This morning has seen a Cuban celebration on the BBC as Obama lifts travel restrictions to Castro’s gulag of our times. Listen to BBC reporter Michael Voss ENTHUSE about this. We’re all Cubans now.
CUBAN HEELS
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Bias by omission, yet again.
Plenty in his report on how the USA is restricting travel to Cuba; none whatsoever about how the Cuban Government prevents its own citizens travelling – and imprisons them if they try and get caught.
Bias by omission is what they excel at. It’s so natural for them. too.
Strange how news organizations like the BBC can always be counted on to abhor a military dictatorship like the one in Burma or like the recent one in Pakistan whilst consistently turning a very blind eye to the one in Cuba. And to the one in Venezuela. We like to pick and choose our dictatorships.
You know what? Cuba is a FAILED American foreign policy.
When the iron curtain came down and the Soviet Union collapsed, America should have opened its doors to Cuba…because today, if that had happened, there would be a starbucks, pizza hut, KFC and McDonalds on every corner and the kids would be over weight.
Instead what has happened is that America has kept Fidel in power by giving him something to channel his peoples anger towards (remind you of our Arab friends?).
If America had opened its doors, Uncle Fidel and his whole sorded lot would have been swept aside years ago.
Mailman
Why should the US open its doors to a Communist enemy ? That would have been barking mad.
Yes Obama and the BBC sucking up to that Communist Thug:
Castro’s Gulag
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page7.htm
.
John,
Well clearly not opening the doors has worked wonders at changing the regime hasnt it?
The simple way to get Fidel out would have been to make him irrelevant to his people. However that never happened and he was able to focus his peoples resentment on America, which has kept him in power long after his use by date.
BTW, I dont believe Cuba has been exporting revolution for neigh on 30 years now. They have had one or two more important things to worry about, like the collapse of their main economic support (Russia).
Mailman
Mailman- You seem to have forgotten that Castro sent thousands of soldiers to Africa to help promote left wing revolution in the 60,s
Mailman
The US was probably content to let the world see the stark contrast between Castro’s communist dictatorship and free-market economics. They stopped trying to overthrow Castro decades ago – both parties followed the same approach.
Obama is prattling that US firms could get mobile telecoms licences in Cuba. Fat chance.
Why should the US open its doors to a Communist enemy ? That would have been barking mad.
JohnA | 14.04.09 – 10:46 am | #
ROFL
I’m of the opinion that it’s the regime that’s the enemy, not the people that have had to live under it. Past US policy has helped Castro retain power and it hasn’t been a threat for decades. Castro’s regime wouldn’t have been able to hold out against the tide of globalisation for long – I think Cubans would see the grass really is greener on the other side.
Cuba is just 70 sea miles from Florida. Why should the US open its gates to millions more Cubans ?
Actually I think Obama is right on this one. Buy opening Cuba up to capitalism it will be much harder for the Communist regime to keep control here.
I do not claim to know much about cuba, I have heard that their health service is very good, the people are poor but maybe happier than we are in our wonderful democracy. I bet the crime rate is lower than in the USA. Anyway if Cuba does have some advantages , they will be lost when it opens up fully to the USA.
d: Go live there then. It’s total bollocks about their health service and many so called doctors end up working at waiters.
oh and you might like to look at the human rights abuses that go on there, in particular their prisons.
Communism is evil. I’m generally against capital punishment (except for terrorists) but I’d happily see every Communist on the planet hung.
Martin – Calm down. I think we should all go and live there , the weather is better.
d
If the health service is so good – how come Fidel needs foreign doctors.
I visited Cuba just once. 2 economies – the one for the poor, and the tourist one. Hence we had 2 doctors and a teacher working in the beach bars, looking for $US as tips.
I took a lot of supermarket packs of soap, £1 for 5 stuff. Because Cuban families have a ration of one bar per family per month.
The bst car I saw in Hvana was a stretch Lada.
O.K. if Cuba becomes part of the USA will there be any disadvantages?
Yes. Another huge flood of Hispanic immigrants, virtually impossible to control.
Up to now they have been unable to get across to Florida except at huge risk. All the boats are controlled by the state, so they can’t slip across the 70 miles in their fishing boats.
It’s odd that the BBC seems so pleased about the US people deciding to grant themselves the freedom to travel to Cuba and to send money there.
Given the BBC’s usual attitude to US influence I’d have thought the corporation would have preferred the island socialist paradise to remain untainted by US visitors and their money.
Or perhaps the unworldly types in Broadcasting House think that US visitors to Cuba will be so impressed that they’ll return home demanding that their own society is run on similar lines – no free press, no right to form political parties, no trade unions, no free elections, no freedom to use the internet etc, etc.
O.K. if Cuba becomes part of the USA will there be any disadvantages?
for Cuba yes for the US no.
Once Cubans see the opportunities and pay available in the US it will be another firefighting Mexican border situation.
The ones who lose out will blame Capitalism instead of their own shortcomings as usual
Gosh, President Obamessiah is so brave and strong. He’s finally lifting the travel embargo of Cuban families, thus ending the horrible treatment of poor, innocent, Cuba.
Now that Castro is done, and there’s no more Soviet Union to help him spread trouble, Venezuela doesn’t have money to spread around any more, and China has better things to do, the fight has been won. By the nasty US.
Castro may have ruled long enough that his reign can be enthusiastically described as a triumph by Beeboids, but he and the Communists have ultimately lost the long war. Communism can no longer spread through the vile Castro, and Cuba itself is changing because of his ultimate impotence in creating a sustaining situation.
You won’t hear that from the BBC, though. In their eyes, the little Communist David has successfully stood up to the Capitalist Goliath. The Obamessiah has seen the light where so many other nasty US Presidents didn’t, etc.
It’s difficult to anticipate what’ll happen when more US citizens can visit Cuba – don’t bet on the regime just collapsing. It might mean no more than more hard currency for the Castro brothers and their cronies. The stuff you tend to hear about Castro’s wonderful health service is utter rubbish. Visiting UN people and lefty fellow-travellers just get shown what Castro wants them to see. The education system isn’t so great either- the UNESCO literacy figures are based on information provided by the Cuban government. As regards crime, well, in many parts of Havana there’s a copper on every street corner, so this tends to keep petty crime under control. Go elsewhere on the island and you need to watch yourself. There’s also a lot of police violence, sometimes directed against foreigners who cross them. The place is a disaster. Castro, along with his bloodthirsty Argentine friend and BBC favourite, has turned what was one of the most advanced countries in Latin America into an absolute toilet. If you want to go and have a look, fine, but remember you’re giving money to help prop up Castro’s Caribbean council-estate.
Richard Lancaster | 14.04.09 – 12:59 pm |
I see you have re-appeared on a thread where the Bias may, and I stress the may, be open to question.
How about you pop over to the thread above this one and give us some pearls of wisdom about how even-handed the BBC output has been on Brown’s complicity in Smeargate.
THOSE SMEAR MAILS – WHO IS TO BLAME?
I’ll even provide you the link to the thread.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/3183080303321480012/
Will Cuba become even more of a paradise because of Obama’s decision?
Is that possible? Judging from what the BBC tells me it’s a wonderful place already.
pete | 14.04.09 – 5:25 pm |
Well the BBC alleges Cuba has one of the best health care systems in the world. So it must be true. Isn’t it?
d: nothing wrong with Cuba, just the c**ts that run it. like I say, a lamp post for every Commie bastard is a good start for me.
Cuba! Now we know were all the hardline leftwing Beeboids have been cruising over Easter, while their children are on vac from boarding school.
Del Boy Draper and Mucky McBride must be praying from their return from Commie Heaven.
Tony Hillbear | 14.04.09 – 4:52 pm | #
I can agree more.
Cuba is hell. There is nothing positive to be said for the place. Havana leaves the impression that absolutely nothing has been fixed, painted or renovated for 50 years at least. The only thing that shines is the cops new motor-cycles. There is virtually nothing to buy and no money to buy anything with. The people are thin, depressed, repressed, often missing limbs, and live in obvious fear of their own state.
IMO only a sick psychopath could come up with one good thing to say about Cuba. OK, one could say being an average Cuban is better then slow torture, clinging to living death in a Gulag, or enduring the last few months of having terminal cancer.
For those who have not been to the human disaster, sometimes known as Kens Perfect Paradise. Also for those who have, but did not really see the Communist Hell Hole in its full essential reality. I hope this helps.
Try to imagine a potentially wealthy, large independent island nation, where there is officially a 100% ban on any form of private enterprise, actually operating with an objective success rate of 99%.
Then try to imagine a potentially wealthy, large independent island nation, where the state takes on the role of providing 100% of goods and services, actually operating with an objective success rate of 5%.
Then combine the two images.
Not a pretty site, I am sure you will agree. Such is Cuba.
The really good news for Cuba is this.
Absolutely anything that happens to Cuba, short of a nuclear attack, must logically result in a better future for the Cuban people.
They make good cigars though. So it’s not absolutely bad.
I am worried about all the 1950’s Classic American cars on Cuba. As soon as communism ends and the economy gets going the classics will be lost.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a communist sympathiser. Call me sentimantal but I think it is the fact that the U.K. has changed so much in the last 50 years and Cuba has probably not changed at all. This freeing up of relations will be the begining of the end. Sooner or later Cuba will catch up and just be another country.
mailman above has a point.
nothing collapses a communist regime more than MacDonalds or KFC
just ask Gorbachev.
once folks have a taste of freedom they want more of it.
yes , i know the BBC will be fawning over this because of the Obamessiah, but there are folks on the right in America who have always thought that the Cuban embargo was counterproductive crap. Namely – the Cuban Republicans in Florida.
my guess is that Obama has bigger things to worry about than Cuba – like Iran or North Korea. Cuba really isnt on the strategic map nowadays.
Cuba is just 70 sea miles from Florida. Why should the US open its gates to millions more Cubans ?
JohnA | 14.04.09 – 2:08 pm
well Florida is practically half Cuban now anyway. why the hell not?
give them a taste of freedom. and then they’ll tell their relatives back home how wonderful it is.
End of Communist regime…
On this policy , i really do wish Obama well. If he can make Cuba free, then he’ll make his mark in history. i wish him well on that.
For the USA to call itself a free country but prevent its citizens from visiting Cuba was hypocrisy of the highest order. Whatever one’s views of Cuba, a free citizen should be allowed to visit it, it should not be in a state’s power to tell its citizens which countries they can or can not visit.
As soon as communism ends and the economy gets going the classics will be lost.
d | 14.04.09 – 9:35 pm | #
errr.. the blokes that have the classic cars? they’ll be millionaires as folks pour in an bid on the cars.
early sellers will be shafted. but they’ll catch on to it pretty sharpish.. classic car market will make some Cubans absolute fortunes.
Dagobert | 14.04.09 – 10:16 pm
yeah – bit bloody ridiculous alright. Americans have to go to Canada to visit Cuba.
however, i cant blame them – you do know that Che Guevara wanted to nuke New York City with Russian missiles?
and he was deadly serious about it.
(which is why Fidel sent him on his merry way to South America..)
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a communist sympathiser. Call me sentimantal but I think it is the fact that the U.K. has changed so much in the last 50 years and Cuba has probably not changed at all. This freeing up of relations will be the begining of the end. Sooner or later Cuba will catch up and just be another country.
d | 14.04.09 – 9:42 pm
yeah.. i know what you’re on about. it’ll be Russia 1990s in the Carribean once the police state dissapears.
we cant make that mistake again – if Cuba turns to freedom, we’ve got to be there with troops to keep order.
Otherwise the Mexican drug cartels will just move in and all hell will break lose.
Re Cuba. I’ve never understood how the left/liberal axis has squared its love of Cuba with that nations treament of HIV +ve members of the Cuban populace?
Are the Beeb not aware of this or is it a case of collective hands over ears and much loud “lalalala” ing?
Dagobert | 14.04.09 – 10:16 pm |
For the USA to call itself a free country but prevent its citizens from visiting Cuba was hypocrisy of the highest order. Whatever one’s views of Cuba, a free citizen should be allowed to visit it, it should not be in a state’s power to tell its citizens which countries they can or can not visit.
That’s a myth. US law just says that you can’t use a US passport or bring dollars in when traveling to Cuba. US citizens can go there whenever they please, as long as they don’t get their passport stamped or bring a suitcase full of cash. The rest is a legal fig leaf, with the appropriate amount of huffing and puffing.
U.S. government officials assert that U.S. policies do not amount to restricting
American citizens from traveling to any foreign destination, a position some observers
believe is designed to avoid a debate over the constitutionality of limits on Americans’
travel rights.
The Cuban government has played along with this from the start. They don’t even stamp passports. All they do is give you a chit, which you can put in the trash on your way home.
Thousands of United Statesians visit Cuba every year. My sister went a few years back as a typical liberal, and returned a committed libertarian. Plenty of US tourists go there, no problem.
The Obamessiah’s change is allowing certain people to send money to Cuba, and little else besides photo ops.
And anyways, if we don’t feel like going to Cuba, we can always watch and discuss Geert Wilder’s film openly instead.
And anyways, if we don’t feel like going to Cuba, we can always watch and discuss Geert Wilder’s film openly instead.
David Preiser (USA) | 14.04.09 – 11:42 pm | #
————————————–
Ha ha…very good!
d | 14.04.09 – 9:42 pm |
Re your classic cars in Cuba. Here’s an idea.
Why don’t you buy up a load of Trabbants from East Germany and ship them to Cuba and exchange them for the classic cars in Cuba. Then export those to the US and the UK for enthusiasts to snap up. You’ll make a killing
This is what is wrong with America!!
Re classic cars in Cuba:
The 1950s classic American cars in Cuba are not what they seem.
When the original engines packed up, Cubans simply gave these classics Lada engine transplants.
C.Wood,
You are using something approaching 50 years in age as justification for keepingn embargoes in place against Cuba.
Although, I believe Fidel last exported revolution in the early 80’s to Angola.
However, that too is neigh on 30 ears ago now and since the collapse of Communism, Cuba has ceased to be a threat to anyone.
The reality is, American foreign policy has kept Fidel and co in power well after their used by date.
Make these guys irrelevant and their people will no longer need them (not that they need them today anyway).
Mailman
I’ve been to Cuba, against my better judgement. It was pretty minging even through the fog of whatever they do to keep tourists away from the “real” bits. No worse than any other third world country that I’ve had the misfortune to go to though.
The irony is that the three things which Cuba excels at are cigars, rum and boxing. Majority view at the Beeb seems to be that the first shouldn’t be allowed in public, the second taxed out of reach of poor people and the third kept off our screens and well away from impressionable youngsters who might be tempted to learn some disclipline.
That was me sorry. On the later point the Beeb is happy to report on the failure of our only legit world champ to secure TV coverage but doesn’t see the need as our national broadcaster to step in itself and save the day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7995665.stm
mailman | 15.04.09 – 9:06 am |
I shouldn’t even get started on this, but what makes you think Castro wouldn’t have remained in power had the US legitimized his regime and allowed even more money to flow into an economy which he controlled?
I always hear about how the US kept him in power, but nobody has ever explained – short of some miraculous revolution of dubious origins – how Castro and the Communists would have been removed some time earlier.
Hot ladies in Cuba who put out!!
Oh, dear, the juveniles are out in force today. It’s the school holiday that does it.