Thread: US to Ease Cuba Embargo and Sanctions

Originally Posted by MichaelP

There's an alternative explanation... what would be your reaction if a foreign government came in (let's say the Brits, for the sake of argument), toppled your government and replaced it with sock puppets? How could the population of any country welcome such meddling? Large scale political changes must come from within the country.

Yes, I would agree. However, after a generation or two, there would be little difference to the average person. See above on Japan, Germany and Vietnam.
The trouble really gets out of hand is when a strong leader, for whatever reason, is toppled in a region where millennia of generational vendetta is a way of life. There are too many factions to ever form a stable government in the near future. In regions where "Any enemy of my enemy is my friend!" is the norm for short term vendetta, there will not be peace without a doomhammer to slap down any recalcitrant group. If an area/ nation has always had bad government, there is really no change other than the figurehead.

Since those regions are usually tribal by nature we have the present situation around the world. Whether gangs, or regions, or sheer the cussedness of Appalachia, that is our situation at this time.
Unfortunately, I am thinking this also applies to our government as it malfunctions.
Your thoughts may vary and you are welcome to express them.
~Richard

Originally Posted by MichaelP

what would be your reaction if a foreign government came in (let's say the Brits, for the sake of argument), toppled your government and replaced it with sock puppets?

If they get any more royals inline for that throne, they are going to have to do something like that to have titles for them all!

Hypocrisy

Sanctions against Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, all good and will accomplish our goals.

Sanctions against Cuba haven't worked for 5 decades so we need to change our thinking.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Hypocrisy

Sanctions against Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, all good and will accomplish our goals.

Sanctions against Cuba haven't worked for 5 decades so we need to change our thinking.

Santions against Russia are going to end up biting the U.S in the Butt me thinks.

Talk about prophecy, remember this ???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1409sXBleg

Originally Posted by MichaelP

Wasn't there a nice movie on that very subject?

The Mouse That Roared ...... http://www.amazon.com/Mouse-That-Roa...se+That+Roared

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

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.

I disagree here. Going to war is seldom "a good thing" for anyone. Of course there might be some advantages over time.

Originally Posted by Geezer

Yes, I would agree. However, after a generation or two, there would be little difference to the average person. See above on Japan, Germany and Vietnam.
The trouble really gets out of hand is when a strong leader, for whatever reason, is toppled in a region where millennia of generational vendetta is a way of life. There are too many factions to ever form a stable government in the near future. In regions where "Any enemy of my enemy is my friend!" is the norm for short term vendetta, there will not be peace without a doomhammer to slap down any recalcitrant group. If an area/ nation has always had bad government, there is really no change other than the figurehead.

Since those regions are usually tribal by nature we have the present situation around the world. Whether gangs, or regions, or sheer the cussedness of Appalachia, that is our situation at this time.
Unfortunately, I am thinking this also applies to our government as it malfunctions.
Your thoughts may vary and you are welcome to express them.
~Richard

I agree that it should matter less after a couple of generations, however I grew up in a region where people still haven't let go of the anger caused by stuff that happened between 180 years ago (see Bruno's comment) and the end of WW2.

We got attached to a country with a different language and culture so the French could have a "safe" direct trading route to Liege, then the transmission of the local language and culture were pretty much suppressed after WW2. The language transmission started again in the late 80s but as a foreign language... it was already dead as a local life language, only old people still spoke it. Even I get angry about it sometimes... and I left the country 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Bruno

As Ivan says: in the long run, there are alternatives. But in the short term 'hey my heater is not working' timeframe, if Putin closes the natural gas lines, we're in trouble.

Not related to Cuba.

As far as i know, currently there are huge investments going on in EU to get gas from somewhere else. Of course it takes time.
Luckily my country uses no natural gas almost at all.

Russia already made a huge mistake by using natural gas as a political & economical weapon against Ukraine. All the trust is gone. Crimea, Luhansk and Donets regions are out of gas at the moment Ukraine wants to close it.

The problem with the Russian oil and gas fields is also their outdated technology: if they stop pumping, it's almost impossible to start it again with their equipment. They do not have enough capacity to store it either.
Listened to Putin's speech today. No real answers. He has painted his country into a corner now and it's impossible to find easy and painless way out.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Hypocrisy

Sanctions against Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, all good and will accomplish our goals.

Sanctions against Cuba haven't worked for 5 decades so we need to change our thinking.

I'd very much welcome some accountability on policy goals and timeframes. Be it to sanctions, or wars, or anything.

When something doesn't get you the results you want you can either try something different or 'wait a little longer'.

If the goal a is regime change, the guy dying of old age means that sanctions failed.

As far as hypocrisy goes, that's nothing new and this isn't even one of the better examples of it.
US has twenty something sanctions programs, the people who care most about them are corporate executives. Most ordinary americans are told to focus on the big picture such as 'Obama - bad', and that the nuts and bolts are not too important to be concerned with.