5 ms·

US secretly built 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest

23 points by mehrshad 13y ago

speeder 13y ago
Then people of US don't understand why people from other countries dislike the US and consider it meddlesome. Also, people of US should own up their mistakes, I am very bothered by the average US person that keeps voting to the current top two parties and then complains when people from other countries are upset at them because of the US wars and intelligence interventions, if you voted to re-elect Obama, you cannot complain when people from Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Germany, etc... get upset with you.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  >> "I am very bothered by the average US person that keeps voting to the current top two parties" It's that way the American system works. Look at the insane amounts of money those parties spend campaigning. Nobody else has a chance to compete with that. Plus the two main parties are too similar. Republicans are conservative and Democrats are centrist. They're liberal when compared with republicans but when compared with liberal parties in other countries they are far from it imo. People who are socially or fiscally liberal don't really have good representation. In the end for a lot of people it's a choice between two evils.
- 67726e 13y ago
  if you voted to re-elect Obama, you cannot complain when people from Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Germany, etc... get upset with you. I suppose I've got nothing to worry if I voted for Romney?</snark> I totally get the frustration, I really do. I think most of our elected leaders are crooks and liars. But this two-party stranglehold makes it really hard to change anything, and so long as they're in power they will resist and fight any change to the two-party status quo. So what can one really do?
- kahirsch 13y ago
  > Then people of US don't understand why people from other countries dislike the US and consider it meddlesome. Wait a minute, are you implying that the US is doing something wrong here? This seems like an excellent project.
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    >> "The U.S. Agency for International Development masterminded the creation of a "Cuban Twitter," a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba" Of course they're doing something wrong. If Cuba tried anything like this against they US they'd be bombed into oblivion. Cuba has a different form of government, one most of us don't agree with but that doesn't give the USG any right to interfere. In the meantime North Korea treats its citizens like shit and supposedly works on nuclear weapons and US does nothing. The only reason they care at all about Cuba of because of their history with it.
    - kahirsch 13y ago
      Dictatorship is just a lifestyle choice! I don't know what you mean about "if Cuba tried anything like this". What would be like this? Americans can already communicate freely over the Internet. I know that my father-in-law used to listen to Radio Havana in the U.S. back in the 1960s, by the way. The U.S. didn't bomb the radio station.
  - speeder 13y ago
    I am against left wing governments, but last time US tried to sow dissent to get rid of a communist in Brazil we ended with thousands dead, missing and tortured, with CIA help, and two carriers, just to make sure the "dissent" would not end in a civil war.
    - kahirsch 13y ago
      So helping people communicate freely = death squads? I don't really understand what you're trying to say here.
faster 13y ago
I'm still trying to understand why the US keeps kicking a tiny island country. One story I've heard is that a lot of rich Cubans lost their property when Castro took over, and they spend a ton of money on politicians in the hope that the US will make sure they get their property back at some point. If that's true, why would the US gov risk this exact article? Why not tell the rich Cubans to build a fake social network themselves? I guess I'm still looking to understand why this relationship is the way it is.
erikb 13y ago
Although it's frightening I have to admire the smartness of such an idea. Giving the people such kind of technology to influence them politically. I'm as impressed as I was when they attacked the Iran nuclear plants with a virus from an USB stick.

23 points by mehrshad 13y ago

Then people of US don't understand why people from other countries dislike the US and consider it meddlesome. Also, people of US should own up their mistakes, I am very bothered by the average US person that keeps voting to the current top two parties and then complains when people from other countries are upset at them because of the US wars and intelligence interventions, if you voted to re-elect Obama, you cannot complain when people from Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Germany, etc... get upset with you.

k-mcgrady 13y ago
>> "I am very bothered by the average US person that keeps voting to the current top two parties" It's that way the American system works. Look at the insane amounts of money those parties spend campaigning. Nobody else has a chance to compete with that. Plus the two main parties are too similar. Republicans are conservative and Democrats are centrist. They're liberal when compared with republicans but when compared with liberal parties in other countries they are far from it imo. People who are socially or fiscally liberal don't really have good representation. In the end for a lot of people it's a choice between two evils.
67726e 13y ago
if you voted to re-elect Obama, you cannot complain when people from Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Germany, etc... get upset with you. I suppose I've got nothing to worry if I voted for Romney?</snark> I totally get the frustration, I really do. I think most of our elected leaders are crooks and liars. But this two-party stranglehold makes it really hard to change anything, and so long as they're in power they will resist and fight any change to the two-party status quo. So what can one really do?
kahirsch 13y ago
> Then people of US don't understand why people from other countries dislike the US and consider it meddlesome. Wait a minute, are you implying that the US is doing something wrong here? This seems like an excellent project.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  >> "The U.S. Agency for International Development masterminded the creation of a "Cuban Twitter," a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba" Of course they're doing something wrong. If Cuba tried anything like this against they US they'd be bombed into oblivion. Cuba has a different form of government, one most of us don't agree with but that doesn't give the USG any right to interfere. In the meantime North Korea treats its citizens like shit and supposedly works on nuclear weapons and US does nothing. The only reason they care at all about Cuba of because of their history with it.
  - kahirsch 13y ago
    Dictatorship is just a lifestyle choice! I don't know what you mean about "if Cuba tried anything like this". What would be like this? Americans can already communicate freely over the Internet. I know that my father-in-law used to listen to Radio Havana in the U.S. back in the 1960s, by the way. The U.S. didn't bomb the radio station.
- speeder 13y ago
  I am against left wing governments, but last time US tried to sow dissent to get rid of a communist in Brazil we ended with thousands dead, missing and tortured, with CIA help, and two carriers, just to make sure the "dissent" would not end in a civil war.
  - kahirsch 13y ago
    So helping people communicate freely = death squads? I don't really understand what you're trying to say here.

faster 13y ago

I'm still trying to understand why the US keeps kicking a tiny island country. One story I've heard is that a lot of rich Cubans lost their property when Castro took over, and they spend a ton of money on politicians in the hope that the US will make sure they get their property back at some point. If that's true, why would the US gov risk this exact article? Why not tell the rich Cubans to build a fake social network themselves? I guess I'm still looking to understand why this relationship is the way it is.

erikb 13y ago

Although it's frightening I have to admire the smartness of such an idea. Giving the people such kind of technology to influence them politically. I'm as impressed as I was when they attacked the Iran nuclear plants with a virus from an USB stick.