Thaw in US - Cuba relations

[CountDeMoney]

This won't work, either.  Economic engagement will help prop up the regime. 

But keep holding your breath.

You know what really doesn't work?  Actively attempting to overthrow a government for over 50 years.  That's what props up regimes.

[CountDeMoney]

GOP has kittens of freedom; Obama becomes worse negotiator since Neville Chamberlain, air traffic controllers, 1989 Minnesota Vikings.

Republicans livid over Cuba talks, call it appeasement
By Katie Glueck and Seung Min Kim
POLITICO
Updated 12/17/14 2:44 PM EST

Leading Republicans reacted with outrage Wednesday over the Obama administration's move to normalize relations with Cuba, with some casting it as appeasement and the product of extortion by the communist Castro government.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a likely 2016 presidential contender, was perhaps the most ardent voice to denounce the administration. He and other Republicans promised to try to derail the White House's efforts through their leverage in Congress, even as at least one GOP-leaning group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the news of improved ties with Cuba.

"It's part of a long record of coddling dictators and tyrants that this administration has established," Rubio said on Fox News, one of multiple media appearances he made Wednesday.

He, along with several fellow lawmakers from Florida, insisted that the White House's plans, which include opening an embassy in Havana, won't result in more economic freedom or democracy in Cuba, a country that survived decades under a U.S. embargo.

"This notion that somehow being able to travel more to Cuba, to sell more consumer products, the idea that's going to lead to some democratic opening is absurd," Rubio said. "But it's par for the course with this administration constantly giving away unilateral concessions ... in exchange for nothing."

Rubio had mixed feelings on news that Alan Gross, an American held in Cuba for five years, was being released as part of an agreement with Havana that included the freeing of three Cubans who had been jailed in the U.S.

The senator said he was happy Gross was free, but worried that the deal "puts a price on every American abroad." "Governments now know if they can take an American hostage, they get very significant concessions," Rubio said.

Rubio is set to play a major role in Cuba policy as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere and Global Narcotics Affairs. He pointed to some of Congress's leverage points, such as funding for embassies and nomination of a U.S. ambassador to Cuba. And in a press conference on Wednesday, Rubio also threw cold water on the prospects of the new Republican-led Congress next year formally lifting the Cuban embargo, saying flatly: "This Congress is not going to lift the embargo."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, another Cuban-American Republican from Florida, said he welcomed Gross's release even as he blasted President Barack Obama as the "Appeaser-in-Chief."

"President Obama's decision to allow the Castro regime to blackmail the United States and abandon our pro-democracy principles is an outrage," he said in a statement. "These changes to policy will further embolden the Cuban dictatorship to continue brutalizing and oppressing its own people as well as other anti-American dictatorship and terrorist organizations."

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is expected to chair a powerful Senate panel next year that oversees funding for the State Department and other foreign operations, tweeted that the development is "an incredibly bad idea." The Republican added later: "I will do all in my power to block the use of funds to open an embassy in Cuba. Normalizing relations with Cuba is bad idea at a bad time."

But incoming Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, was more measured, saying in a statement that he heard the news Wednesday morning and that "as of now there is no real understanding as to what changes the Cuban government is prepared to make."

And Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona who flew to Cuba to help bring Gross back, warned against rushing to stop the White House's moves.

"I think that would be really counterproductive to block funding for an embassy," Flake said, adding: "For those who say this is a concession somehow to the Cuban regime ... I think that that is a wrong way to look at it. That is simply wrong. The policy that we've had in place for the past 50 years has done more in my view .... to keep the Castro regimes in power than anything we could've done."

At least one major GOP-leaning organization came out in favor of the Obama administration's actions Wednesday.

"The U.S. business community welcomes today's announcement, and has long supported many of the economic provisions the president touched on in his remarks," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue said in a statement.

"We deeply believe that an open dialogue and commercial exchange between the U.S. and Cuban private sectors will bring shared benefits, and the steps announced today will go a long way in allowing opportunities for free enterprise to flourish."

[Jacob]

Yeah, my friend just sent me a (bulk) FB event invite to celebrate the release of the Cuban 5 heroes in front of the US consulate.

Strong work, guys.

[Jacob]

That article is kind of fun, Seedy.

Looks like Obama is gonna be less lame than your average duck.

[CountDeMoney]

That article is kind of fun, Seedy.

Looks like Obama is gonna be less lame than your average duck.

It's a total poke in the eye of the GOP. 

Thing is, this is going to make things interesting going forward:  63% of Floridians polled want normal relations with Cuba.  100% of possible presidential candidates from Florida named Jeb Bush do not.

[Jacob]

That article is kind of fun, Seedy.

Looks like Obama is gonna be less lame than your average duck.

It's a total poke in the eye of the GOP. 

Thing is, this is going to make things interesting going forward:  63% of Floridians polled want normal relations with Cuba.  100% of possible presidential candidates from Florida named Jeb Bush do not.

Though apparently 51% of likely voters in Florida support the embargo. So, as always, turnout matters.

[mongers]

Russia is still in the Crimea.  When do we lift those sanctions?

(Marco Rubio's point.)

So you're saying Cubans don't have a right to be in their own country? 

[CountDeMoney]

Though apparently 51% of likely voters in Florida support the embargo. So, as always, turnout matters.

From the article:

At least one major GOP-leaning organization came out in favor of the Obama administration's actions Wednesday.
"The U.S. business community welcomes today's announcement, and has long supported many of the economic provisions the president touched on in his remarks," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue said in a statement.
"We deeply believe that an open dialogue and commercial exchange between the U.S. and Cuban private sectors will bring shared benefits, and the steps announced today will go a long way in allowing opportunities for free enterprise to flourish."

The voters will change their minds.

[CountDeMoney]

Meanwhile, in the real halls of economic power...

Major League Baseball Is 'Monitoring Situation'

Major League Baseball, which had 19 Cuban-born players on its opening day rosters in 2014, released a statement saying it is "closely monitoring" the policy shift in United States-Cuba relations.

"While there are not sufficient details to make a realistic evaluation, we will continue to track this significant issue, and we will keep our Clubs informed if this different direction may impact the manner in which they conduct business on issues related to Cuba," the league said.

The Cuban-born players currently in the league had all defected from the country, sometimes in harrowing and dangerous conditions. The Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Yasiel Puig's escape was documented in great detail by Los Angeles Magazine and ESPN.

MAH FARM SYSTEMS RESTOCKED

[Jacob]

I wonder if Ted Cruz is going to shut down the government over this?

[Admiral Yi]

So you're saying Cubans don't have a right to be in their own country? 

No.  I'm saying that's an argument for not giving up sanctions just because they're not working.

Would everyone have been willing to end sanctions against apartheid South Africa if they had held out for 50 years?

[Josquius]

I guess I need to try and visit Cuba before it's too late

[alfred russel]

That article is kind of fun, Seedy.

Looks like Obama is gonna be less lame than your average duck.

It's a total poke in the eye of the GOP. 

Thing is, this is going to make things interesting going forward:  63% of Floridians polled want normal relations with Cuba.  100% of possible presidential candidates from Florida named Jeb Bush do not.

Though apparently 51% of likely voters in Florida support the embargo. So, as always, turnout matters.

The story, and I don't know if this is really true anymore, is that a small but non negligible percent of florida is cuban american which is strongly in favor of the embargo and that issue can be decisive in their vote.

The rest of the state, and country, is against the embargo but no one else is basing their vote on it because it just isnt' so important.

So if you want to carry florida, being in favor of the embargo is good politics, and it just so happens that winning florida is also a key state to win nationally, so a small subset of voters in Miami really drive everything.

[derspiess]

Just look at him bow

[CountDeMoney]

The story, and I don't know if this is really true anymore, is that a small but non negligible percent of florida is cuban american which is strongly in favor of the embargo and that issue can be decisive in their vote.

The rest of the state, and country, is against the embargo but no one else is basing their vote on it because it just isnt' so important.

So if you want to carry florida, being in favor of the embargo is good politics, and it just so happens that winning florida is also a key state to win nationally, so a small subset of voters in Miami really drive everything.

It's important in some (read: Miami) districts in Florida and New Jersey, but it's not nearly as impactful now as it was in the '80s.   And a lot of Americans think the only thing more obnoxious than Fidelistas are anti-Fidelistas.  Remember Marisleysis?

The simple fact is that the CANF movement is getting older and dying off;  the grandchildren of Batista-era exiles aren't as invested as much in what El Jefe Maximo did to Papa's sugar cane plantation as their parents were.   It's all in black-and-white photos now.