Bush offers oddly timed attack on Cuba's Castro brothers

[ProSense]

Bush offers oddly timed attack on Cuba's Castro brothers

By Ginger Thompson and Brian Knowlton Published: October 24, 2007

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush issued a stern warning Wednesday that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power merely shifts from one Castro brother to another rather than to the Cuban people.

"The day is coming when the Cuban people will chart their own course," Bush said. Their new direction, he added, should be toward democracy.

But Cuba specialists said the president's warning seemed oddly timed and his analysis outdated, part of a policy that is meant to isolate Cuba but that increasingly leaves the United States as the international odd man out.

Bush's remarks, delivered at the State Department, constituted an unbending response to the political changes that began in Cuba more than a year ago, when Fidel Castro, 81, underwent surgery and handed power to his brother, Raúl, 76.

While administration officials said Bush's speech was aimed at the Cuban people, and would be heard by radio there, it appeared equally directed at the Cuban-Americans who form a powerful Republican voting bloc in Florida, and more broadly at U.S. conservatives, for whom fervent opposition to Fidel Castro has long been an article of faith.

Bush's speech amounted to a call for Cubans to continue to resist. Addressing the military and police, he said they would have a place in a "new Cuba."

White House officials said that Bush was not calling for armed rebellion, but was merely reminding Cubans "that they have the power to shape their destiny."

more

Bush's Saber-Rattling Fatigue

October 24, 2007 01:09 PM ET | Erbe , Bonnie | Permanent Link

How many times has President Bush raised the specter (whether veiled or not) of military action? Let me count the times.

First, there was Afghanistan. We went in, succeeded, and pulled forces away too quickly. Now the Taliban is back in control of large parts of the country.

Then there was Iraq, a threat on which he delivered—which has become one of the United States' most disastrous military decisions in our nation's history.

<…>

Then there was inexcusably loose use of the term World War III. This past May in a cable TV interview, he likened his own "war on terror" to the "first counterattack to World War III."

Fine language for commentators who don't carry the title of commander in chief, but threatening language when used by those who do.

Now there's Cuba. Bush's talk of democratic regime change after aging dictator Fidel Castro leaves office has once again had the diplomatic effect of handing a loaded weapon to his nemesis. He says Cubans "have the power to change their country," but the administration says that that's not meant as a call for armed rebellion.

Memo to White House press office: Anytime you have to clarify a statement as "not meaning to be a call for armed rebellion," it's too late. The saber rattling has already taken place. And it's getting really old, really fast.

[mod mom]

1. Time for a little history: BFEE ties to Cuba:

BFEE'S TIES TO CUBA + WHY THEY ARE ANTI CASTRO:


KEVIN PHILLIPS: George H. Walker was a real piece of work. I mean, he was a buccaneer. He was sort of a Joe Kennedy, but with a social register type qualification. He got involved in the 1920's with a bunch of Cuban companies, because of his ties to Percy Rockefeller and the National City Bank. They handled a lot of investments in Cuba. He was a director during the 1920's of eight or nine Cuban companies. George H. Walker had ties to the -- investment ties that were independent, so he had invested in some of these companies. One of them turned out several -- several turned out to merge into something called West Indies Sugar. West Indies Sugar became one of the major American companies in Cuba, and George H. Walker Jr., the son of George H. Walker and Prescott, Bush's cousin was a director, held a family seat on West Indies Sugar. Now during the late 1950's, West Indies Sugar was based in the Indy province in Cuba. That's where the Castro insurgency was developing. Castro and his people sort of shook down West Indies Sugar. They used their trucks and hit them up for money and so forth. They were unhappy with the Castro movement. In 1959 or 1960, I forget which year, Castro's people nationalized West Indies Sugar, and at this time George H. W. Bush's uncle was Director of West Indies Sugar. The value of West Indies sugar had been about $50 million and it wound up being virtually peanuts. I don't know how much their stake was. I couldn't begin to guess. It may not have been nearly as much as one would suggest from the bigger numbers. They were an unhappy set of campers when West Indies Sugar went bye-bye.

-snip

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/12/1448237

PS BTW THERE IS TALK OF SUGAR CANE BEING USED AS AN EFFICIENT ALTERNATIVE FUEL, as is used in Brazil.
(more on sugar cane ethanol at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

[MADem]

2. Well...duh!!!! There's OIL off the coast of Cuba! A huge discovery!

There's oil off of Pensacola, too, but all those fat retired military bastards don't want offshore rigs ruining their views!! So, which oil is 'best' to get first???

[Tyler Durden]

3. Dear god.

I really have no retort to this.

[GodlessBiker]

4. Power has already shifted to Raul.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Threatening Cuba is like saying "God Bless America" for politiicians.

The difference being that for most politicians it's just flag-waving rhetoric, while for the Dunce, he may actually do something to prove his "toughness".

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[ProSense]

6. Kick! n/t

[Cha]

7. We have The POWER to shape

our destiny too, assholes..and don't forget. What's good enough for Cubanos is good enough for Americanos.