3 ms·

This can be over tomorrow. Release the political dissidents and hold open free elections. Sanctions will be lifted.

by barelysapient 3y ago

manuelabeledo 3y ago
If those were the conditions to put an embargo on another country, I reckon the US would be quite busy.
- Gud 3y ago
  Of course the difference between Cuba and most countries is that Cuba is in USAs back yard, while most countries aren’t.
- barelysapient 3y ago
  This is a general pattern with the US. The communist coop in '65 illegally seized American property, illegally imprisoned Americans, and to this day the Cuban government oppresses and jails political dissidents. American foreign policy tends to be fairly uniform this way, no? If Iran released prisoners and held open elections, I suspect American would move to lift embargos and normalize relations. Same with Caracas, et al.
  - manuelabeledo 3y ago
    It seems that the issue is socialism, then?
    - barelysapient 3y ago
      It might be a role; but I think the pattern is that a strong-man government overthrows a democratically elected government. When that occurs, American sanctions follow. To see this play out in real time, watch Niger. https://www.state.gov/military-coup-detat-in-niger/ https://www.state.gov/military-coup-detat-in-niger/
      - manuelabeledo 3y ago
        I think this is a naive perspective, historically speaking. For starters, Cuba was a dictatorship already before Castro rose to power, but Batista was backed by the US. Around the same time, Chile's Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected socialist government with CIA's aid. Currently, the US backs a handful of dictatorships, of which some are former democracies. Egypt may be an example of former democracy, albeit flawed, turned into a military dictatorship. And among de facto dictatorships that the US still maintain perfectly open relationships are Thailand, Myanmar, and Morocco.
stephen_g 3y ago
Those might be good things to do, but what business does the US have dictating that to other nations? And to have the gall while maintaining diplomatic and trade relations with absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia that hack up journalists and execute people for homosexuality...
- barelysapient 3y ago
  The US has every right to decide who and who they do not wish to do business with. In this case, _the_ difference is that Saudi Arabia has never been a liberal democracy. America hopes it's relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia helps to liberalize them. In that regard, Saudi Arabia is liberalizing, albeit very slowly. Just look up women's rights. As for homosexual rights, that tends to be a religious issue that many Muslim countries have an unfortunate record of oppression on. America's freedom of religion tends to be tolerant of these people, even though its antagonistic to our liberal values.
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    > The US has every right to decide who and who they do not wish to do business with. Who are "they" and "the US" here? I guess you are referring to the political elite. I rather not have someone else force me to boycott whatever they think they have a feud with.
  - p_j_w 3y ago
    >America hopes it's relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia helps to liberalize them. US foreign policy is 100% not about this. If the US had no economic interests in keeping Saudi Arabia on its side, it wouldn't happen. That's all our foreign policy is about and lofty goals like this only matter if there's no economic interest.
- xtracto 3y ago
  Pax Americana. The empire is slowly but steadily crumbling. As a 3rd world spectator I only have to say "it's about time"

This can be over tomorrow. Release the political dissidents and hold open free elections. Sanctions will be lifted.

manuelabeledo 3y ago

If those were the conditions to put an embargo on another country, I reckon the US would be quite busy.

Gud 3y ago
Of course the difference between Cuba and most countries is that Cuba is in USAs back yard, while most countries aren’t.
barelysapient 3y ago
This is a general pattern with the US. The communist coop in '65 illegally seized American property, illegally imprisoned Americans, and to this day the Cuban government oppresses and jails political dissidents. American foreign policy tends to be fairly uniform this way, no? If Iran released prisoners and held open elections, I suspect American would move to lift embargos and normalize relations. Same with Caracas, et al.
- manuelabeledo 3y ago
  It seems that the issue is socialism, then?
  - barelysapient 3y ago
    It might be a role; but I think the pattern is that a strong-man government overthrows a democratically elected government. When that occurs, American sanctions follow. To see this play out in real time, watch Niger. https://www.state.gov/military-coup-detat-in-niger/ https://www.state.gov/military-coup-detat-in-niger/
    - manuelabeledo 3y ago
      I think this is a naive perspective, historically speaking. For starters, Cuba was a dictatorship already before Castro rose to power, but Batista was backed by the US. Around the same time, Chile's Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected socialist government with CIA's aid. Currently, the US backs a handful of dictatorships, of which some are former democracies. Egypt may be an example of former democracy, albeit flawed, turned into a military dictatorship. And among de facto dictatorships that the US still maintain perfectly open relationships are Thailand, Myanmar, and Morocco.

stephen_g 3y ago

Those might be good things to do, but what business does the US have dictating that to other nations? And to have the gall while maintaining diplomatic and trade relations with absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia that hack up journalists and execute people for homosexuality...

barelysapient 3y ago
The US has every right to decide who and who they do not wish to do business with. In this case, _the_ difference is that Saudi Arabia has never been a liberal democracy. America hopes it's relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia helps to liberalize them. In that regard, Saudi Arabia is liberalizing, albeit very slowly. Just look up women's rights. As for homosexual rights, that tends to be a religious issue that many Muslim countries have an unfortunate record of oppression on. America's freedom of religion tends to be tolerant of these people, even though its antagonistic to our liberal values.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  > The US has every right to decide who and who they do not wish to do business with. Who are "they" and "the US" here? I guess you are referring to the political elite. I rather not have someone else force me to boycott whatever they think they have a feud with.
- p_j_w 3y ago
  >America hopes it's relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia helps to liberalize them. US foreign policy is 100% not about this. If the US had no economic interests in keeping Saudi Arabia on its side, it wouldn't happen. That's all our foreign policy is about and lofty goals like this only matter if there's no economic interest.
xtracto 3y ago
Pax Americana. The empire is slowly but steadily crumbling. As a 3rd world spectator I only have to say "it's about time"