Obama hails 'new chapter' in US-Cuba ties

[Peshwa]

Hold your horses! 'Normal Tourism' is not going to be allowed. What a bummer! What kind of full relationship is this?!

Rain on my parade Sir! Rain all over it...Disappointing!

 

[Meengla]

Rain on my parade Sir! Rain all over it...Disappointing!

Tell me about it! I am going on a Caribbean cruise in two days from now on--would have loved to cruise to Cuba one day because Caribbean cruises are convenient for me. Shame, shame, and shame!

 

[Peshwa]

Tell me about it! I am going on a Caribbean cruise in two days from now on--would have loved to cruise to Cuba one day because Caribbean cruises are convenient for me. Shame, shame, and shame!

Caribbean Cruise sounds incredible....oh how I miss Jamaica!! Hope you are making a pit stop there...

 

[Meengla]

Caribbean Cruise sounds incredible....oh how I miss Jamaica!! Hope you are making a pit stop there...

No Jamaica this time--but there are plenty of cruises and 'all inclusive' to Jamaica in the future.
The upcoming cruise is a real cheap one--get this: $200/person Oceanview for a 5 day cruise. It is to the Bahamas--kind of don't want to go there again but better than staying home. Have to eat up the 10 day Christmas break somehow.

 

[jamahir]

Plus if Cuba suddenly holds hands with the U.S. the Venezuelan government will be under extreme pressure by its people to do the same. They won't have any excuses left.

you mean, regime-change by other means...

 

[Hindustani78]

'Another Wall falls': Europe hails U.S.-Cuba breakthrough| Reuters

(Reuters) - Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall reunited Europe, the European Union hailed a "historic turning point" in the Caribbean with the renewal of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States.

"Today another Wall has started to fall," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. "These moves represent a victory of dialogue over confrontation."

European governments, while critical of Cuban human rights abuses, have long urged Washington to follow them in improving relations with the communist-ruled island, especially since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Cuba's Soviet sponsor.

Mogherini said the EU, which lifted diplomatic sanctions on Cuba in 2008, favored dialogue. In April, it began negotiations on a cooperation agreement, although Cuba recently put off talks that were due to have discussed human rights.

"Human rights remain at the heart of EU policy towards Cuba," said Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister.

She also thanked Pope Francis for his "wisdom" in helping to mediate between Havana and Washington.

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

 

[Hindustani78]

So the blockade of Cuba is going to be lifted but seems it will take some more time for that .

 

[gambit]

So the blockade of Cuba is going to be lifted but seems it will take some more time for that .

Other than the Cuban Missile crisis, there was no blockade of Cuba since then.

 

[Hindustani78]

Other than the Cuban Missile crisis, there was no blockade of Cuba since then.

Sorry I meant trade embargo

BBC News - Cuba's Raul Castro urges US to lift trade embargo

 

[Hindustani78]

India hails US move to revive diplomatic ties with Cuba
18 Dec 2014

New Delhi: India today welcomed the US’ decision to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba after a gap of more than five decades.

“India, which enjoys excellent relations with the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba, welcomes the decision by both the countries to re-establish diplomatic relations,” Official Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, said.

In a historic decision, President Barack Obama yesterday in a television address to the country announced a series of steps aimed at normalising relations with communist-ruled Cuba, with which the US had severed diplomatic ties decades ago, imposing a series of sanctions on its island neighbour.

The steps being taken include instructions to re-establish the US Embassy in Cuban capital Havana, relaxing of trade and travel restrictions and review of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

[hoclaixeoto]

I'm looking forward to this day for a long time . obama one great man

 

[fallstuff]

A very good move by Obama. This stupid policy needed to come to an end.

 

[C130]

shame we didn't do this after the fall of the soviet union, by now Cuba would be a democratic country I bet.
now we'll give them small doses of democracy then one day they'll awake to see they have become democractic and free and prosperous

Cuban regime
Venezuela and friends
your days are numbered .

communism and socialism only last so long.

 

[gambit]

I'm looking forward to this day for a long time . obama one great man

Obama is at best a wily politician, hardly nowhere the sage he believes he is and his cronies tries hard to impress upon the public. By now, only a few Americans believes Obama is anything beyond what he is: a politician.

Obama does not have the wisdom and the insight on why is normalizing relation with Cuba is a good thing in the long run, for both the US and Cuba. He is doing this because he is an opportunist looking for any potential to score political points. He could have done this in his first yr of his first term when his party -- The Democratic Party -- was in control of Congress. If he and the Democrats did, by now, Obama's political stature would be much greater than the sorry view Americans have of him today.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

US corporations seek profit opportunities in Cuba

Paul Craig Roberts, paulcraigroberts.org

View of a street in Cuba (file photo)

Normalization of relations with Cuba is not the result of a diplomatic breakthrough or a change of heart on the part of Washington. Normalization is a result of US corporations seeking profit opportunities in Cuba, such as developing broadband Internet markets in Cuba.

Before the American left and the Cuban government find happiness in the normalization, they should consider that with normalization comes American money and a US Embassy. The American money will take over the Cuban economy.
The embassy will be a home for CIA operatives to subvert the Cuban government. The embassy will provide a base from which the US can establish NGOs whose gullible members can be called to street protest at the right time, as in Kiev, and the embassy will make it possible for Washington to groom a new set of political leaders.

In short, normalization of relations means regime change in Cuba. Soon Cuba will be another of Washington’s vassal states.

Conservatives and Republicans such as Peggy Noonan and Senator Marco Rubio, have made it clear that Castro is “a bad man who turned an almost-paradise into a floating prison” and that normalizing relations with Cuba will not “grant the Castro regime legitimacy.”

Noonan forgets about Guantanamo, Washington’s offshore torture prison in Cuba where hundreds of innocent people have been held and tortured for a large part of their lives by the exceptional Americans. The Cuban Revolution intended to free Cubans from foreign domination and from exploitation by foreign capitalists. Whatever the likelihood of success, a half century of Washington’s hostility has as much to do with Cuba’s economic problems as communist ideology.

The self-righteousness of Americans is extreme. Noonan is happy. American money is now going to defeat Castro’s life work. And if the money doesn’t do it, the CIA will. The agency has long been waiting to avenge the Bay of Pigs, and normalization of relations brings the opportunity.

PressTV - US corporations seek profit opportunities in Cuba