and Kosovo is a newly independent nation…interesting times

lets see if Raul implements any democratic elements into Cuban society…the younger Castro now has a chance to be the historic leader who helped end the embargo and turn Cuba around…we’ll see how this turns out, but with Papa Fidel no longer in total control (dollars to donutes says he croaks in a couple of days)this is a big event

(DD)
Merk,

I’ll put two donuts down on that. You DID say a couple of days. I’ll give him some months. He’s a tough old bird. And if memory serves, it’s not Cuba that’s keeping the embargo on. I doubt if Raul is going to be any more eager than Fidel to let the United States Of Miami dictate how things are run in Cuba.

It’s amazing. We turn around and bend over for China, but be civil towards Cuba? Never!! Elsewhere I mentioned why I wasn’t ‘proud’ to be an American. Add this one to the list.

(DD)
Hail Jed, our abuse of Cuba goes back to the Spanish American War. The Maine and all that BS was just a guise to get Mexico out of the area AND to get the Phillipines.

We were going to ‘free’ the little darkies from their exploiters. What a crock.

And let’s be clear. It is not an AMERICAN phenomenon. We’re merely carrying on the grand old tradition of Western Europe. We’re just geographically, and now, techonologically, better equipped.

The U.S. ‘blossumed’ at a time when military capability allowed a few to control many.

Elsewhere I opined my lack of ‘pride’ in this country. Here’s another reason.

you are both absolutely right…i meant to revise my comment with another one, but all i got were proxy errors…

but again, Castro is not as pure as the driven snow either…his regime was, and still is, as harsh as any other on the planet (perhaps save Burma, Sudan and N. Korea)

but we were in cuba not for oil, but in the grand old european tradition of grabbing territory off of another ailing power…in Europe it was Africa and the ’sick old man of Europe’, the Ottoman Empire

our ’sick old man’ was the spanish empire…and at the time a great power was characterized by its possessions…was Bautista corrupt? absolutely. Did Castro fail to live up to his promise? absolutely

that said, i wouldnt be too worried about the Embargo anyway…its a relic from the Cold War so full of holes that the only reason it’s being kept up is from the Cuban lobby in florida

(DD)

Jeez, I said Mexico. Freudian slip? I don’t think so.

But Merk, if it weren’t for the embargo, don’t you think some of those entrepernurial capitalists that piggy adores wouldn’t have move a lot of their manufacturing there. Wouldn’t the citizens of Cuba benefitted from that? More, say, than the citizens of Taiwan?

How many Cuban cigars do you think Cheney sucks a year?

depends on who you ask…if you’re European, you love the embargo, becuase the EU is Cuba’s biggest trading partner (specifically i believe, Great Britain and Italy), who are not bound by the embargo

and any company can trade with Cuba, so long as its for “humanitarian” reasons…meaning that US rice, timber, and other manufacturers just have to slap “humanitarian aid” on the box and ol’ Uncle Sugar looks the other way

dont misinterpret; i think the embargo should have come down with the fall of the Berlin Wall…its more than outstayed it’s welcome (plus with the embargo down, that could spur legal business/tourist trade on a large scale)…but then the government doesnt listen much to us common punks

(DD)

Merk,

Please, I consider myself an ‘uncommon’ punk.

What do you make of Tim’s reference to Raul as ‘toady?’ I confess I didn’t know the word and looked it up. Sycophant would have been my choice. How does one know of such behavior in a closed society?