For Cuba and U.S., making up is hard to do
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0
adaydream
I hope Obama get really involved and we get some kind of agreement to raise the blockade and allow US and Cuba relations and travel. If not, Chavez is going to get all their business, trade, travel and possible off shore petroleum business.
But just go on and keep the blockade. You can't bitch if Chavez becomes their very best friend. < :-)
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grafton
The embargo has been the most abysmal failure & the fact that it has been kept in place for so many years should be an embarrassment to the US. If it is so difficult to remove for legal reasons do what most of Europe (except the UK) does about EU laws, just don’t enforce it.
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rajakumar
Obama administration may boost Cuban and US ties. Castro has always spoken highly of Obama and defended Obama in election campaign.
New dawn in better trade ties may be coming for americans and cubans with big change from policies of past administrations.
Cuba trade ties should be made bigger via wal mart and others. & others)) participation in boosting economy like done in China.
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YuriOtani
It is time to end the embargo which does nothing toward democracy and in fact has the opposite effect. It has been 49 years and the policy toward Cuba is a FAILURE. Yes it will cost the support of Cuban Americans in the short term but the greater good needs to be done. Once relations are normalized the tension of war can be lifted. It will be a win/win for both countries.
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skipthesong
do you think Obama would at least have Castro free some of the prisnors? What would Obama think of the racism that lingers in Cuba? Do you think Obama would help us getting property taken? Would he be impressed with Castro lining his pockets? Would he approve of political police?
Would he help free the hundred of scholars who he imprisoned just on the basis of they being able to educate people?
Would he help to allow Elian's family members to visit him?
I must go back the famous poster in one of Obama's office of Che, who in this day and age is hailed as a hero.. a man would would shoot you on sight should you have voiced any thought against the revolution?
"The embargo has been the most abysmal failure & the fact that it has been kept in place for so many years should be an embarrassment to the US." That depends on what you are implying, we have known for a long time that Castro himself has benefited from the embargo - that not good? It is the embargo that put him on the one of Forbes list of richest people.
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
Was the Che poster in Obama's office or was it in the private office of one of his campaign workers in Texas?
Even if it had been in Obama's office, a Che poster in the US does not signify an endorsement of Che's habits. Rightly or wrongly, it signifies "people power" in the face of an oppressive government.
I think I can understand why you would find that ironic. However, it's pretty difficult to separate Che from the positive and negative myths that surround him.
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skipthesong
Yes it will cost the support of Cuban Americans in the short term but the greater good needs to be done." Can't we have a say in what is defined as the greater good? So nice for at least one poster to even mention us. I recall the time when the Clinton admin made a Nazi-like entry to a private home was considered a greater good, which was only to cave into Castro's demands. But thanks for the mere mention..
Now, if we had other issues on other small groups, and I were to say there is a greater good and thus the sacrifice is acceptable, how would it be taken? How about asking Mexicans NOT to fly their flag on US school grounds? I bet, you'd be afraid to ask that, even if it would be for the greater good.
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skipthesong
negative myths that surround him"?
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Taka313
Skip,
Please don't take this as me being confrontational. I know and understand that you have a much better grasp on the average Cuban and Cuban-American opinion than I.
What do you think should be done?
Again, I'm not challenging you or trying to be a smart-alec. I'm curious as to what you think is the right approach to a better collective future for the U.S. and Cuba.
Taka
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SezWho2
Yes.
This epithet does not encapsulate who Che was.
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skipthesong
taka, look Castro has flipped flopped over the years and was not a communist from the start. I am sure when starting out, I am sure he had good intentions as many have said. But later one, he realized what gains he could make and notably what you won't find in history books, his path was lined with vengeance against Batista due a woman thing.
What should be done, if anyone really cared, is to quit educating Cubans in a North Korean like atmosphere, where Castro is hailed as dear leader. He has played his people coming up and he has played the American left to the T. And before that, he played the right. Educate people that giving one person or party supreme power is no way to be considered free. Basically, Castro is a king - a title whether you like it or not, he has crowned himself.
There are too many things to do and yet nothing that can be done as long as the blood of Castro flows - you basically need to stop the lineage.
You and many others got your issues with Bush, yet more blood is on Casttro's hands. And yes, we believe he has been heavily involved in helping Columbia drug smugglers enter the US and I don't think I need to go in depth on what kind of disaster in low income cities that has caused.
My solutions are: Get all Castros out of Cuba, they can live a very happy life with Chavez. Re-educate the common people of Cuba. Release the thousands of political prisinors in his jails. Grab his cash to pay for the people who were educated through torture such as whip lashings, the hand over of female relatives who have provided services to his elites who were sentenced for crimes as small as listening to VOA by their male relatives. All his elites living on property once own by exiled communities be brought to justice. My list can go on and on.... sorry.
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skipthesong
This epithet does not encapsulate who Che was." I don't what that means.
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
It means that when you dismiss Che with the summary judgment that he is a man who in Sarge's phrase would kill you without hesitation or remorse if you dared utter any criticism of the revolution, it is probably not true in the first place and does not speak to who Che really was in the second.
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skipthesong
sez, if you are in Tokyo, you can meet several who will verify what I am telling you. I'd throw up a link or two, but you'd probably dismiss them as well...
And, I could use your point against you in this argument.
And yes, Che was known to do just what Sarge says. Of course, I didn't live through it but I know people who did, but you'd dismiss them as well as you have your mind set.
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smithinjapan
I'm glad there's finally a government in there who is willing to look seriously at the issue and not just keep up the embargo for the sake of not losing face. As stated, it's been a complete and utter failure, and it's time for dialogue. I agree it won't be easy, and neither side should give in to the other completely and without conditions, but Obama's government is in a better position than any previous to make some amends. And some naysayers have said nothing has changed.... hahaha.
0
Sarge
"his brother Fidel says he's certain of Obama's honesty"
Fidel is as naive as Obama, ha ha ha!
"it's ( the embargo ) been a complete and utter failure"
What are you talking about, Smith? Why, in just 48 years, the embargo has resulted in a new leader, Raul, taking over for the dictator!
0
wuzzademcrat
"This epithet does not encapsulate who Che was."
You're right. And your reluctance to explain who you think "Che" was wins you an epithet.
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
Go ahead and post the links. I think you'll find--as a matter of fact, if you will be honest, I think you know--that I will not dismiss them out of hand. I may attempt to refute them, but I seldom, if ever, dismiss any person or there arguments with contempt. You are thinking of someone else.
I'm sure that I can find several in Tokyo who will agree that Che did or could kill people for criticizing the revolution. I don't doubt that at all. That is a classical revolutionary tactic. The classical establishment tactic is that people just disappear or have accidents.
However, when you say that he would do that, you are defining this as an unfailing pattern of behavior. I doubt that this is true. And I think you could also post links to anecdotal evidence that it is not true.
Furthermore, even if he did or could do this, this is not the sum total of his existence. It seems to me that Battista was bad news and US support of Battista's government was worse news. It seems to me that several South American governments were bad news. Those who opposed them were right to do so.
Moderator: All readers back on topic please. The subject is U.S.-Cuba relations under Obama, not Che Guevara or Battista.
0
dennis0bauer
Yes Obama and castro make out! i mean make up
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browny1
BIG BULLY USA's embargo on Cuba is the laugh of the world.
Why haven't they been so tough with others their own size over the course of near 50 years?
US - Cuba realations under Obama can finally enter the modern era after years of vested stifling pettiness.
It's not about Castro the "naughty man", it's about being recognized as a leading country progressing humanity. Obama has the ability to do this.
And finally the tough lion can takes it's foot of the mouse's neck.
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Gombei424Canada
browny1:bang on, mon ami.You're metafore is astounding, and perfect - said lion (America, for teh fools here) REALLY does need to remove its paw from the neck of the poor little mouse (I.e. Cuba)! I have seen the Oliver Stone movie and anybody else who has knows that like me and Mohmar Ghandi, Castro is a man committed to JUSTICE. We all know that the embargo is a complete and utter failure, which is why bush, who always was and always will be the biggest failure, from the get go, supported said embargo.
Anyways, my friends, with Obama in office and with his having done more to improve America's standing in the world in just 3 DAYS, the embargo should be lifted soon.
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SuperLib
Americans should be making just as much money from Cuban dictators as Canadians and Europeans. End the embargo and invade with McDonalds and Nike. The island will be our 52nd state in less than 10 years.
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drjp2000
SKIPTHESONG you are a real idiot if you believe that outrageous false statement you made, but I think you actually know better than that, so shame on you for lying on this forum !!
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grafton
Wow! It’s amazing just how many people here feel a need to take sides even when there is no reason to. Castro is a good guy or bad guy? Bush is a good guy or bad guy? This has nothing to do with that. It is about the effectiveness of the embargo & the embargo has been so pointless that it beggars the imagination as to why it was kept in place for so long. Had there never been an embargo Castro would gone a long time ago. Seepage from the great US of A would have long since changed Cuba. Just look at Japan, Britain & any other country you care to name that has allowed America open access to their high streets.
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YuriOtani
See it as giving up on a FAILED policy and giving a plausible policy to take hold. The USA loses any chance to influence Cuba with this stupid embargo. The failed policy is like banging ones head up against the wall over and over again. We might not like the current government of Cuba but the FAILED policies of the past just make it stronger and punish Americans as well as Cubans. It is time for a new beginning!
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adaydream
It's easier to make friends if you want to.
The past administrations either didn't put Cuba on the horizan or actively worked at keeping Cuba down.
This administration sees the non-benefits of keeping the embargo. They see the advanatges of offering a possible friendship.
We have relations with communist countries all over the world or countries that don't have democracies like the U. S.
It's refreshing to have a president with a vision toward the future and not one that stays in the past. < :-)
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wuzzademcrat
Oh how I look forward to logging on from a Starbucks in Havana and coming to JT...
0
Triumvere
Hard to do?
Look, if we can talk to Iran we can damn well talk to Cuba.
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Anodyne
Aside from the U.S., which countries of economic consequence embargo Cuba? Answer: none. And yet the place is in tatters. The Workers' Paradise that is Cuba needs normalized relations with the evil Uncle Sam to be put right? The U.S. should deal with Cuba simply as yet another way to turn a buck, not because the folks down there will suddenly figure out how to do things right (i.e., some sort of democracy) after not doing so for so long.
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