure seems cozy with the Commies,” Eric Bolling said. “I can’t believe you led with that,” Bob Beckel told Bolling. He was baffled by the fact that his co-host was trying to make the handshake news, saying, “That’s bull.”When Bolling defended the topic by saying it has also been...

Earlier Tuesday, NBC News reported that President Barack Obama had shaken hands with Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. However, the UK Telegraph's Josie Ensor reported that Obama "was asked to take his seat just before reaching Mugabe." Complicating matters, another article in the UK Telegraph also claimed that Obama had shaken hands with Mugabe--in very similar terms to those used in the NBC article. Breitbart News caught the discrepancy--and suddenly the NBC News article was corrected, with no notice. Before: On his way to the rostrum, Obama also shook the hand of Robert Mugabe, the strongman ruler of Zimbabwe, and hugged...

The Handshake Heard ‘Round the World' Posted By Matthew Vadum On December 11, 2013 In Daily Mailer, FrontPage President Obama’s distressing rejection of American exceptionalism was on display for the whole world to see yesterday when he shamed his country by lowering himself to shake the blood-stained hand of Cuba’s Communist dictator. In a brief but cordial encounter in a funeral receiving line at the southern tip of the African continent, Obama shook the hand of Cuban’s octogenarian tyrant, President Raul Castro, granting a kind of legitimacy to the caudillo who leads America’s Cold War enemy 90 miles from the...

Pulled from Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEposwhovk&feature=player_embedded