Sending in an ambassador doesn't change the relationship much, but having a couple of boots on the ground to influence change when the Castro brothers die off isn't a bad idea. Kennedy provoked the missle crisis with the Bay of Pigs, we generally shouldn't lose sight of that (sins on both sides of that argument). We should have invaded rather than dink around with rebels, but it is what it is. Hindsight is 20/20.

As someone who has a background in restoring old buildings and old cars, maybe I'll enjoy an active retirement in Cuba?
Huh...who would have thought ?

The point of my post above...

Because of falling oil prices Cuba as well as Russia are at their economic low points. They are more vulnerable now than in recent history, all because of that environmental boogy-man--fracking. So what does Obama do? Let's just say, he wouldn't survive as a horse trader for an hour.

Do the Cuban people have more liberty as a result of this deal? Will the influx of cash Avoid the pockets of oppressive elites?

"In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." — Atlas Shrugged

Obama's action re Cuba is consistent with his socialist agenda. The last country on Earth available for looting is America and opening relations with Cuba is just another way to siphon the wealth of the USA into the coffers of the Communists. Just wait until we start sending foreign aid to Cuba, Venezuela, etc. Too bad there isn't a Ragnar around when you need one.

It is a shame that the President is as usual over extending his authority. It takes away from the point that this is a great move for the country. If we are going to have relations with China then what is the diff from Cuba. Open relations will allow imports/exports that are good for the country and might make it easier to keep illegals from coming in. After 60 years of seeing the current policies not help either country I think sneaking some capitalism into Cuba is the best way to eventually break down their dictatorship. We have seen this is China but Cuba will not have the force and army to stop it like China

excellent observation

Maybe it's because we have come so close to what the USSR was that they now look to us as the next great milk-cow... the Universal Surrogare-Soviet Replacement...

Sadly, a lot of those cars have been severely modified to keep them on the road... a common trick (so I'm told) was to replace drive train components with Soviet (un)equivalents...

Imagine a beautiful '54 Packard Patrician with a wheezy, gutless Lada 4 banger engine and transmission? Other than being severely underpowered, just the thought of the best America had to offer in 1954, a symbol of the success of capitalism, married (of necessity, to keep it running) to parts of the USSR's apparatachik-driven committee-designed komrademobile makes my stomach kinda somewhat lurch...

are we joining them economically or are they joining us? either way it is the same, socialism.

And a carefully preserved collection of pre-1959 American cars.

What does Congress have to say? We'll see. Funding to open an embassy in Cuba would have to appropriated by Congress.
It will a good test to see if the Republican leadership in the new Congress can find any semblance of a spine. I'm thinking there is about a 40% probability of that.

Difference is that China has 1.3 billion people and the largest manufacturing base in the world. Cuba has ... cigars.

Your recollection of Castro is the same one I have.

would surprise me if the bumbler in chief didn't build an embassy in north korea. the reason he is doing this is so he can secure a place for his presidential library.

I think you failed your history lesson. I'm old enough to remember Fidel's revolution, which the U.S. supported, and we approached him with open arms, only to be rebuffed and blamed for Batista. Then he started slaughtering everyone he imagined might be a threat. Unlike Vietnam, where we really did throw away the opportunity to team with Ho Chi Minh after his partisans helped us fight the Japanese, Fidel's Cuba was already in the warm embrace of the USSR before we realized it.

You ask questions about what I fear to be very sad outcomes.

True allosaur. With the direction we are going, among the possibilities, could Cuba be more like us or would we become more like them? And just how much difference will there be soon?

Castro? Obama? What's the diff'?
Surely, a kinship is felt.

Our approach to Cuba and Castro has been driven by political influence by the Castro-era Cuban émigrés here in the states throwing a LOT of money into political elections to garner "pull" for their cause.

What it has done is keep a lot of trade possibilities (that the rest of the world has) under wraps, keeping the island isolated and closed. What it HASN'T done is weaken the commie regime there, bring an end (again, politically motivated) to Castro, Castro Et Al, and bring Cuba close to a democracy.

While the state appropriation of property in Cuba was a crime unmatched since the appropriation of Jewish assets in Germany in the 30's and 40's, this political rhetoric that's been going on since the 60's hasn't helped (other than make people wonder WTF were we thinking)... The REALLY strange thing is, in the late 50's, had we embraced that radical Castro and helped him improve conditions in his country rather than shunning him outright (he approached us before Kruschev opened his arms and gave ol' Doc Fidel a big bear hug) the likelihood that Cuba would be a people's republic communist base of operations would have been reduced to damn near nil.

We had a golden opportunity back then, and we threw it away, allowing the USSR a base 90 miles from us. And because of that f***-up, we - the American people - have been paying the price since then.

While I think Kerry is a bumbling lying fool, and other people in his food chain not necessarily below him (no names mentioned) is a conniving scheming pinko-pushing anti-American with serious imperialist dictatorial leanings, this may be (maybe) one of the very few things they do right... by giving us a chance for a foothold on the island denied since the days of his predecessors.

And BTW - I prefer Montecristo Coronas. :-)

I hope you are right xthinker88. The capitalist in me wants to see exactly the outcome you hope for. Unfortunately what you describe was exactly what existed before Castro nationalized and confiscated all of the American investments and properties (less the McDonalds and Starbucks brands).

Nothing would make me happier than to see the regime change and the people prosper. Unfortunately without free, honest elections, the benefits of more relaxed trade will likely only serve to prop up the regime and benefit only a few.

I have trouble with the way this was handled unilaterally by the President and what will no doubt be collaboration and assistance to a tyrannical, Marxist, statist regime. The timing is troubling.

How much longer can the Castros maintain power? They made no appreciable concessions in return. We have little assurance of anything and speculation that the people will benefit is only that. Let us hope it does.
Regards,
O.A.