‘Freedom!’ Thousands of Cubans take to the streets to demand the end of dictatorship

It seems to work for propaganda purposes, and to demonstrate man's inhumanity to mankind.

 

So what should America do towards North Korea? Keep sending them their party hacks their caviar and
fine French wine?

 

"America First" was not invented recently, - it has always been that way. If you look at history, and I am sure you already have, you'll see that every kingdom, empire, colonial power, or superpower has always been "we first". That means you crush your opponents either militarily or economically. Liberals and libertarians are mocked for being too nice to other nations, but its really only Libertarians who are the nice ones. Liberals push the same foreign policy (CFR policy) as conservatives.

When did we start sending them wine and caviar? Most countries ignore them, but I am not saying that, because NK could actually become dangerous. Cuba? Not so much.

 

For what it's worth, I embrace the spirit of Thomas Jefferson's philosophy: Honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

 

The "entangling" is the key word there. WW-1 was all about entangling alliances between the European countries. US didn't have such alliances so the Europeans and the bankers had to find another way to get us involved, and they found a way. Bankers were going to lose all their precious money if England ended up on the losing side of the war.

Full quote: "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none"

He was ok with commerce. His only issue was the entangling alliances (like NATO or USMCA).

 

We are NOT OK with commerce. By the actions of the federal government, commerce is strangled. On purpose. For political nonsense.

We are not OK with democratic elections, democracy in action. That's why we overthrow legitimately elected governments all over the globe, including Cuba.

 

I said Jefferson was ok with it, hence the quote.

 

There is a moral case to be made for not trading with criminal regimes, although I can't see any reason why the current President wouldn't bring down the sanctions. You need to get The Squad on that. However my point is that our sanctions are doing nothing to beggar these countries. If you have some data to say otherwise, I would be curious to see it.

 

If you want to define a "moral case" I think you would have to identify how your case impacts the people.

NK is a tough case - more difficult than Cuba, I suspect.

I wonder how Cuba would have reacted to the US fully opening free trade and travel with Cuba about 40 years ago. I think it would have presented serious problems for their dictatorship.

 

I don't think that's hard to figure out, there would be limited trade with state owned firms and maybe some joint ventures with the Cuban government the senior partner, like the China model.

 

That just means they like America better, derp!

Are you itching to go over there and liberate the Cubans left in Cuba?

 

I am Australian. America has an 'entangling alliance' with us.
If you don't then we will seek the same from China - so too will
SE Asia, Japan, IndoChina, Philipines etc..
Sitting back and watching Britain nearly go under in WW2 was
disgraceful.

 

Will this make things better:

 

When our sanctions make it so ordinary citizens cannot acquire the necessities of life, they beggar those countries.

Criminal regimes? Good Christ, the US Government has been a criminal regime for decades at least. Not only do we invade foreign countries under fraud, we employ Depleted Uranium dust amongst our own troops. IMO that is as criminal as it gets.

Though now Biden proposes injecting all our soldiers with a toxic drug, so maybe he's raised the standard for criminality?

 

Are you capable of asking an intelligent question?

 

Please stop posting bullshit.

Cuba trades with almost every country in the world. The US has nothing to do with "ordinary citizens cannot acquire the necessities of life."

 

That was a "yes or no" question that you failed to answer.

Are you capable of comprehending that?

Here's another one for you: Who is in my avatar?
Let's see if you're capable of answering that.

 

You've asked me that twice, so it must mean alot to you. Could you tell me about it?

 

Then what do sanctions do Mike?

 

You're yammering all about Cuba and that's Jose Marti, boy. Most likely the most
revered and famous Cuban ever.

 

I have not been arguing pro or con for sanctions. But they are mostly about us, not them.

Biden administration announces new sanctions on Cuba while eyeing further actions

Biden imposed more sanctions as a result of the recent protests. Practical effect? I would guess near zero. Political effect however is to make some sort of stand or something.

What I objected to was your off hand, and commonly repeated remark that the reason Cuba is poor is because of US sanctions. How could that possibly be true when they trade with everyone else? The EU trades with Cuba, and they have an economy much larger than the US. If Cuba is poor and you can't allow yourself to blame the real cause ( a communist dictatorship) blame the EU.

 

It comes across, even with this post, that you accept and defend US sanctions. They are mostly about us? WTF does that mean? Yes, we implement them, but the people who suffer from them are Cubans and Venezuelans.

What I object to is that you avoid discussing and harms caused by those sanctions. You have convinced yourself that sanctions harm nobody, and that is how they want you to think. It is not an honest assessment of what effects sanctions have on the average Cuban or Venezuelan.

 

They're free to trade with every other country.
The problem is: They don't have anything to trade due to Communist dictators.

 

They still want to come:

 

There’s the Cuba Democracy Act of 1992, which bars ships that have docked in Cuba from docking in the US for 180 days.
There is the Helms-Burton Act which actually applies sanctions on foreign companies that trade with Cuba.
So to say that the US embargo just prevents Americans from doing business in Cuba isn’t accurate.