According to the latest from the New Republic, president Obama's finest achievement in foreign policy is his new relationship with Cuba. When I saw the article, checked to see if it was a parody of some sort. It wasn't. The left is actually boasting about the new relationship between the USA and Cuba.
Let's look at this "achievement" a bit more closely. For more than 50 years, America tried to isolate and weaken the Cuban regime. The Castro/Communist regime was stridently anti-American. The Cubans engaged in armed conflicts in support of subversive elements around the world. Remember the US landing in Granada? That was a result of Cuban troops being used to take over control of the small island nation in the Caribbean. The Cuban regime supported terrorists in various locales around the world. The Cuban regime worked with the drug cartels to smuggle drugs into the US in order to help finance the Cuban government. The Cuban regime kept a tight control on the people of Cuba; there is no such thing as individual rights in Cuba. The Cuban people lived in grinding poverty in a decrepit nation because all national wealth went for control at home and adventurism abroad. The US embargo and attempt to freeze Cuba out of the community of nations did not work while the USSR was still in existence and funneling money to its client in Cuba. After the demise of the USSR, however, the American embargo put Cuba in an economic vise. Due to lack of funds, the Cuban government had to scale back many of its foreign adventures, but while it reduced these efforts it never stopped them.
Obama has now lifter a whole host of sanctions that were in place on Cuba. He has also made clear to America's friends around the world that trade with and investment in Cuba are perfectly fine. Obama has also now removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. That is giving Cuba and the Castro/Communist regime in particular a major lifeline. The Castro government will now have a large infusion of revenue which can be used to support Cuba's adventures around the globe supporting subversion and terrorism. In other words, Obama paid a heavy price for what he gained for the USA.
So what did Obama get for his major concessions to the Castro regime? Hmm.... We got a few new vacation spots for Obama's rich supporters. We got a lot of photo ops for Obama with Raul Castro. We got a promise from Cuba that it would no longer support terrorists. That's about it. There was no promise to relax the police state in Cuba; the Cuban people were abandoned in their struggle for personal liberty. We got no severing of the ties between Cuba and the drug cartels. We got no promise from the Cubans to stop helping subversives around the world.
The simple truth is that Obama gave Cuba everything it wanted in exchange for essentially nothing other than a few feel-good photo ops. It is Obama's foreign policy in a nutshell: if America had a position before Obama took office, he tried to undo it. Obama believes that America was at fault in the past for all problems. He is now righting the balance to make the US foreign policy conform to his delusional world view.
In many respects, the praise of the New Republic for Obama's move with Cuba is like the Nobel Committee giving the Peace Prize to Obama for something he might do (but did not do) in the future. There is a nicer way to put this, but the truth is that both of them are pure BS.
Let's look at this "achievement" a bit more closely. For more than 50 years, America tried to isolate and weaken the Cuban regime. The Castro/Communist regime was stridently anti-American. The Cubans engaged in armed conflicts in support of subversive elements around the world. Remember the US landing in Granada? That was a result of Cuban troops being used to take over control of the small island nation in the Caribbean. The Cuban regime supported terrorists in various locales around the world. The Cuban regime worked with the drug cartels to smuggle drugs into the US in order to help finance the Cuban government. The Cuban regime kept a tight control on the people of Cuba; there is no such thing as individual rights in Cuba. The Cuban people lived in grinding poverty in a decrepit nation because all national wealth went for control at home and adventurism abroad. The US embargo and attempt to freeze Cuba out of the community of nations did not work while the USSR was still in existence and funneling money to its client in Cuba. After the demise of the USSR, however, the American embargo put Cuba in an economic vise. Due to lack of funds, the Cuban government had to scale back many of its foreign adventures, but while it reduced these efforts it never stopped them.
Obama has now lifter a whole host of sanctions that were in place on Cuba. He has also made clear to America's friends around the world that trade with and investment in Cuba are perfectly fine. Obama has also now removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. That is giving Cuba and the Castro/Communist regime in particular a major lifeline. The Castro government will now have a large infusion of revenue which can be used to support Cuba's adventures around the globe supporting subversion and terrorism. In other words, Obama paid a heavy price for what he gained for the USA.
So what did Obama get for his major concessions to the Castro regime? Hmm.... We got a few new vacation spots for Obama's rich supporters. We got a lot of photo ops for Obama with Raul Castro. We got a promise from Cuba that it would no longer support terrorists. That's about it. There was no promise to relax the police state in Cuba; the Cuban people were abandoned in their struggle for personal liberty. We got no severing of the ties between Cuba and the drug cartels. We got no promise from the Cubans to stop helping subversives around the world.
The simple truth is that Obama gave Cuba everything it wanted in exchange for essentially nothing other than a few feel-good photo ops. It is Obama's foreign policy in a nutshell: if America had a position before Obama took office, he tried to undo it. Obama believes that America was at fault in the past for all problems. He is now righting the balance to make the US foreign policy conform to his delusional world view.
In many respects, the praise of the New Republic for Obama's move with Cuba is like the Nobel Committee giving the Peace Prize to Obama for something he might do (but did not do) in the future. There is a nicer way to put this, but the truth is that both of them are pure BS.
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