Obama to continue US embargo of Cuba

[NightWatcher]

Cuban cigars to retain that something special.

_______________



President Obama has formally rejected lifting the U.S. embargo of Cuba. On Wednesday, Obama said Cuba has failed to take constructive steps towards a more open government.


President Obama: "What we’ve tried to do is send a signal that we are open to a new relationship with Cuba if the Cuban government starts taking the proper steps to open up its own country and its own — and provide the space and the respect for human rights that would allow the Cuban people to determine their own destiny."

http://democracynow.org/headlines/2011/9/29/28600

[MNBrewer]

1. There's ALWAYS another election coming up, and FL is a must win for him

so it's all a political calculation, as usual.

[msongs]

2. meanwhile he has a great relationship with...that bastion of democracy, mainland China nt

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, Cuba doesn't bring enough money to the table. For once, I would

like to see the US try something innovative, than the same old shit all of the time. We are in a F'en rut, with everything.

[banned from Kos]

5. China buys our Treasuries - its a symbiotic relationship

Cuba is expendable.

This is status quo but nothing to be proud of at all.

[Poll_Blind]

3. And yet he signed a waiver to allow Chad, DRC & Yemen to continue to use child soldiers.

In other words, when this administration talks about sanctions for human rights violations one should carefully note which corner of their mouth it's coming out of.

White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, if They Fight Terrorists The actual waiver can be found at the WH website with a little digging- I couldn't believe it and had to look it up myself.

PB

[ellisonz]

13. I don't think we could stop it even if we tried.

Are we supposed to send the Marines to take the guns out of their hands? Drive governments of those countries further away by bringing a stick instead of a carrot? What good would that do anybody?

[Vanje]

6. What a courageous stand.

[Cool Logic]

7. And so the failed policy continues...rather than an embargo, we should have simply overwhelmed...

Cuba with free-market Capitalism. For that would have caused the collapse of communism and set the Cuban people free a long time ago.

Many communists suggest that the cause of Cuba's problems is that it does not have economic relations with the US. However, an embargo is not a blockade. Thus, Cuba is free to trade with every other nation on the planet.

I doubt they realize it, but when they blame the woes of communism on the lack of trade with the world's leading practitioner of Capitalism, they are inadvertently acknowledging the superiority of Capitalism.

[banned from Kos]

9. Nice post. Cuba is a middling #86 on the 2011 Failed State List.

Despite the USA.

They rank ahead of a few of our trading partners.

[white_wolf]

10. No, what they are acknowledging is the failure of Stalin's "Socialism in One Country" polices.

Socialism cannot be built in a single country, and it the Stalinist policy of "Socialism in One Country" will always lead to a capitalist restoration.

[trumad]

8. I was thinking about Cuba today

and shaking my head that the embargo is still in place.

[dembotoz]

11. i wish i could say that i am surprised

but i can't

[RC]

12. Cuba seems to be doing a better job than we are.

"President Obama: "What we’ve tried to do is send a signal that we are open to a new relationship with Cuba if the Cuban government starts taking the proper steps to open up its own country and its own — and provide the space and the respect for human rights that would allow the Cuban people to determine their own destiny.""

Health Care comes to mind. Not meddling in or invading innocent countries and committing War Crimes by killing a million of its citizens is another. Cuba is far more peaceful than we are.