The news that at long last the United States will normalize relations with Cuba is one I have hoped for all my life. I believe that if we had engaged Cuba from the outset, pushed for the same kind of trade relations that we had with many other dictatorships, and kept fussing at them about human rights that we also do, we could have created an opening for more freedom, and maybe even democracy, decades ago.
I hope the Congress follows suit and drops the foolish embargo.
I think the combination of Cuban-Americans, Coca-Cola, and the internet will do more for Cuban freedom that all the Cold War freeze-out could ever have accomplished.
Thank you, President Obama. And a hat tip to the Pope and the Canadians for helping.
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2 comments:
Your blog comments are absolutely on point, however they must be considered in the context of the present. If one looks back to the 1960's the Cuban situation with Soviet nuclear missles and pervailing foreign policy theories did not allow such clear thinking. Certaintly by the 1980's your prescribed appoach would probably been much more productive, and it would have pevented much grief.
The Cuban example should serve as an example for some of our foreign polciy decisions at present. The neocons spproach does not allow for much dialogue and engagement
The blockade was begun two years before the Cuban missile crisis, and two years after the Cuban revolution. It was not the immediate response of frightened people, but a calculated policy position that produced the opposite of the intended result from the first.
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