6 ms·

I am so disappointed. The kinds of outreach and charity provided by USAID isn't perfect, but the intent behind it was always good. Heck, if anything I'm reall

I am so disappointed. The kinds of outreach and charity provided by USAID isn't perfect, but the intent behind it was always good. Heck, if anything I'm really, really proud of the humanitarian work the U.S. government does, including USAID at State and NIH and CDC at HHS. Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions, never mind the fact that the outcomes (especially in the Americas) for covert U.S. interventions in foreign governments are _not_ generally positive.

morgante 13y ago
> Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions Is it? Oppressive regimes can pose a direct threat to human well-being and sometimes the best thing you can do for people's humanity is to overthrough said regime.
- moo 13y ago
  When are we going after the house of Saud?
  - morgante 13y ago
    > When are we going after the house of Saud? There's actually been increased isolation from Saudi Arabia over the past year.
- moo 13y ago
  Human well-being, along with literacy, are Cuba's strong suit. They send doctors all over the world, such as during environmental disasters. During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the U.S. sent troops, weird. But I guess the Haitians are free to eat mud cakes. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/29/food.internationalaidanddevelopment http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/29/food.internatio...
  - morgante 13y ago
    There's more to well-being than being nominally healthy and literate. Cuba might have great doctors, but they're not much use to political prisoners. Cubans might be literate, but they can't read whatever they want. [1] 1: https://www.hrw.org/americas/cuba https://www.hrw.org/americas/cuba
    - moo 13y ago
      Maybe there would be more political freedom elsewhere if all the orange, red, purple revolutions weren't being orchestrated by washington.
  - paulhauggis 13y ago
    why are all of the anti-us comments being up voted and the the reverse down voted? I feel like the voting system here on hn does nothing but push one specific agenda/view
    - davidw 13y ago
      That (or the opposite) is a sign that this is a political article, and as such should simply be flagged and removed as off-topic.
    - moo 13y ago
      I have not down voted morgante, I want dialog. Sorry if I'm not spewing the party line.
  - gadders 13y ago
    I always think that when people compliment Cuba's medical system it sounds an awful lot like people saying of Mussolini "but at least he made the trains run on time".
    - moo 13y ago
      Did he? Well that is commendable. I also read that he was not gung-ho like hitler to round up the jews. Otherwise, yeah, the dude had to go.
- kenrikm 13y ago
  Yeah they have a great medical system! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7mLp9j-3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7mLp9j-3k People repeat what they hear without knowing the reality. I'm sure everyone in NK has the same standard of living as Pyongyang too. /Sarcasm
abhigupta 13y ago
You would make a great PR rep for NSA :)
kenrikm 13y ago
The doctors Cuba sends to other countries, The cuban government gets paid for, it's a business. They keep armed guards on them to keep them from defecting. My father in law was sent by the Cuban government to Libya in the 1980s under the same type of "work exchange" system.

morgante 13y ago

> Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions Is it? Oppressive regimes can pose a direct threat to human well-being and sometimes the best thing you can do for people's humanity is to overthrough said regime.

moo 13y ago
When are we going after the house of Saud?
- morgante 13y ago
  > When are we going after the house of Saud? There's actually been increased isolation from Saudi Arabia over the past year.
moo 13y ago
Human well-being, along with literacy, are Cuba's strong suit. They send doctors all over the world, such as during environmental disasters. During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the U.S. sent troops, weird. But I guess the Haitians are free to eat mud cakes. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/29/food.internationalaidanddevelopment http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/29/food.internatio...
- morgante 13y ago
  There's more to well-being than being nominally healthy and literate. Cuba might have great doctors, but they're not much use to political prisoners. Cubans might be literate, but they can't read whatever they want. [1] 1: https://www.hrw.org/americas/cuba https://www.hrw.org/americas/cuba
  - moo 13y ago
    Maybe there would be more political freedom elsewhere if all the orange, red, purple revolutions weren't being orchestrated by washington.
- paulhauggis 13y ago
  why are all of the anti-us comments being up voted and the the reverse down voted? I feel like the voting system here on hn does nothing but push one specific agenda/view
  - davidw 13y ago
    That (or the opposite) is a sign that this is a political article, and as such should simply be flagged and removed as off-topic.
  - moo 13y ago
    I have not down voted morgante, I want dialog. Sorry if I'm not spewing the party line.
- gadders 13y ago
  I always think that when people compliment Cuba's medical system it sounds an awful lot like people saying of Mussolini "but at least he made the trains run on time".
  - moo 13y ago
    Did he? Well that is commendable. I also read that he was not gung-ho like hitler to round up the jews. Otherwise, yeah, the dude had to go.
kenrikm 13y ago
Yeah they have a great medical system! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7mLp9j-3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7mLp9j-3k People repeat what they hear without knowing the reality. I'm sure everyone in NK has the same standard of living as Pyongyang too. /Sarcasm

abhigupta 13y ago

You would make a great PR rep for NSA :)

kenrikm 13y ago

The doctors Cuba sends to other countries, The cuban government gets paid for, it's a business. They keep armed guards on them to keep them from defecting. My father in law was sent by the Cuban government to Libya in the 1980s under the same type of "work exchange" system.