Thread: US to Ease Cuba Embargo and Sanctions

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Remember the Alamo ? We went to war with Mexico and took a whole bunch of their country. Now, 150 years later, they're taking that back, and then some, and ain't fired a shot ! ............

I wonder if some Vietnamese feel the same way about USA.

Originally Posted by Bruno

We need Russian gas in the winter months. However, while Russia can hurt us, their problem is that they need to get rid of it in order to make some money. And the amount of gas produced equals the amount used. If they don't sell it to us, they'll have to seel it to someone else and as a result we'll be buying someone else's gas. It doesn't hurt to have them by the short and curlies of course.

It's true in the long run, but it's still a weapon that can be used very successfully because over the short term it's a matter of who has more reserves. Putin already used it successfully in Jan 2009 and won the concessions he wanted.
Back then he was flush with cash, the west was in the aftermath of a financial crisis and he could outlast the weakest links in the European gas reserves; now he can't.

A bit over a year ago he was lecturing US on its impending involvement in Syria and what constitutes aggression under international law. And much of the conservative media here hailed him as an amazing leader.

We had a thread few months ago on how horrible for US those sanctions would be: http://straightrazorpalace.com/conve...-rattling.html

I have enjoyed Cuban cigars for many, many years, and still do. Since the embargo there has been some risks involved for Cuban cigar lovers, in the U.S., to enjoy the cigars. Confiscation obviously and more importantly having reliable sources and knowing without question that what you are smoking is indeed genuine is of course key. Counterfeiters have profited enormously, especially in the last 10+ years, marketing to the U.S. primarily out of huge Swiss warehousing systems which also store and ship legitimate Cuban cigars for many of worlds best online suppliers. The fake dress boxes, bands, seals, factory stamps and Cuban date codes will fool the best buyers, especially novices who could not tell a real
Cuban cigar from garbage. This market for the fakers is worth millions of dollars and will no doubt continue even when Habanos S.A. controls the market in the U.S. for Habanos cigars. Experienced Cuban cigar lovers can tell a Cuban cigar without issue by sight and smell alone without having to light the cigar. Cuban soil is unique in the world and the tobacco produced there is some of the very finest in the world.

The consensus among some of the largest supplies of Habanos cigars and many of the worlds most famous collectors and Cuban cigar lovers in general has been to stock up on your favorites. With the embargo lifted the concern is the demand in the U.S. for Cuban cigars will trigger production in Cuba to be severly compromised for several years producing
cigars, again, with draw problems because the time will not be taken to utilize the draw machines that took so long to get into general use in Cuba will be ignored, and worse, the maturation process and aging process will be compromized as well initially because of demand. An additonal concern is Cuban tobacco crops that would have been considered sub standard now and limited to cigars and cigarettes consummed in Cuba will find it's way into
the U.S. market. Yet another consideration is the resurgence of the dreaded tobacco beetle in the islands cigars. It has not been that long since Habanos S.A. imposed strict QC in terms of freezing to control and kill the beetles eggs. Prior to freezing, tobacco bales were subjected to treatment by Phostoxin in pressure chambers to kill beetles, larva and eggs. This was sometimes hit and miss. It was common practice here in the U.S. for Cuban cigar lovers to segregate new boxes from your regular supply for a period of time to insure no
beetle problems. I regularly would freeze new boxes to about 14 below for 7 to 10 days.

Before any distribution of Cuban cigars in the U.S. will be lengthy legal battle over "Brand" names. Most non-cuban cigar producing countries began marketing the brand names
unique to Cuban cigars in the market.

A concern about the embargo lifting that concerns the "green" ecological side of me worries about the potential for abuse of one of, if not the last, un-molested living reef systems in Cuban waters that has been protected in Cuban waters. There are species surviving in that sole reef system that have completely dissapeared from the rest of our planet.


I wish for the very best for the Cuban people in all of this political drama.

Enough of my rambling. My cigars are my last vice and I find a good Habanos cigar to be
good medicine for me at one a day.

Oh, did I say to stock up!

The only reason the embargo has continued so long is the Cuban American Community in Florida. The politicians are afraid of them. Only recently opinions have softened probably because many of the old ones are dying off.

Originally Posted by gugi

I wonder if some Vietnamese feel the same way about USA.

Until we start moving in there, mostly without documentation, I don't see the analogy.

Vietnam Is becoming the next Japan,going to war with the U.S has always turned out to be a good thing for 3rd world countrys.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Until we start moving in there, mostly without documentation, I don't see the analogy.

They spilled their blood in the seventies to defend their country from a foreign aggression and to establish it as socialist one, and after they won they ended up working for pennies for the US capitalists who get the lion's share of all profits.

The other aspect of the analogy is that that illegal immigration is benefitting a lot of americans and costs few ones at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, so in the end money trumps nationalism.
It's not like this immigration is there all on its own - it's there because it isn't stopped and if you follow the votes you'll see that the real obstacle is the financial benefits it brings.

Originally Posted by gugi

They spilled their blood in the seventies to defend their country from a foreign aggression and to establish it as socialist one,

The French had occupied Viet Nam as a colonial power, when Japan invaded them and that is where Ho Chi Min got his start as guerrilla leader. He and his crew helped us expel Japan out of there in the 1940s with the expectation that we would permit self governance, following the surrender of Japan, but our Ally France, had other ideas so the country was partitioned. In 1954 the French finally gave up on containing the Viet Minh and then we began protecting the South from Uncle Ho and the communists.

Well aside from all the side conversations going on here... I can't say that I am particularly happy.

I lived in Jamaica in 1980. Back then, Jamaica might have been thinking about embracing political change. Supposedly, the Cubans were never there to help them make up their minds - for that matter, nor were the Yanks (cia). Yeah right.

The violence I witnessed by spanish speaking people will forever taint my feelings.

Maybe one day I can hope to let go... but the scars run deep in me on this one.

Originally Posted by Bruno

We need Russian gas in the winter months.

I keep seeing this repeated. What did you guys do during the Iron curtain days?