AP: US and Cuba to normalize relations

[Winehole23]

The United States and Cuba are taking “historic steps” to normalize relations, including opening an embassy in Havana, easing trade and travel restrictions and putting to rest one most enduring Cold War standoffs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-cuba-frees-american-alan-gross-after-5-years-detention-on-spy-charges/2014/12/17/a2840518-85f5-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html), the White House said Wednesday.


The landmark initiatives — that could reorder the political landscape in Latin America and beyond — is a result of more than a year and a half of secret negotiations with the Cuban government of President Raul Castro.


The plans appeared finally set in motion by Cuba’s agreement to release Alan Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development contractor imprisoned for five years, and to exchange an unnamed U.S. intelligence asset, held for two decades, for three Cuban nationals convicted of spying in the United States in 2001.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-cuba-frees-american-alan-gross-after-5-years-detention-on-spy-charges/2014/12/17/a2840518-85f5-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html

[boutons_deux]

"an unnamed U.S. intelligence asset" :lol

spy traded for spies.

Obama's really kicking ass.

Repugs, Fox gonna go ballistic, yawn.

[101A]

Good for the U.S. and Cuba - especially now with Russian economy melting down, and Putin being Putin. Give Catro NO reason to cozy up to Vladimir.

[Wild Cobra]

Good for the U.S. and Cuba - especially now with Russian economy melting down, and Putin being Putin. Give Catro NO reason to cozy up to Vladimir.

But it has nothing to do with sanctions.

[boutons_deux]

Good for the U.S. and Cuba - especially now with Russian economy melting down, and Putin being Putin. Give Catro NO reason to cozy up to Vladimir.

I don't think Pootin has any interest in a backward shithole like Cuba. He NOW has plenty of problems keeping his kleptocracy afloat, and Muslims on his southern border.

[baseline bum]

So can I legally buy their cigars and rum now?

[ElNono]

Kenyan communist doing Kenyan communist things...

[ElNono]

So can I legally buy their cigars and rum now?

Allowances for U.S. Travelers on Cuban Cigars and Rum

Cuba is known for its legendary cigars and Havana Club rum, a fact that was not lost on the White House as officials blasted out their fact sheet laying out the new diplomatic relationship with Cuba.

According to the White House, United States travelers to Cuba will be allowed to return with $400 worth of goods, of which no more than $100 can consist of tobacco products and alcohol combined.

The $100 limit will certainly restrict the amount of each product brought back by travelers, as a box of 25 high-quality Cohiba cigars ranges from about $100 to as much as $500 in Havana currently. Prices for other Cuban cigars vary.

Havana Club is quote affordable in Havana, as a liter of white rum sells for about $10.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/12/17/?entry=7233&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT_nav=top-news&_r=0

[Warlord23]

Why are you guys wasting time discussing unimportant news like US-Cuba relations or Russia's economic troubles? Please stick to important topics like Bill Ayers, amnesty and Benghazi. Kthxbye

[baseline bum]

Why are you guys wasting time discussing unimportant news like US-Cuba relations or Russia's economic troubles? Please stick to important topics like Bill Ayers, amnesty and Benghazi. Kthxbye

Solyndra!

[baseline bum]

Allowances for U.S. Travelers on Cuban Cigars and Rum

Cuba is known for its legendary cigars and Havana Club rum, a fact that was not lost on the White House as officials blasted out their fact sheet laying out the new diplomatic relationship with Cuba.

According to the White House, United States travelers to Cuba will be allowed to return with $400 worth of goods, of which no more than $100 can consist of tobacco products and alcohol combined.

The $100 limit will certainly restrict the amount of each product brought back by travelers, as a box of 25 high-quality Cohiba cigars ranges from about $100 to as much as $500 in Havana currently. Prices for other Cuban cigars vary.

Havana Club is quote affordable in Havana, as a liter of white rum sells for about $10.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/12/17/?entry=7233&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT_nav=top-news&_r=0

$100 limit? That's fucking bullshit. I wonder what this means for buying Cuban shit in Mexico though.

[baseline bum]

Wonder if this means we'll start seeing cruise ships going to Cuba now.

[baseline bum]

How long until I can buy fucking Cohibas in town now?

[ElNono]

crofl Rubio is blowing a gasket over this...

[ChumpDumper]

Why are you guys wasting time discussing unimportant news like US-Cuba relations or Russia's economic troubles? Please stick to important topics like Bill Ayers, amnesty and Benghazi. KthxbyeYoni will give his opinion as soon as he is told what it is.

I always found it weird that US foreign policy was being held hostage by a fraction of 7% of the population of one state, but that's electoral politics.

[boutons_deux]

Fox News editor on Cuba: Obama in ‘Honey Boo Boo phase in which he does what he wants’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/fox-news-editor-on-cuba-obama-in-honey-boo-boo-phase-in-which-he-does-what-he-wants/

[baseline bum]

crofl Rubio is blowing a gasket over this...

link?

[ElNono]

link?

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/marco-rubio-says-cuba-talks-are-absurd-113639.html?hp=t1_r

[baseline bum]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/marco-rubio-says-cuba-talks-are-absurd-113639.html?hp=t1_r

Of course that faggot Rubio wants to keep the embargo in place. What a piece of shit Congress this is going to be next year.

[SupremeGuy]

Why are you guys wasting time discussing unimportant news like US-Cuba relations or Russia's economic troubles? Please stick to important topics like Bill Ayers, amnesty and Benghazi. KthxbyeImportant topics like obama's mentor being a terrorist, or terrorist attacks like Benghazi and how it was handled? Are you fucking stupid? lol Those are important topics.

Yeah, let's overlook current hot topics in favor of some decades-late kindness being shown to each other by Cube and the US. In fact, Cuba isn't doing shit. All that's happening is Obama is trying to bend over for another tyrannical regime. I guess you guys love to see America let the bad guys win.

[SupremeGuy]

We should make "peace" with North Korea next by removing all restrictions. They'll stop being evil if we just give them what they want, tbh.

[ChumpDumper]

Important topics like obama's mentor being a terrorist, or terrorist attacks like Benghazi and how it was handled? Are you fucking stupid? lol Those are important topics.So why is Ayres important again?

And what specifically do you need to know about Benghazi that hasn't been reported?

[ChumpDumper]

We should make "peace" with China next by removing all restrictions. They'll stop being evil if we just give them what they want, tbh.Still pretty bad to their people last I checked.

[ElNono]

Of course that faggot Rubio wants to keep the embargo in place. What a piece of shit Congress this is going to be next year.

I actually have high hopes for the new Congress. We'll see.

It's not surprising that Rubio would be upset, tbh, he built a career over self-victimization because :cry daddy was ran off the island by commie meanies :cry

Then again, there's a reason the vast majority of hispanics dislike Cuban-Americans... (save rare exceptions like Dra Polo, etc)

[ElNono]

Still pretty bad to their people last I checked.

Or Vietnam...

[spurraider21]

Or Vietnam...
they're bad to their dogs too

[ElNono]

they're bad to their dogs too

:lol

[boutons_deux]

"high hopes for the new Congress"

:lol

what do you hope, expect them to do?

[SupremeGuy]

Still pretty bad to their people last I checked.We don't have the balls to stand up to Cuba, and you want us to go after China? :lol

[ChumpDumper]

We don't have the balls to stand up to Cuba, and you want us to go after China? :lolI'm merely stating that we have normal diplomatic relations with plenty of meanie governments.

What do you mean by "stand up to" anyway?

[Trainwreck2100]

Terrorist Muslim African helping terrorist commies. Nothing to see here folks

[baseline bum]

I actually have high hopes for the new Congress. We'll see.


Really? Why? What do you expect them to do other than send bills to Obama killing the ACA that will obviously be vetoed?

[spurraider21]

Really? Why? What do you expect them to do other than send bills to Obama killing the ACA that will obviously be vetoed?
protecting our freedoms

[ElNono]

"high hopes for the new Congress"

:lol

what do you hope, expect them to do?




Really? Why? What do you expect them to do other than send bills to Obama killing the ACA that will obviously be vetoed?

Get *some* shit done in other areas where there might be some level of accord. I think McConnell can be a good negotiator.

I could be wrong tho.

[ElNono]

BTW, didn't mean to single out Rubio, he was just one of the first Cuban-Americans speaking out... I'm sure Bob Menendez is throwing a fit too as we speak...

[tlongII]

I like this. I've always wanted to go to Cuba.

[Yonivore]

Yoni will give his opinion as soon as he is told what it is.
Don't really have an opinion - not much changes. But it's good to be living rent free in your head.

Oh, and these will now be legal...

http://calpire.com/files/files/Site_Images/cuban_cigar_connection.png

[SnakeBoy]

Good job Obama.

...waited 6 years to be able to say that and mean it.

[ChumpDumper]

Don't really have an opinion - not much changes. But it's good to be living rent free in your head.:cry

[ElNono]

Not a religious guy here, but props to Pope Francis for engineering some of this too...

Time will tell if this thing will work out or not, but after basically half a century of impasse and going nowhere, at least there's hope for some higher level dialogue.

[angrydude]

Good. The fastest way to improve Cuba's standard of living is to trade with it.

...Until the IMF gives it a loan that is.

[boutons_deux]

BTW, didn't mean to single out Rubio, he was just one of the first Cuban-Americans speaking out... I'm sure Bob Menendez is throwing a fit too as we speak...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bob-menendez-obama-cuba?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

Good. The fastest way to improve Cuba's standard of living is to trade with it.

...Until the IMF gives it a loan that is.

some of those cars down there from the 40s, 50s might be worth a lot if cleaned up and auctioned off

[boutons_deux]

Obama hands Cuba's Castros a major victory, but Congress can still stop it

Not only does President Obama’s action fail to advance freedom in Cuba, it throws a lifeline to Cuba’s dictators, whose current supplier of funds, Venezuela, is on the ropes because of plunging oil prices. It surrenders to the demands for normalization that the Castros have been making for decades.

So what can Congress do?

Right off the bat, Congress must make it crystal clear to President Obama that he lacks the authority to lift the embargo on Cuba, allow trade to take place between the two nations, let tourists to go to Cuba to bail out the regime or give Cuba have access to capital markets. U.S. law—the Helms-Burton Act of 1996—gives the Congress power to override any action taken by the executive to lift the embargo.

In order to lift the embargo, the Cuban government would have to give the Cuban people a number of rights—of association, speech, political activity, etc.—that President Obama obviously failed to secure in his 45-minute conversation with Cuban dictator Raul Castro Tuesday.

Congress can also make clear to the president that there are statutory criteria that must be met before his administration can take Cuba off the State Department list of terrorism sponsors. The president must inform Congress that there has been a change of leadership and policies of the Cuban government and that Castro has given assurances that it will no longer support terrorist acts. Can President Obama do any of that?

Senators should also make clear that they will put a hold on any ambassador that Mr. Obama nominates to serve in Cuba unless he can guarantee that the Cuban government is no longer a threat to the United States and has decided to grant freedom to people in Cuba. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has already said he plans to do that.

A native of Cuba, Mike Gonzalez escaped the Castro regime at age 12. He is a senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for International Studies and the author of “A Race for the Future” How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic American (http://www.randomhouse.com/book/228486/a-race-for-the-future-by-mike-gonzalez)s.”

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/17/obama-hands-cuba-castros-major-victory-but-congress-can-still-stop-it/1

Fox! :lol

[baseline bum]

I like this. I've always wanted to go to Cuba.

Dude, you have been able to go to Cuba since the 90s. My friends who have been say it's pretty damn expensive with US dollars though, and changing for Cuban dollars will get your ass thrown in prison for a long time.

[russellgoat]

Dude, you have been able to go to Cuba since the 90s. My friends who have been say it's pretty damn expensive with US dollars though, and changing for Cuban dollars will get your ass thrown in prison for a long time.

Did your friends told you about prostitutes? are they cheap?

[baseline bum]

Did your friends told you about prostitutes? are they cheap?

They said no need for hookers, as the bitches are so poor you just buy them dinner and you're balls deep an hour later tbh

[russellgoat]

They said no need for hookers, as the bitches are so poor you just buy them dinner and you're balls deep an hour later tbh

But I heard there are tons of people asking for money on the streets, did your friends saw that?

[boutons_deux]

Barry fucking up Repugs' holidays! :lol

[Warlord23]

Important topics like obama's mentor being a terrorist, or terrorist attacks like Benghazi and how it was handled? Are you fucking stupid? lol Those are important topics.

Yeah, let's overlook current hot topics in favor of some decades-late kindness being shown to each other by Cube and the US. In fact, Cuba isn't doing shit. All that's happening is Obama is trying to bend over for another tyrannical regime. I guess you guys love to see America let the bad guys win.

Listen shit-for-brains, did you read the House Intelligence Committee report issued on Benghazi, that is if you have the mental capacity to digest anything longer than a Hannity talking point? And please enlighten us on how you think Bill Ayers has influenced US govt policy.

"Bending over for another tyrannical regime" .... How do you explain the US being allies with the following:
The Batista regime that preceded Fidel Castro
The House of Saud in Saudi Arabia which is an Islamic monarchy
The military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
The Shah of Iran before the mullahs came in
General Franco in Spain
Saddam Hussein, before he became the enemy

... And many more if you actually read history, you knuckle-dragging neanderthal. How do Rush and Hannity explain that?

[boutons_deux]

Obama Intends to Lift Several Restrictions Against Cuba on His Own

President Obama (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per) will move as soon as next month to defang the 54-year-old American trade embargo against Cuba (http://www.nytimes.com/info/cuba?inline=nyt-geo), administration officials said Thursday, using broad executive power to defy critics in Congress and lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial activities.

The moves are only the beginning of what White House officials and foreign policy experts describe as a sweeping set of changes that Mr. Obama can make on his own to re-establish commercial and diplomatic ties (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html) with Cuba even in the face of angry congressional opposition.

“The embargo is a container — it’s been that way since President Eisenhower — that’s had regulations and laws put into it and taken out of it and mixed about,”

The Treasury Department will issue a series of regulations to ease agricultural exports and establish banking relations, administration officials said, and the Commerce Department will move to allow United States companies to export construction and telecommunications equipment, among other things, for sale in Cuba.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department will scrap a measure that requires people who are already eligible for travel to Cuba to receive special permission from the government for trips such as those involving family visits, professional, religious or cultural programs and humanitarian projects.

New rules will also make it easier to get there, by allowing the direct purchase of airline tickets to Cuba rather than requiring travelers to go through a travel agent and charter a flight.

The Treasury Department is also quadrupling the amount of money that can be sent to Cubans each quarter, to $2,000 from $500, and is loosening banking restrictions. It plans to relax requirements, strongly opposed by American exporters, that mandate that cargo be paid for in advance or financed by a bank in a third country before it can be shipped.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/us/politics/obama-intends-to-lift-several-restrictions-against-cuba-on-his-own.html

Like the War on Terrorism and the War on Drugs failed, likewise the War on Cuba has failed. America just ain't very good at warring, but excellent at believing bullshit, self-glorifying myths about itself.

[baseline bum]

I'd better post this on this thread to make sure everybody sees it.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242423

Read post #7 too.

It all makes sense if you look at the big picture.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145531

No one reads your stupid links faggot

[ElNono]

:lmao Rand Paul ethering Rubio

Rubio: “Like many people who have been opining, he has no idea what he’s talking about,”

“The embargo is not what’s hurting the Cuban people, it’s the lack of freedom and the lack of competent leaders,” Rubio continued.

Paul shot back on Friday in a pointed series of tweets and Facebook posts.
“Hey @marcorubio if the embargo doesn’t hurt Cuba, why do you want to keep it?” Paul began.

He fired off three more tweets:

545998696974798848

545999148072202241

545999821694173185

“After 50 years of conflict, why not try a new approach?” the Kentucky senator followed up in a Facebook post. “[L]et’s be clear that Senator Rubio does not speak for the majority of Cuban-Americans.”

As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, Rubio had not responded.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/marco-rubio-rand-paul-cuba-113699.html

[baseline bum]

LOL Rubio is the Yonivore of Congress.

[Drachen]

:lmao Rand Paul ethering Rubio

Rubio: “Like many people who have been opining, he has no idea what he’s talking about,”

“The embargo is not what’s hurting the Cuban people, it’s the lack of freedom and the lack of competent leaders,” Rubio continued.

Paul shot back on Friday in a pointed series of tweets and Facebook posts.
“Hey @marcorubio if the embargo doesn’t hurt Cuba, why do you want to keep it?” Paul began.

He fired off three more tweets:

545998696974798848

545999148072202241

545999821694173185

“After 50 years of conflict, why not try a new approach?” the Kentucky senator followed up in a Facebook post. “[L]et’s be clear that Senator Rubio does not speak for the majority of Cuban-Americans.”

As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, Rubio had not responded.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/marco-rubio-rand-paul-cuba-113699.html

This shit is funny right there.

[313]

they're bad to their dogs too
:lol

[boutons_deux]

Freedom!

Democracy!

Off shore Cuban oil!

[boutons_deux]

In Florida, GOP loyalty belongs to Jeb Bush, not Marco RubioRubio, who at 43 is nearly two decades younger than Bush, enjoys loads of enthusiastic supporters among Florida’s deep pool of elite GOP fundraisers, but few, if any, of those top bundlers prefer him over Bush. It’s a simple fact of life for any Republican elected leader in Florida that even eight years after he left the governor’s office, Bush overshadows all.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article4782225.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article4782225.html

Wall St loves Jeb, too. His shady, even corrupt, business dealings, tax evasion show he's one of them.

[boutons_deux]

US Corps Claim Billions In Assets In Cuba And Now They'll Want It Back

When the Castro regime assumed power in Cuba in 1959, it quickly nationalized the assets of almost every foreign corporation within its borders as the country transitioned to communism. For half a century now, American companies have laid claim to billions of dollars in lost assets on the Caribbean island 90 miles from U.S. shores. Under American law, the claims have been steadily accruing interest, but the companies have never seen a penny.

It's one of many knotty issues for the two Cold War adversaries to resolve as they end their prolonged estrangement that outlasted the Cold War itself by more than two decades. Like many of the other points of contention, the claims of U.S. companies against the Castro government dredge up difficult memories, long-buried grievances, and unpleasant histories that neither side may be eager to confront.

While it's not yet clear how the mid-century claims of U.S. companies will be handled, interviews in the days since President Obama's historic policy change with those involved in the claims and experts on Cuba reveal the claims have not been forgotten by the businesses and they're not going away.

"You can safely assume a large flare went up yesterday," Robert Muse, a Washington, D.C., attorney who specializes in Cuban issues, including corporate claims, told TPM last week the day after Obama's White House announcement. "They're right now sending memos down the line: 'What about our claim?'"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/us-businesses-cuba-foreign-claims-settlements?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

How Republicans may use a law signed by Bill Clinton to chip away at Cuba deal

According to the Post, congressional critics of the Cuba deal are exploring whether the law conflicts with Obama’s move to allow the use of American credit and debit cards on the island.

Ros-Lehtinen has suggested that the deal “may be in direct violation (http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/ros-lehtinen-statement-release-alan-gross)” of a provision in the Helms-Burton law that calls for the release of political prisoners and the institution of democracy prior to the resumption of diplomatic relations.

But critics like Ros-Lehtinen aren’t emphatically declaring that the Cuba deal violates the Helms-Burton law — and the president enjoys the right to change regulations under the act.

“The president can go very far,” Serena Moe, a former Treasury Department sanctions official, told (http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-faces-battle-with-congress-over-cuba-1419211849) the Wall Street Journal. “He’s gone very far in his recommendations and he can go further.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/22/how_republicans_may_use_a_law_signed_by_bill_clint on_to_chip_away_at_cuba_deal/

[Winehole23]

A cold-blooded murder more than 40 years ago, a cinematographic prison escape and a multimillion-dollar reward have become a stumbling block for Cuba and the United States in their quest to normalise their diplomatic relations.

The main character in this story is JoAnne Chesimard. Or, rather, this is what she is called in the US, where she is considered a domestic terrorist. She was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 during a gun battle.


She prefers to go by the name Assata Shakur. She is the aunt of the late rapper Tupac Shakur and was a member of the Black Liberation Army, an underground organisation that fought for the self-determination of black people in the US.


Chesimard was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1977, but less than two years later three black men armed with automatic pistols seized two guards as hostages at the prison where she was being detained and released her. From there she disappeared off the US radar for a number of years.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31668056

[boutons_deux]

GOP-Led House Votes To Keep Restrictions On Travel To Cuba

House Republicans have voted to keep restrictions on Americans seeking to travel to Cuba. That's a setback to Obama administration efforts to ease the five-decade Cold War standoff.

The GOP-controlled chamber voted 247-176 to keep a Cuba-related provision in a transportation funding bill.

The provision would block new rules issued in January that would significantly ease travel restrictions to Cuba and allow regularly scheduled flights for the first time.

The administration rules lifted a requirement that U.S. travelers obtain a license from the Treasury Department before traveling to Cuba. Instead, all that is required is for travelers to assert their trip would serve educational, religious or other permitted purposes.

The GOP provision is the handiwork of congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American Republican from the Miami area.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/us-cuba-travel-restrictions-house-gop?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

thanks, Repugs!

[Winehole23]

President Obama on Wednesday announced the formal resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba after more than half a century of hostilities. The two countries have agreed to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana.http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/01/419165774/u-s-cuba-agree-to-formally-resume-diplomatic-relations

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/01/419165774/u-s-cuba-agree-to-formally-resume-diplomatic-relations
What took him so God-damned long?

[boutons_deux]

What took him so God-damned long?

Barry's working down his "buck it list", which he should have been doing since 2009. Repug scorched-earth obstructionism and intimidation mostly worked, blocking PROGRESS and SOLUTIONS on many fronts.

[Wild Cobra]

Barry's working down his "buck it list", which he should have been doing since 2009. Repug scorched-earth obstructionism and intimidation mostly worked, blocking PROGRESS and SOLUTIONS on many fronts.

Maybe you can explain how republicans block such executive functions to us.

[boutons_deux]

Maybe you can explain how republicans block such executive functions to us.

defunding, as the Repugs are threatening to do with the Havana embassy, and as they did with closing Gitmo.

As I said, Barry had a fantasy that he could reach across the isle, he fucked up, shoulda been in "buck it list" since 20 Jan 09

[Winehole23]

Kenyan socialist antichrist seeks to establish a beachhead for US commerce:



The Obama administration is working to finalize a change in U.S.-Cuba trade rules that experts called a major development that would significantly open the door to expanded business on the island.

The regulation has not yet been released, although a 27-page document, dated Sept. 7 and marked to be reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, was provided to McClatchy.


It couldn’t be determined if the version that is ultimately released will match the Sept. 7 version. The Department of Commerce didn’t respond to a request for comment about it.


As indicated in the document, the rules could amend existing ones to boost engagement between American and Cuban people, accelerate the free flow of information to and from Cubans, and ramp up independent economic activity generated by Cubans.
In many ways, the rule would merely be a continuation of the process begun Dec. 17, when President Barack Obama announced (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/statement-president-cuba-policy-changes) that the U.S. was seeking to thaw the five-decade freeze in its relations with the island nation 90 miles from Florida.
The new rules, which could be announced as early as Friday, could amend the terms of existing license exceptions available for Cuba, create new licensing policies, and take other steps to further promote economic activity in Cuba.



After that momentous December announcement, the Commerce and Treasury departments in January took steps to put in place parts (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article24778576.html) of the president’s policy. The new rules, which could be announced as early as Friday, could amend the terms of existing license exceptions available for Cuba, create new licensing policies, and take other steps to further promote economic activity in Cuba.


Robert L. Muse, a Washington-based lawyer and expert on Cuba trade who reviewed the Commerce document Thursday, said the moves could be significant.


“They’re greater than the ones in January,” he said in an interview. “The rules in January were important – they established the precedent. But it was more of a beachhead, and it was a bit murky. Now they are engaging the business community in a way that’s going to be interesting and important to them. It begins to give them some real commercial traction.”


Among the key changes, Muse said, was that companies engaged in exporting authorized items to Cuba will be able to establish, maintain and operate physical premises in Cuba.
That, he said, is significant.


“Maintaining a presence is brand new – that’s the big further step they have taken here,” Muse said. “The intention is to bring American businesses to the island.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article35646882.html

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article35646882.html#storylink=cpy

[Bender]

still waiting for the cigars.

although after 50 years, cubans are probably no longer the 'best'.

[TeyshaBlue]

still waiting for the cigars.

although after 50 years, cubans are probably no longer the 'best'.

Had one a couple of years ago at a festival in Kentucky via a Canadian drummer. Damn fine cigar and I'm an Arturo Fuente guy.

[Winehole23]

Arturo Fuente :tu

[TeyshaBlue]

Robusto all the way. :tu

[Bender]

Had one a couple of years ago at a festival in Kentucky via a Canadian drummer. Damn fine cigar and I'm an Arturo Fuente guy.
I've had around 6 or 8 in the last 10 years. They were all excellent.

[Winehole23]

Nearly a year after Obama's decision, Abbott is heading to Havana on Monday for a three-day trip, hoping to leverage the renewed relationship between the two countries into an economic boon for Texas, among Cuba's top trading partners in the United States. http://www.texastribune.org/2015/11/25/abbotts-trip-shows-new-politics-us-cuba-relations/

[Winehole23]

At least initially, most critics of Obama's efforts in Cuba weren't ready to pounce on Abbott's trip. Neither Cruz nor Rubio responded to requests for comment. Nor did a number of Republican members of the Texas congressional delegation who had criticized Obama on the issue.

State Rep. Bill Zedler (http://www.texastribune.org/directory/bill-zedler/), R-Arlington, tweeted (https://twitter.com/Bill_Zedler/status/632181475065008129?lang=en) in August that Obama's Cuba policy "does nothing more than empower a communist tyrant & enrich a communist regime." Reached on Wednesday, Zedler said he wanted to learn more about Abbott's trip before commenting on it.

[baseline bum]

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/11/25/abbotts-trip-shows-new-politics-us-cuba-relations/

Glad to see, maybe Abbott will turn out a better gov than Goodhair.

[Spurminator]

All I've seen from Abbott so far is punditry.

[boutons_deux]

Glad to see, maybe Abbott will turn out a better gov than Goodhair.

iow, you're full of shit

Abbott + Patrick are worse than JimmyRicky

[boutons_deux]

http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/styles/ratio--3-2--1_5x-1245x830/public/gettyimages-481396786.jpg?itok=vhDYk87V


Obama to make history with Cuba visit


In the not-too-distant past, the very idea of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba seemed fanciful. The suggestion that a sitting American president would step foot on Cuban soil as part of a diplomatic trip was almost impossible to imagine.

And yet, here we are (http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-make-historic-visit-cuba).


Barack Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years, in what would be a crucial turning point between the Cold War rivals that recently shed their decades-old hostilities.

Obama will visit the communist island nation in March, he said in a tweet. A senior administration official told NBC News that the details would be announced Thursday as part of a larger tour by Obama of Latin America.


The announcement comes roughly a year after President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro normalized relations between the two countries, and about six months after the two governments agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals.

Cuba has also been removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that even the fiercest Cuban critics found difficult to justify.

For the White House, next month’s visit will be the culmination of one of the president’s most impressive foreign policy accomplishments, overhauling a failed policy that administrations from both parties were content to leave in place indefinitely. As we discussed (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/us-re-establishes-diplomatic-ties-cuba) in July, U.S. presidents just stuck to an ineffectual policy that didn’t advance anyone’s interests, out of inertia and political fear.

Obama, to his credit, overhauled a failed policy into a victory, making this one of his most notable foreign policy accomplishments.

There is, of course, a very real possibility that a Republican president and Republican Congress will undo the progress next year – a scenario Cuba is well aware of – rolling back the clock and doing lasting damage to U.S. credibility throughout much of the region.

But at least for now, it’s a triumph. To reiterate (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-removes-cuba-terror-list) a point from April, it’s worth emphasizing that the dramatic shift in the U.S. position enjoys support (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-balk-uscuba-breakthrough) from a majority of Americans (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-enjoys-broad-public-backing-new-cuba-policy), a majority of Cuban Americans (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article17056742.html), and a majority of Cubans (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article18228365.html) themselves.

What’s more, American allies are delighted (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/welcome-international-reaction) to see the new U.S. policy towards Cuba, as is much of Latin America (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-wins-raves-latin-america-over-cuba-shift), which routinely criticized the old, failed approach.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-make-history-cuba-visit?cid=sm_fb_maddow

[boutons_deux]

http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/styles/ratio--3-2--1_5x-1245x830/public/ap_28381579176.jpg?itok=BwBo07Vd

The right’s misplaced apoplexy over Cuba image

they’re apparently apoplectic about a photograph (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservative-freakout-obama-che-guevera-photo) they disapprove of.

The conservative blogosphere had a collective melt down after President Barack Obama took a picture in front of a mural of Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara on Monday in Havana’s Revolution Plaza.

Conservative websites jumped on the opportunity to criticize the President for posing in front of the infamous image of Guevara, which is based off a picture taken in 1960. Townhall.com called it a “gem of a picture,” while The Washington Examiner wrote that the picture created a “fresh wave of fury.”


You can read the TPM piece (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservative-freakout-obama-che-guevera-photo) to fully appreciate the unbridled outrage conservatives are apparently feeling about the image, but before your crazy uncle who watches Fox all day sends you an all-caps email, it’s worth taking a deep breath.

The truth is, when presidents travel abroad, sometimes they’re photographed with politically controversial images in the background.

Ronald Reagan was seen in 1988 delivering comments below a Vladimir Lenin bust and the USSR’s flag (http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/ZJ002148/president-reagan-standing-below-lenin-bust). It did not mean Reagan was a communist sympathizer; it was not a signal intended to crush the spirit of anti-communist forces around the globe; and the image drew no meaningful criticisms from Democrats.

George H.W. Bush was pictured – more than once – in front of a Mao portrait (https://twitter.com/_Almaqah/status/711956604430774273) in China. It wasn’t a big deal, either.


Stories like these come up from time to time, which is a shame. When President Obama was photographed wearing casual attire in the Oval Office, his Republican critics pounced, but the story disappeared once similar pictures of other presidents (http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/02/10/that-bush-oval-office-jacket-t/) came to light.

When President Obama was seen bowing to the emperor of Japan, it became fodder for Republicans for years, though interest faded once the public saw other images of other presidents bowing (http://mediamatters.org/research/2009/11/16/echoing-a-right-wing-blog-doocy-repeatedly-clai/157053) to a variety of heads of state were also readily available.

When President Obama was seen making an awkward salute, conservatives were in high dudgeon, right up

until they saw images of George W. Bush trying to salute while holding his dog (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-political-world-falls-dumb-controversies-part-xxxvii).

I’m all for holding presidents to a high standard, but let’s not hold this president to some entirely new standard, never before applied to his predecessors. If some Che image in Cuba is the new national scandal for the right, I’ll take their complaints seriously just as soon as they blast Reagan for speaking under the hammer-and-sickle flag in 1988.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-rights-misplaced-apoplexy-over-cuba-image?cid=sm_fb_maddow

you rightwingnuts have the seriousness, the maturity of frat rats, a real Animal House of adolescent shitbags

[DarrinS]

Limp-wristed displomacy, lol


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgyGfpfPj3g

[Pelicans78]

JFK is rolling in his grave right now.

[baseline bum]

JFK is rolling in his grave right now.

Thread would have been proud of the two piece that put him there.

[boutons_deux]

JFK is rolling in his grave right now.

why?

[boutons_deux]

Limp-wristed displomacy, lol

Darrin's adolescent ankle-biting is eternal. He did manage to squeeze out 3 words.

[Pelicans78]

why?

He would have never made any kind of concessions or visits to communist Cuba or Castro. He was a staunch opponent of communist Cuba.

[baseline bum]

He would have never made any kind of concessions or visits to communist Cuba or Castro. He was a staunch opponent of communist Cuba.

Fidel outlasting det nigga going on 53 years

[Pelicans78]

Fidel outlasting det nigga going on 53 years

Only because one of Castro's die-hard supporters killed him.

[baseline bum]

Only because one of Castro's die-hard supporters killed him.

Impressive when Kennedy's supporters couldn't get the job done on Castro a couple years before tbh.

[ChumpDumper]

He would have never made any kind of concessions or visits to communist Cuba or Castro. He was a staunch opponent of communist Cuba.He probably would be fine with it now. It's not like there is a Soviet Union anymore.

[ElNono]

He would have never made any kind of concessions or visits to communist Cuba or Castro. He was a staunch opponent of communist Cuba.

It's not 60 years ago anymore

[Mitch]

:lol

Yeah, it's about time western culture rapes that virgin island tbh

[baseline bum]

:lol

Yeah, it's about time western culture rapes that virgin island tbh

A friend who has been said Cuban bitches will fuck anyone that takes them out. Made it sound like West Berlin 1945 when you could plow the master race for a bar of soap and some cigarettes.

[Mitch]

A friend who has been said Cuban bitches will fuck anyone that takes them out. Made it sound like West Berlin 1945 when you could plow the master race for a bar of soap and some cigarettes.

Of course, obviously as beautiful as Cuba is - must be shit living there and they don't want to risk the raft trip. A lot of guys will be snatching up those cuban girls desperate to go whenever it's possible.

[baseline bum]

Of course, obviously as beautiful as Cuba is - must be shit living there and they don't want to risk the raft trip. A lot of guys will be snatching up those cuban girls desperate to go whenever it's possible.

Cuba is really high on the fuck the tourists over scale though, since you can't legally change your dollars for theirs. So my friends who have been said it was pretty expensive.

[Mitch]

Cuba is really high on the fuck the tourists over scale though, since you can't legally change your dollars for theirs. So my friends who have been said it was pretty expensive.

No experience with Cuba really, besides knowing a few of them who made their way to Cali. I'm sure they'd fix that up if the tourism opens up more, that's a lot of cash to boost their economy.

[Thread]

Thread (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=19320) would have been proud of the two piece that put him there.

No. I'm a McVeigh man.

[boutons_deux]

"as beautiful as Cuba is - must be shit living there"

really? because it isn't America? 12M in Cuba. There's more people in abject poverty in USA than in Cuba.

[boutons_deux]

With Obama in Cuba, Pro-Torture Pundits Suddenly Concerned With Human Rights

Some Cold War hold-outs in the media just weren’t having it, though, taking the occasion to feign outrage that Obama could visit a country with such a terrible human rights record. While American human-rights hypocrisy (https://theintercept.com/2015/01/23/compare-contrast-obamas-reaction-king-abdullah-hugo-chavez/) is nothing new, a string of Bush-era, pro-torture, pro-Guantánamo pundits expressing indignation at Cuba’s human rights failings was still remarkable.

Marc Thiessen. As a former Bush speechwriter, Thiessen helped shape the messaging around “enhanced interrogation” that provided the Orwellian phraseology the administration hid behind while torturing hundreds of detainees. He has since been a staunch defender not just of Guantánamo prison, but of force-feeding (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-force-feeding-guantanamo-detainees-is-not-torture/2013/07/15/269dab3a-ed5c-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story.html) its prisoners and even expanding (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022102650.html) its use. The New York Times recapped (http://nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/27beliefs.html?referer=&_r=0) his much-criticized defense of torture in 2010:

Mr. Thiessen, a practicing Roman Catholic, says that waterboarding suspected terrorists was not only useful and desirable, but permitted by the teachings of the Catholic Church.


Today, however, in the Washington Post opinion section, Thiessen suddenly discovered (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/castros-welcome-obama-to-cuba-with-a-slap-in-the-face/2016/03/21/c9d8d2c0-ef6b-11e5-a61f-e9c95c06edca_story.html) his inner human rights advocate, quoting an “activist” saying of Obama’s trip:

This will prolong the life of the dictatorship, is worsening the human rights situation there, marginalizing the democratic opposition and compromising US national security.


Thiessen even had the gall to cite Amnesty International, which has roundly condemned (http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/security-and-human-rights/guantanamo) the US’s extrajudicial prison in Cuba that Thiessen loves to champion.

National Review‘s concern about the rights of prisoners in Cuba does not extend to all prisoners in Cuba.

Rich Lowry. The National Review editor was another Bush-era torture advocate,telling the McLaughlin Group (http://www.mclaughlin.com/transcript.htm?id=254) in 2002, when asked if the US should torture terrorism suspects:

If it comes to that, we should let someone else do it. We should send him to another country that will do the job…. Look, this is going to be a messy war and you have to do some underhanded things.


The National Review’s contempt for basic human rights and legal norms continues, with the non-ironic article “Guantánamo Bay Detainees: Why Not Shoot Them? (http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431807/guantanamo-bay-detainees-why-not-shoot-them)” published just last month. But Lowry has considerable concern for oppressed people in Cuba who aren’t on a US military base:

Obama’s Che Moment: President Obama’s Cuba Visit Ignores Continued Human Rights Abuses (http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433068/president-obamas-cuba-visit-ignores-continued-human-rights-abuses)
But a patina of revolutionary romance, embodied by that image of Che looking down on President Obama, still hangs over Cuba. It makes its human-rights abuses, theft and lies an afterthought, or even excusable, for the American Left.


Jonathan Alter. A putative liberal, Alter was one of the more vocal supporters of torture in the wake of 9/11, writing his now-infamous article in Newsweek, “Time to Think About Torture (http://www.newsweek.com/time-think-about-torture-149445),” which acts as a 1000-word trial balloon for some of the more heinous aspects of detainee abuse. He even cites the Jordanian security service threatening to kill Palestinian militant Abu Nidal’s family in the 1980s as an example of torture “working.”

But during the March 9 Democratic presidential debate, Alter tweeted his outrage at Bernie Sanders not condemning Cuba:

Bernie a lefty sucker for Cuban line on health care. If he got sick there, he'd medevac out. And where's his concern for human rights there?


In almost 6,000 tweets, Jonathan Alter had not once tweeted (https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=from%3Ajonathanalter%20human%20rights&src=typd) out the words “human rights” until that moment. Per usual, “human rights” were not a categorical imperative, or a moral framework; they were merely a weapon to be wielded against America’s enemies when our establishment pundits saw fit, and to be discarded just as quickly when they didn’t.

John Bolton. Bush’s UN ambassador, Bolton has long been (https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/702150230934994945) one of the biggest advocates for keeping Guantánamo open, writing multiple op-eds (https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/702150230934994945) after Bush left office in defense of the notorious prison. Bolton also said he was open (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYkCVwYW764) to the idea of torture in a 2008 interview with British television. But Monday, upon Obama’s arrival in Cuba, the famously unilateral Bolton appealed to the very international norms he had long dismissed (PJ Media, 3/21/16 (https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/03/21/john-bolton-obamas-arrival-in-cuba-on-palm-sunday-an-insult-to-the-cuban-people/)):

Bolton pointed out that the president said initially that he wouldn’t go to Cuba until there were improvements in the area of human rights there. “But not only has there been no improvement, things have been going in the wrong direction,” he lamented. “More people have been put in jail than have been released.”


Bill O’Reilly on Obama’s trip to Cuba: He shouldn’t have gone.

Bill O’Reilly. Leading Fox News blowhard O’Reilly hasrepeatedly defended torture (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AbHEE-ehr8), saying as late as 2014 (http://crooksandliars.com/2014/12/bill-oreilly-says-torture-morally-correct) that a President O’Reilly would have “authorized waterboarding and other severe interrogation methods,” and calling the CIA’s torture policy “morally correct.” He has played the role of Guantánamo truther, insisting in 2008 (http://thinkprogress.org/media/2008/12/01/33028/oreilly-torture-gitmo/) that there was “no proof” of mistreatment at the Cuban detention center. But last night, discussing Obama’s trip to Cuba, O’Reilly told Fox’s resident straw liberal Kirsten Powers that Obama shouldn’t have gone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssdfou4NFU) because it is a “human-rights violator.”
***
Human rights are important. Human Rights™, as arbitrary tools of Western propaganda, are dangerous. Not only because they serve to bully unfriendly nations with cheap sloganeering, but they also, in the long run, undermine the otherwise noble and well-intentioned enterprise of establishing international norms.

“The problem with living outside the law,” Truman Capote once quipped, “is that you no longer have its protection.” The same is true for every Bush-era pundit who served as ideological shock troops in one of the more shameful episodes of American history. These talking heads can criticize Cuba’s controlled economy, they can criticize its leadership, they can criticize its immigration policy—but they have no grounding, intellectually or morally, to criticize its human rights record.

http://www.alternet.org/media/obama-cuba-pro-torture-pundits-suddenly-concerned-human-rights

[RandomGuy]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-cuba-frees-american-alan-gross-after-5-years-detention-on-spy-charges/2014/12/17/a2840518-85f5-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html

Fidel was the longest serving head of state in the 20th century.

The sanctions didn't work, and only made the scapegoating of the US credible. Bad governments got to blame everything on the USA bogeyman.

That goes for Iran too.

I don't think that the Cuban government is quite ready for what is about to happen. Eff 'em.

The people who think that the embargo somehow punishes the regime are wrong. Embargos tend to prop up authoritarian regimes. The best you can do is limit their military power by keeping their tech base primitive.

We have tried the "get tough on... X" approach for decades with little result. Time to change tactics, and I have been advocating something like this for a while.

Guess we will get to see what happens.

[baseline bum]

No. I'm a McVeigh man.

They were selling your shit

[boutons_deux]

Cuba's Sustainable Agriculture at Risk in US Thaw

in agriculture, U.S. investment could cause harm instead.

For the past 35 years I have studied agroecology in most countries in Central and South America. Agroecology is an approach to farming that developed in the late 1970s in Latin America as a reaction against the top-down, technology-intensive and environmentally destructive strategy (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.582947) that characterizes modern industrial agriculture. It encourages local production by small-scale farmers, using sustainable strategies and combining Western knowledge with traditional expertise.

Cuba took this approach out of necessity when its economic partner, the Soviet bloc, dissolved in the early 1990s. As a result, Cuban farming has become a leading example of ecological agriculture.

But if relations with U.S. agribusiness companies are not managed carefully, Cuba could revert to an industrial approach that relies on mechanization, transgenic crops and agrochemicals, rolling back the revolutionary gains that its campesinos have achieved.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35431-cuba-s-sustainable-agriculture-at-risk-in-us-thaw

Will Cuba agriculture become enslaved to US/EU BigChem, poisoning its food, land, and water, denaturing its produce, as BigChem does everywhere else?

[Winehole23]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38114953

[Bender]

a ripe old age.

guess I'll stop worrying about my cigar smoking and my health.

edit: I just read that he stopped smoking in 1986, and he started when he was 15, so about 45 years of cigar smoking.

[boutons_deux]

Trash says the Obama-Cuba deal is off unless Cuba gives Trash a "better deal", which must include Trashs "artfully" DICTATING social/political changes.

[tlongII]

Trump is just treating Castro like the brutal dictator he was. Castro was a piece of shit.

[hater]

Trump is just treating Castro like the brutal dictator he was. Castro was a piece of shit.

Fidel was a saint next to the mass murderers Reagan, Bush Sr. Clinton and Bush Jr tbqh

Not to mention he was a damn pimp. The american CIA agent that was supposed to assassinate him fucked him and fell in love to the point of canceling her mission :lmao

Thats some James Bond Sean Connery shit rigt there

RIP commandante

[boutons_deux]

Trump is just treating Castro like the brutal dictator he was. Castro was a piece of shit.

Castro and his revolutionaries overthrew the totally corrupt Batista regime (I expect Trash's regime will be fully corrupt), and refused any help from capitalism (capitalists were fully involved in Bautista's regime), stood up to, faced down the American Empire, which REALLY pissed off USA.

[hater]

I dont remember Fidel droning weddings or mass murdering housands of Iraqi children tbqh

[hater]

Was it Fidel who bombed the hospitals in Afghanistan? Or gave satellite
Imagery to Saudi airforce to obliterate Yemen?

Dont think so

When its all said and done Fidel will be sitting next to Gandi and Lord Jesus watching from above as the entire Clinton/Bush/Obama clans fry in the eternal fires

[CosmicCowboy]

Was it Fidel who bombed the hospitals in Afghanistan? Or gave satellite
Imagery to Saudi airforce to obliterate Yemen?

Dont think so

When its all said and done Fidel will be sitting next to Gandi and Lord Jesus watching from above as the entire Clinton/Bush/Obama clans fry in the eternal fires

That's some of the dumbest shit i've ever read on Spurstalk.

[hater]

That's some of the dumbest shit i've ever read on Spurstalk.

Splain or stfu

[boutons_deux]

Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive government then

began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests,

by negotiating lucrative relationships with the American Mafia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Mafia), who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana), and

with large U.S.-based multinational (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational) companies which were awarded lucrative contracts.

For several years until 1959, the Batista government received financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

Sounds like another "strong man" whom Trash would respect and befriend.

[tlongII]

There have been a lot more Cuban refugees getting on rafts and paddling to Florida than there have been Americans getting on rafts and paddling to Cuba. Why do you think that is?

[hater]

There have been a lot more Cuban refugees getting on rafts and paddling to Florida than there have been Americans getting on rafts and paddling to Cuba. Why do you think that is?

Ever heard of the American Empire. Of course refugees will try to flee an island oppressed by Uncle Sam for 50+ years.

Plus u miss my point. Fidel has probably killed about .01% of the number of civilians killed by US presidents in the same time frame

[boutons_deux]

There have been a lot more Cuban refugees getting on rafts and paddling to Florida than there have been Americans getting on rafts and paddling to Cuba. Why do you think that is?

why didn't ALL the Cubans leave?

From what I find, Cuba has 20M+ people, but only about 1M left. The first wave was of wealthy people enriching themselves from Batista's corruption. Pretty clear why they left.

btw, there are about 10M non-military Americans living outside of USA.

[tlongII]

Most Cubans would have left if they could.

[boutons_deux]

Most Cubans would have left if they could.

do you have evidence? or just rightwingnutjob propagandized fantasy?

[hater]

Most Cubans would have left if they could.

Sure. But because uncle sam dosnt allow anloaf of bread inside the island

[tlongII]

do you have evidence? or just rightwingnutjob propagandized fantasy?

Then move to Cuba dumbass.

[boutons_deux]

One Last Humiliation: The CIA Just Bungled An Attempt To Drop A Piano On Fidel Castro’s Funeral Procession


http://images.onionstatic.com/clickhole/3492/1/16x9/1200.jpg

http://www.clickhole.com/article/one-last-humiliation-cia-just-bungled-attempt-drop-5205

[CosmicCowboy]

The Cuba/Castro love in here is shocking.

[hater]

The Cuba/Castro love in here is shocking.

So is the mass murdering reagan love tbqh

[boutons_deux]

The Cuba/Castro love in here is shocking.

... says another propagandized conservative, having drunk the CIA Koolaid for decades.

[CosmicCowboy]

Dude killed or inprisoned everyone who ever disagreed with him. You wouldn't have lasted three days in Cuba.

[hater]

Dude killed or inprisoned everyone who ever disagreed with him. You wouldn't have lasted three days in Cuba.

Uncle sam has been doing the same for way longer.

When it comes to mass murdering and imprisoning. Uncle sam is lebron and castro is Pete from the Y

[lefty]

But let's close Guantanamo first, shall we?

[hater]

But let's close Guantanamo first, shall we?

Too late nigga.

Trump just picked a DHS boss that will upgrade Guantanamo facilities to house ONE MILLION suspects at a time :lmao

Lefty u have a room waiting 4 u :lol

[Nbadan]

History will show that Castro was pretty tame compared to other South and Central American leaders TBO.....too bad he let the Soviets put tactical nuclear weapons in the harbor....

[hater]

History will show that Castro was pretty tame compared to other South and Central American leaders TBO.....too bad he let the Soviets put tactical nuclear weapons in the harbor....

True but he was young at the time. Was just declared king of Cuba and had Che next to him. Young Che was basically the Argentine version of Tupac :lol

[Nbadan]

People don't remember how close we where to nuclear war......

[boutons_deux]

Dude killed or inprisoned everyone who ever disagreed with him. You wouldn't have lasted three days in Cuba.

Sounds just like your lover boy's Trash BFF Pootin. And it also sounds just like the strong man that Castro replaced, Batista.

[boutons_deux]

Donald Trump’s new hardline policy on Cuba is yet another gift to Russia

But most foreign-policy observers think Russia has more to gain if the US restricts ties with Cuba than if it expands them.

Without cash from US tourists and companies, the island will be increasingly dependent on Russia as an economic patron, especially as Venezuela, another stalwart Cuban ally, falls apart.

“If we pull out and return to a policy of isolation, then we leave the field open, not just for the Russians but for

the Chinese, who are also really interested in building influence in Cuba,”

William Leogrande, an American University expert on Latin America, told me last week.

In recent years, Russia has forgiven billions of dollars of Cuban debt and become a major supplier of petroleum once again.

Military cooperation between the two countries, including a Russian base 90 miles from the US mainland, could be next on the agenda.

“A close military alliance between Russia and Cuba could have grave security consequences for the United States,” US senator Patrick Leahy warned in an op-ed (http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/337794-putins-stake-in-president-trumps-decision-on-cuba-policy) yesterday. “One obvious way to mitigate Russian influence in our hemisphere is through enhanced engagement with Cuba.”

https://qz.com/1007416/donald-trumps-cuba-trade-and-travel-roll-back-is-another-gift-to-russia/

Pootin's BFF Trash giving Pootin everything he wants.

[Splits]

No. I'm a McVeigh man.

[Thread]

^He squared the house. We're all friends once & again.

[Splits]

Dear Director Wray,

^^

Sincerely,
Splits

[Thread]

Dear Director Wray,

^^

Sincerely,
Splits

That sneaky fuck? ha!