“The time is ripe for change in Cuba.” Many have made this claim before, and many have been dead wrong. Indeed, the Cuban Castro regime, having survived to see ten U.S. presidents come and go, outlasted an embargo for over fifty years while maintaining its communist-authoritarian integrity. His rule has inspired, as of late, a spate of rather pessimistic literature. There is great doubt as to the ability of a democratic movement to come about in...
In the world’s slow move towards more open and competitive markets, a few countries continue to resist change. Nominally communist and content with becoming quaint relics of a Cold War past, they have allowed the world to pass them by. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Cuba. Only 45 miles from Florida, Cuba remains mired in poverty and gross economic inequality. However, the February 2008 election of Raúl Castro has brought some market-ori...
The somewhat grandiosely titled the “Summit of the Americas” (SoA) concluded this week in sunny Cartagena, Colombia. The regional meeting included 44 of the Western Hemisphere’s heads of state – with the awkward and controversial exception of Cuba. As we have learned to expect from these large-scale, feel-good summits, little was accomplished. The meeting ended without a formal joint declaration – which is not to say that it was bereft of its sh...
...cessarily from minor misunderstandings between countries into divisive posturing and headline-grabbing criticism of each other’s leaders. While this administration has laudably eased restrictions for travel and remittances to Cuba, it has failed to make good on its promises to restore negotiations with the receptive Cuban regime. In 2009, Cuban President Raúl Castro, in 2009, went so far as to say, “we are willing to discuss everything… We could...
...I have no statistical or scientific basis for this prediction; it’s more wistful dreaming than anything else. It’s bound to happen soon, with the rusty 86-year-old revolutionary approaching his 53rd year behind the scenes in Cuba. While his death would mean little in the practical day-to-day “running” of the country (since he ceded power to his brother Raúl in 2006), it would provide a metaphorical ending to a long and painful chapter in the cou...
...sterminds behind the Benghazi attacks is not a foreign policy though. Neither is arguing about who loves Israel more. Nor does effectively ignoring Syria while Russia ups the stakes make a foreign policy. Whatever happened to Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Palestine, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela, Pakistan, the Euro Zone, China, or Japan? The citizens of the United States need to stop being content with bromides about helping Syria’s rebe...
...States for much of its funding. The only hope for the Marshall Islands is to garner support from other countries to put pressure on the United States to take steps to address its nuclear legacy. Thus far, Algeria, Australia, Cuba, Malaysia, Maldives, and New Zealand have all expressed support for the Marshall Islands’ cause based on the Special Rapporteur’s Report. While the United States possesses considerable power in the United Nations, the c...
Photos of villagers in Myanmar from Wikimedia Commons A pretty accurate barometer for a country’s international standing is probably how many foreign brands it hosts. I’m not equating material benchmarks with progress, but most Fortune 500 companies will do business in even the most ramshackle and violent of countries. So, it is telling that North Korea (DPRK) and Myanmar belong to one of the world’s most exclusive clubs: Along with Cuba, they...
...ilitary tribunals remaining an option) and, if appropriate, behind bars in either domestic or foreign prisons. But we should do these things because we are brave enough to not cower from our enemies as they sit behind bars in Cuba (another country, of all places) because of a quirky legal definition, not because they don’t want to eat. Gitmo has damaged the international perception of the US, and not only because it has questioned our commitment...
...p succession. To make matters worse, a cloud of uncertainty regarding the veracity of media reports continues to hang over the case. Rated “not free” by Freedom House in 2006 and sixth-from-last (just better than North Korea, Cuba and Myanmar) in Reporters Without Borders’ world press freedom index in 2006, China’s press is heavily controlled by the State. Though individual reporters are known to be especially bold in investigating corruption—per...
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