The Times of London has for the first time revealed that former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (deceased) has offered to meet with U.S. President-elect Obama.
“With Obama, talks could happen anywhere he wants,” the former head of the Communist regime wrote in the latest of a series of columns he has published in state-run media since falling ill in 2006.
His remarks follow an offer from his brother, President Raul Castro, to meet Mr Obama “on neutral ground” to try to end the 40 year long conflict between the two countries.
Which means that someone wrote something and put the late Fidel’s name to it.
President Kennedy pulled his ambassador from Havana on January 5th of 1961. In the interim, the Cuban government has not returned the stuff it has confiscated.
While campaigning, expressed a willingness to let Cuba off the hook for its human rights abuses, and Raul Castro has told Obama-friend actor Sean Penn that he wants to meet Obama in Gitmo. The stars may be aligning for the Cuban government finally triumphing over nearly fifty years of U.S. human rights policy. Gee, it’s too bad Fidel didn’t live to see it.
(President-elect Obama, I know it goes against your nature, but please reject this nonsense!)
- And for more on the redoubtable Mr. Penn, see Pejman’s earlier post.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Sorry, but I have to disagree.
Reaper0Bot0 (formerly Han_Pritcher) (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 2:01PM EST (link)We’re long past the point where we can argue that the Embargo makes any sense to continue. The Castro regime survived the fall of the Soviet Union (and the inevitable lack of subsidies) and subsequent modifications to the Embargo (it waxes and wanes). There’s not much we can do to make this thing more effective than it already is.
If Castro wants a sit-down I fail to see the problem here. Are we going to argue about legitimacy? Given Cuba’s peculiar circumstances vis a vis the rest of the world,, the only audience for whom the whole “legitimacy” thing might matter would be the Cubans themselves. Frankly, having a video of Obama and Castro having a cup of coffee will not somehow enhance the Castros’ grip on Cuba. That grip has been real (and remarkably durable) for decades upon decades.
Our companies aren’t going to get their money and property back. If they really think that they will they’re deluding themselves. At some point we have to admit that Fidel managed to outlast everything we tried to do to remove him. I’m kind of amazed to admit it, but we live in a world where a charismatic maniac could somehow stay in power for 17 years after the Soviets pulled the plug.
If human rights policy is the reason not to talk to Cuba I assume we’ll be withdrawing our ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and God only knows how many other countries.
I’m a lying troll.
There a no diplomatic relations.
Mark Kilmer (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 2:20PM EST (link)Can you offer any reason to change our policy more cogent than “don’t know, doesn’t matter”?
Sure can, Mark.
Reaper0Bot0 (formerly Han_Pritcher) (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 2:24PM EST (link)We’re missing out on God only knows how many business opportunities in order to keep beating the same dead horse. Our policy hasn’t gotten rid of the Castro brothers but it has made a bad situation (living under Castro misrule) worse by denying ordinary Cubans pretty much any decent material possessions.
Can you offer any reason to continue our policy more cogent than “don’t know, doesn’t matter”?
What is the current goal of the Embargo? Is it moving us toward that desired result? If not, are there any other benefits, tangential to that goal, that make it worthwhile? If not, why are we doing it? We’re losing money and making things worse for ordinary Cubans.
Give me a reason why we should continue doing this to Cuba but not START doing it to Zimbabwe, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and several other countries.
It isn’t working and it shows zero signs of working.
I’m a lying troll.
The policy is in place, Hans;
Mark Kilmer (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 2:43PM EST (link)we change it for a reason. (Hopechangehope will masquerade as such for the purposes of this incoming Admin., unfortunately.)
For what sort of business opportunities are you looking in today’s Cuba? I dare you to try. There is no private property, in that sense, on the island. You cannot open hotels, casinos, resorts, factories, etc. So if we’re losing money, it is because of the Cuban government whom there is no reason to empower.
And it is the Cuban regime which is making things worse for the Cuban people. Shall we reward them?
I'm sorry but that logic faills in an epic way
Reaper0Bot0 (formerly Han_Pritcher) (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 2:51PM EST (link)We keep doing it because we’re already doing it?
It is not working. It has never worked. The best shot for it to have the desired effect was when the Russians stopped subsidizing this grotesque monstrosity by buying Cuban sugar for faaaaaar more than it was worth. The Cuban economy took the biggest hit I think it possibly ever will and the Castro brothers remained in power.
Doing the same ineffective thing over and over again makes absolutely ZERO sense. Tell me how the Embargo gets us from here to a free and democratic Cuba. Please enlighten me how it will magically do all the things it has failed to do since the 1960′s.
As to business opportunities? Well, wouldn’t we like to have a few million new customers for our goods and services? It’s not like we’re averse to new markets.
While I am hardly an uncritical fan of our trade relations with the People’s Republic of China, they do buy quite a bit of our stuff (though rather obviously less than we buy of theirs). Is Cuba so much worse than China that it makes any kind of sense to trade fairly freely with the latter yet restrict trade with the former? China began this process meddling with their own businesses every bit as much (or more) as the Cubans do now, and has at least as bad of a human rights record.
What reforms have occurred in China are, at least in part, a result of engagement. If nothing else the average Chinese citizen lives a healthier and wealthier life NOW. Whether or not that leads to democratization is an open question, but I suspect that John Deer and Boeing appreciate the fact that they can sell their products to Chinese customers.
I’m a lying troll.
My logic was unflawed.
Mark Kilmer (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 3:35PM EST (link)The policy was put in place for a reason, and that reason has not changed. The Cuban government has not changed their circumstances. Thus the policy remains in place unless there is a compelling reason to change it.
It has been effective, as the United States has not legitimized the Cuban dictatorship via diplomatic relations. This is especially important in our hemisphere.
What about the PRC? We were discussing Cuba.
So a completely inconsistent and failed policy deserves another 47 years?
Reaper0Bot0 (formerly Han_Pritcher) (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 3:48PM EST (link)The reason we began the Embargo was not to express displeasure with the Castro regime. We enacted it in order to END the Castro regime.
As to the PRC? I brought it up to make the mind-numbingly obvious observation that there is absolutely no consistent underlying theme here. We oppose trade with Cuba because of human rights violations yet we do business with other countries that either currently or have previously done much the same in that regard.
Why is Cuba worth a 47 year failure? Proximity alone? No, that explained it originally and might even have sustained it through the early 1990′s. There’s really only one explanation left:
We won’t admit we couldn’t carry it off. This country, per the George C. Scott speech in Patton, simply cannot abide a loser. Fidel won, we lost. He stayed in power as long as his body allowed, and nothing we ever did managed to dislodge him..
We failed. Just admit it. It’s a great way to clear the air and ask what should we be doing now. All you are doing is elevating past choices above your own ability to reason.
You want a compelling reason to change this policy? As I said above, we are simply losing potential sales. We are losing opportunities to share our culture with the Cuban people. You think they want the Castro boys gone NOW? Wait until they’ve had a few years of American television and the internet.
You have yet to give me a single good reason to keep beating this dead horse. Please take the time to construct an argument for the Embargo as if it were a new policy. If you can’t give me reasons why this will work there is no reason to continue it.
Or is every single federal policy worth such deference? I suspect not. I’m sure I could find a few that many RedStaters would like to see gone (funding for abortions, affirmative action, prosecution for hate-crimes, etc). You’d probably reply that there are compelling reasons to end those policies (and you’d have a point) but there are also arguments in favor of them.. There is at least a plausible argument for each of them. (though in the case of affirmative action I find that argument sorely lacking).
Frankly the closest parallel would be affirmative action. If it was going to work it would have worked a long time ago. Do you think we should continue that failed policy simply because the underlying problem has not changed?
African Americans still make less than whites. That policy was created for a reason and the situation is much the same. Obviously, by your logic, we must redouble our efforts.
I’m a lying troll.
here is something we can agree on Han, furthermore...
kyle8 (Diary) Friday, December 5th at 4:15PM EST (link)I don’t see where boycotts have EVER done any good in all of history. I suppose there is an example somewhere out there.
Did boycott and disinvestment end Apartheid? The old South African leaders say it prolonged it by making them more obstinate, and giving them political cover.
Likewise, our policy only bolstered Castro by allowing us to be the big bad villains. Our nation has tried boycotts many times, The biggest failure was the one Jefferson tried before the war of 1812, It nearly bankrupted the country, and we still ended up at way just a few years later.
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
No American President will lift the Cuba embargo while Fidel Castro lives.
Moe Lane (Diary) Saturday, December 6th at 11:45PM EST (link)That includes the next one, by the way.
The Kim Kardashian of blogging.
Check out my blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://moelane.com/filthy-lucre-filthy-lucre/
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (combined) wish list.
Castro is dead?
dt (Diary) Saturday, December 6th at 11:41PM EST (link)Mark,
You say that Castro is deceased, but I’ve only heard rumors. Do you know something we don’t?