The Cuban Embargo

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I personally think it's time we lifted it.  I'm kinda sick of it.  We need to quit holding this 50+ year old grudge.  Cuba, unlike the other countries we embargo, isn't as horrible, and Castro is no where near as crappy as Col. Quadaffi (or however you spell that dumb jag-off's name), or Kim Jong Il...Cuba is not as horrible as Libya or North Korea.

Hell, for all we know, Fidel Castro is no longer even alive.

Your thoughts? (No, I'm not just posting this topic just 'cause I want some fine cigars! )

["User"]

As a foreign policy tool, the embargo, IMO, enhances Castro's standing (and yes, he is alive since he was on a radio talk show in Cuba recently) by giving him a handy excuse for the failures of his homegrown Caribbean socialism. He can bitch for quite some time about the suffering the embargo inflicts on Cubans, even though the damage done by his domestic policies is far worse. If the embargo were lifted, the Cuban people would be a bit less deprived and Castro would have no one else to blame for the shortages and stagnation that will persist without real market reforms.

If the goal of U.S. policy toward Cuba is to help its people achieve freedom and a better life, the economic embargo has completely failed. Its economic effect is to make the people of Cuba worse off by depriving them of lower-cost food and other goods that could be bought from the United States. It means less independence for Cuban workers and entrepreneurs, who could be earning dollars from American tourists and fueling private-sector growth. Meanwhile, Castro and his ruling elite enjoy a comfortable, insulated lifestyle by extracting any meager surplus produced by their captive subjects.

I am all for getting rid of the Embargo.  Economic sanctification rarely work at changes a regimes opinions and actions. Just take a look at Burma, Iran, and North Korea...they've failed to change the behavior of any of those oppressive regimes and, in fact, only made matters worse.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Oh he is still alive? :0  Oops!

[Sabre]

Also, no more chainsaw motorbikes.

[DZComposer]

This embargo is a relic of the cold war. It needs to go. It punishes the Cuban people more than it does the government anyway. It's not like they're a thread. Hell, we've even got a military base on the island.

[Sabre]

This embargo is a relic of the cold war. It needs to go. It punishes the Cuban people more than it does the government anyway. It's not like they're a thread. Hell, we've even got a military base on the island.

I think they are a thread, albeit one the admins locked. :D

[Guest Julius Quasar]

This embargo is a relic of the cold war. It needs to go. It punishes the Cuban people more than it does the government anyway. It's not like they're a threat. Hell, we've even got a military base on the island.

fix'd that for ya'.

but yeah, I agree

I think they are a thread, albeit one the admins locked.

["User"]

I think this is one of the few topics, if not THE only one in the Pub where there is an unanimous agreement of everyone who is making their opinion known.