Fidel Castro, having long outlasted all his rivals in the West and all his colleagues in the world of Communist dictatoring, is stepping down as leader of Cuba. Steve Clemons rightly asks who in American politics will have the courage and good sense to seize the opportunity for an opening in US-Cuban relations. Based on the past, the edge goes to Obama, but he needs to actually step up to the plate now.
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Castro Steps Down
19 Feb 2008 07:49 am
Comments (24)
How is this a golden opportunity? Is Raul Castro any more liberal (in the international, not American sense of the word) than his brother?
Evidence is that Raul is somewhat less bad. I understand that this isn't saying much. But there's a reasonable chance that Raul doesn't have Fidel's habit of betraying everyone, everywhere, all the time.
Sad day for the Left. Viva la revolucion! Right?
On a less sarcastic note, what exactly is the evidence that Raul is any less an authoritarian than his brother?
blah blah blah....
Didn't anybody hear that Lindsay Lohan posed nude?
It has nothing to do with Raul, it has to do with fixing a completely ass backward policy. But I see the usual idiots are lining up to again be idiots.
Seriously though, isn't it just like an evil power-mad dictator to step aside in the manner determined by a constitution?
Then again, it sure woulda been handy in the National Assembly elections if he'd hinted a little harder that the candidates would have a big choice coming up.
Sad day for the Left. Viva la revolucion! Right?
McCain supports torture.
The Cuban regime is now truly a dead man walking, and I expect to now collapse in 2-3 years, regardless of what the USA does.
i know that's been written a few times, but now its REALLY true!
"Then again, it sure woulda been handy in the National Assembly elections if he'd hinted a little harder that the candidates would have a big choice coming up."
Castro ran unopposed in the National Assembly 'elections'. So did every other candidate.
How is this a golden opportunity? Is Raul Castro any more liberal (in the international, not American sense of the word) than his brother?
It doesn't matter, since we should have moved to improve our relations with Cuba long ago. The reason it is a golden opportunity is that this gives everyone an excuse to climb down from their obtuse, pandering rejectionism without looking weak.
I happened to be asked yesterday by a S. American person for whom English is a second language what the word 'siege' means. I explained that it was a military term which meant surrounding and starving-out a city or fort. She said 'Oh, like Cuba?'. Dan K is of course right. This should be seen as an excuse to end an idiotic and cruel policy which should've been ended long ago.
But, but . . . then the Democrats might lose Florida in the general!
Oh wait: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/flpres/
Never mind.
I expect to now collapse in 2-3 years
Depends what you mean by 'collapse', really. Fade gently away, more like. After all, it can now bootstrap South America's populist neo-socialism. (As I've said here previously, let the first commercial flight into Havana from the US be one of gays and lesbians, rather than bitter Batista-era types wanting their property back.)
Obama has the obvious advantage here, but he does need to go about it the right way: Cuba's future needs to be decided by the Cuban people, collectively, and not by the ageing grudge-bearers in Big and Little Havana.
Nothing has happened yet, muchachos. Nothing. A year and a half ago, I was hopeful Raul was going to introduce some economic reform but nothing has happened so far.
Maybe when Fidel dies his little brother does something. Maybe.
But what happened today means NOTHING. And besides, the main post of a Communist regime is not the chief of state but the secretary general of the communist party.
Regardless of the objective wisdom of the policy, I'm going to guess that right now is exactly the time when Senator Obama should not step out and say something on this. In fact, I'd recommend he keep dead silent and pretend this never happened...
Exactly, Vermando. Christ, let the guy get elected first!
Yes, please - and this goes for both Obama or Hillary - do not giftwrap Florida for McCain by giving Raul Castro a french kiss.
Steve and Matt - let's win this first, please?
We already have New York and California (and DC), no matter what the dem nominee says about Cuba. How about we try to win Florida?
"How is this a golden opportunity? Is Raul Castro any more liberal (in the international, not American sense of the word) than his brother?"
How liberal were the Red Chinese in the 1970s when Nixon & Ford not only opened up relations between the US and Commie China, but established a trading partnership that subsequent presidential administrations (both Democratic and Republican) have maintained and expanded? Do you and Al honestly believe that the regime that crushed dissent in Beijing in 1989 is somehow less tyrannical than the Castros are?
If we establish trading relationships with the Red Chinese and with the Vietnamese, then certainly we can end an embargo on Cuba.
Merle, don't start trumpeting those polls just yet. The Rasmussen poll, coming just 4 days after the Qunnipac poll, shows a 12 point swing toward McCain in that time period. A swing like that demonstrates nothing so much as unreliable polling.
FL will be close this year and the Dems stand a good chance of winning it. The general campaign hasn't even begun yet, so let's hold off calling the state for a little while longer.
As for the Raul/Fidel show in Cuba, my prediction is that nothing much will change in US-Cuba relations over the course of the next presidential administration.
let the first commercial flight into Havana from the US be one of gays and lesbians
Do you want them imprisoned or something? Or is the implication that normalization of relations with Cuba proceeds only once the people have a modicum of personal freedom?
Or is the implication that normalization of relations with Cuba proceeds only once the people have a modicum of personal freedom?
All I'm implying is that a landing party of people waving land titles or making offers on '57 Chevys isn't ideal. Start with people whose claim against the Cuban regime isn't so tied up in old privilege or wrapped in the prospect of revanchism.
In other places where Marxist-Leninist states have collapsed, we've had a wide variety of consequences ranging from genocidal civil war to velvet transfers of power and divorce. Cuba's hasn't yet but will inevitably, and soon, collapse. But the transition process can take a while to play out.
I'd say now would be a good time to invest in Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol technology in Cuba.
All I'm implying is that a landing party of people waving land titles or making offers on '57 Chevys isn't ideal. Start with people whose claim against the Cuban regime isn't so tied up in old privilege or wrapped in the prospect of revanchism.
OK, I see what you're saying. I was genuinely confused by your first statement.
Comments closed March 04, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
This is a golden opportunity for the next Prez. A positive US-Cuba policy may really help a lot with South & Central America as well.
Posted by Kim | February 19, 2008 8:03 AM