US to Ease Cuba Embargo and Sanctions

I think the reason the Cuba embargo lasts is because there was a great deal of money lost by the "rich and powerful" in the US when Castro came to power and nationalized all the businesses. Then there are the "refugees" in Miami that also lost what they had and want it back. To my thinking, not unlike the Palestinians in their fervor.

The families of both sets have long memories. This really wasn't the case within the US with the Chinese and Russian revolutions. An additional factor, Cuba seems to have little to offer but cigars and cheap vacations. China is a huge economy and Russia has oil. As in all things, Follow the money.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I think that we lost 58,000 Americans in Viet Nam and we buy all sorts of stuff from them. Communist China is our 'pal' , so why not Cuba ? The hypocrisy of maintaining our cold war policy against Cuba is ludicrous when we compare it with our relations with RED China. OTOH, they probably don't have enough money to loan any to us ......... :shrug:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I know squat about cigars, but that is what the guy in the store said when I bought some for a relative. Cubans are expensive because of their reuptation, but Dominicans are better. Or so he said.

However, I never understood why the US kept embargoing Cuba? I mean, if the US can be friendly with Russia and China, what did Cuba do to deserve 50 years of blockade?

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I was told that unless and until an executive command is challenged in the supreme court it is legal. Same with how unconstitutional laws are enforcable in the US as long as they are not challenged in supreme court.

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Along with the killing of Cubans when Castro came to power were the deaths of US nationals. Then there was a little incident involving Nuclear Weapons.

I have personal friends that lost family during that time. Frankly I would like to see Cuba embargoed until every person involved with the killings has passed away.

That having been said, I feel for the Cuban people themselves and believe ending the embargo would greatly help them and bring Democracy to Cuba in time. So I am open minded about ending the embargo.

If the President of the US wants to end the embargo he owes it to the American people and our Constitutional laws to proceed properly and work with Congress. What this President has done to our government should scare everyone no matter your political standing.

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Originally Posted by KindestCutOfAll

Along with the killing of Cubans when Castro came to power were the deaths of US nationals. Then there was a little incident involving Nuclear Weapons.

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Fidel killed a whole bunch of people when he took over. Mass executions went on for a long time. IIRC Che Guevara was in charge of those. There is no doubt that the Cuban American community has kept the embargo going for decades. Probably most of the people who were on either side are gone, or close to gone. I don't know that what happened back then is as important to the Spanglish kids that have come along since. Anymore than "Remember Pearl Harbor" means much to young people today. After all, Viet Nam may as well have been the Peloponnesian War as far as young people today are concerned.

Sanctions are an interesting thing. Some time ago I read a curious article about how they can (and in some instances have) become a self-serving end goal and instead of being a tool for achieving a desired policy objective they become an obstacle to achieving it.

When the other side sees your punishment as completely out of proportion and with no real upside to altering their course you lock yourself out of any influence.

I think the moral justifications for the santions against Cuba are a perfect example about seeing a splinter in the eye of your adversary and ignoring the beam in your own. Pot, kettle, etc.

But even ignoring that, come on! Japan is a valued technological trading partner these days. Hello Pearl Harbor?! Any reason for blocking off Cuba becomes plain silly by comparison.

Looking at it more political, I'd say this is part of a perfect storm that is about to hit Russia really, really hard. russia has been an ally of cuba again ever since Putin came into office. The US cosying up to Cuba is sure to remove that ally from Russia. the US is close and Russia is far away. Someone is also driving down oil prices like mad, causing the Ruble to go into free fall and rapidly souring the Russian Economy, because Russians depend on oil export to prop up their currency.

If I were a betting man, my money would be on this being one of the ploys to make Putin lose his Russian backers by htting them where it hurts: in the money pocket and their ally portfolio. I don't think it is a coincidence that these 2 things happen almost simultaneously.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I think the moral justifications for the santions against Cuba are a perfect example about seeing a splinter in the eye of your adversary and ignoring the beam in your own. Pot, kettle, etc.

But even ignoring that, come on! Japan is a valued technological trading partner these days. Hello Pearl Harbor?! Any reason for blocking off Cuba becomes plain silly by comparison.

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Not to mention Germany ..... these things happened a long time ago. When you come right down to it, Great Britain killed a lot of Americans, colonials in the revolution, and Americans in the war of 1812. We are close allies since shortly after the turn of the nineteenth century. At some point it is counter productive to hold a grudge, especially if the philosophies that caused the problems no longer exist.

i can attest to this. I'm a long time Partagas #4 smoker. A couple years ago a purchase from Canada was very disappointing. i called them with in minutes of the first few puffs with my disappointment and they assured me they were authentic. The only way I know to authenticate is to reference the tax stamp on the box of which it was authentic.

Maybe with this change they can get their cigars back up to speed.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Looking at it more political, I'd say this is part of a perfect storm that is about to hit Russia really, really hard. russia has been an ally of cuba again ever since Putin came into office. The US cosying up to Cuba is sure to remove that ally from Russia. the US is close and Russia is far away. Someone is also driving down oil prices like mad, causing the Ruble to go into free fall and rapidly souring the Russian Economy, because Russians depend on oil export to prop up their currency.

If I were a betting man, my money would be on this being one of the ploys to make Putin lose his Russian backers by htting them where it hurts: in the money pocket and their ally portfolio. I don't think it is a coincidence that these 2 things happen almost simultaneously.

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I may be wrong, But I think russia pulled out and disavowed Cuba long ago.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Someone is also driving down oil prices like mad, causing the Ruble to go into free fall and rapidly souring the Russian Economy, because Russians depend on oil export to prop up their currency.

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That'd be the Saudis and for them it's primarily about Iran. Destabilizing Russia is certainly an extremely dangerous game, hopefully the goal is to just keep them from the weapon of gas shortages for Europe over the winter months.