4 ms·

Can we end the stupid sanctions now? The USSR is gone and we trade massively with China for F's sake. Cuba doesn't have the best human rights record on Earth, b

by api 12y ago

Can we end the stupid sanctions now? The USSR is gone and we trade massively with China for F's sake. Cuba doesn't have the best human rights record on Earth, but neither does China or Saudi Arabia to give two other examples with which we trade extensively. All this does is harm the Cuban people and paradoxically actually strengthens the existing regime there.

bdevani 12y ago
China can be considered capitalist, they trade actively with us, and honestly we don't have the ability go to against them. Saudi Arabia, needs to be on our side, to provide the natural resources we consume. Cuba..that would be just us trading with a Communist country. It would mean allowing Americans to consider a communist country, instead of writing that idea off as crazy. Neither political party in the US wants that. Neither party in the US believes a friendly more transparent relationship with Cuba will strengthen American belief in capitalist democracy across all of society.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  Cuba already has small private business. It will swiftly transform to China-like capitalism if you let them do so.
- piokuc 12y ago
  "China can be considered capitalist, they trade actively with us [...] Cuba..that would be just us trading with a Communist country." - this is just pure hypocrisy.
equoid 12y ago
America needs China and the Saudis (for investment/loans/manufacturing and oil respectively). It does need Cuba so can happily pretend to be principled by bullying them.
- emodendroket 12y ago
  I thought that was the point of seemingly endless bombing campaigns.
joeclark77 12y ago
Cuba is a brutal communist slave state. But so is China. I think the shameful thing is not that we have sanctions against Cuba, but that we do not have sanctions against China and some of the other barbarian regimes out there (e.g. Vietnam, Saudi Arabia).
- mathieuh 12y ago
  > Cuba is a brutal communist slave state America is a country full of murderous racists who hate gay people, all of whom support their government's meddling in other countries' affairs, and other such ridiculous statements.
- api 12y ago
  If Cuba is a brutal communist slave state, so is China. Do you own any Apple products or anything else manufactured by Foxconn?
  - joeclark77 12y ago
    What are you going for, here? The old, "if you benefit from something, you're not allowed to criticize it" angle?
- mikeash 12y ago
  Do sanctions actually help reduce the problems caused by these countries, or is this just some sort of principled stand? The fact that Cuba is still ruled by the same oppressive government today as it was when the sanctions were imposed over 50 years ago would seem to indicate that it's not actually a useful thing to do.
angersock 12y ago
You'd be surprised, probably negatively, by how few people actually know we still have an active embargo on them.

by api 12y ago

bdevani 12y ago

China can be considered capitalist, they trade actively with us, and honestly we don't have the ability go to against them. Saudi Arabia, needs to be on our side, to provide the natural resources we consume. Cuba..that would be just us trading with a Communist country. It would mean allowing Americans to consider a communist country, instead of writing that idea off as crazy. Neither political party in the US wants that. Neither party in the US believes a friendly more transparent relationship with Cuba will strengthen American belief in capitalist democracy across all of society.

guard-of-terra 12y ago
Cuba already has small private business. It will swiftly transform to China-like capitalism if you let them do so.
piokuc 12y ago
"China can be considered capitalist, they trade actively with us [...] Cuba..that would be just us trading with a Communist country." - this is just pure hypocrisy.

equoid 12y ago

America needs China and the Saudis (for investment/loans/manufacturing and oil respectively). It does need Cuba so can happily pretend to be principled by bullying them.

emodendroket 12y ago
I thought that was the point of seemingly endless bombing campaigns.

joeclark77 12y ago

Cuba is a brutal communist slave state. But so is China. I think the shameful thing is not that we have sanctions against Cuba, but that we do not have sanctions against China and some of the other barbarian regimes out there (e.g. Vietnam, Saudi Arabia).

mathieuh 12y ago
> Cuba is a brutal communist slave state America is a country full of murderous racists who hate gay people, all of whom support their government's meddling in other countries' affairs, and other such ridiculous statements.
api 12y ago
If Cuba is a brutal communist slave state, so is China. Do you own any Apple products or anything else manufactured by Foxconn?
- joeclark77 12y ago
  What are you going for, here? The old, "if you benefit from something, you're not allowed to criticize it" angle?
mikeash 12y ago
Do sanctions actually help reduce the problems caused by these countries, or is this just some sort of principled stand? The fact that Cuba is still ruled by the same oppressive government today as it was when the sanctions were imposed over 50 years ago would seem to indicate that it's not actually a useful thing to do.

angersock 12y ago

You'd be surprised, probably negatively, by how few people actually know we still have an active embargo on them.