BREAKING: Cuba Downgraded from ‘State Sponsor’ to ‘State Suggester’ of Terrorism
Posted: April 14, 2015 Filed under: Diplomacy, Economics, Politics, The Butcher's Notebook | Tags: Barack Obama, Cold War, Cuba, Cuba–United States relations, Diplomacy, Havana, Panama, Parody, President of Cuba, Pundit Planet, Raúl Castro, satire, Summits of the Americas, United States Department of State, White House 1 Comment
“In its current state, Cuba can barely sponsor a roll of toilet paper, or replace a broken headlight on a 1957 Chevy, much less sponsor actual terrorism. It’s time our foreign policy recognizes this.”
— President Barack Obama
“The last thing I sponsored was a medianoche sandwich, on a paper plate, and a bottle of Fanta. That was in 1989. We’re broke. Sponsoring terrorism is just not an option.”
— Raul Castro
“I have tried to get a volunteer terror projects going on Twitter, and Facebook, but they keep deleting my accounts. I can ‘suggest’ terror, I just can’t finance it.”
— Raul Castro
“Even if I did have a few thousand pesos for a car bomb, or some black market Korean bio-weapons, I’d probably save it for a dentist appointment, or just buy some new sandals, and a pack of gum.”
— Raul Castro, lamenting Cuba’s economic misfortunes
“America is a strong and prosperous nation. It’s our obligation to help restore Cuba’s economic vitality, so that the modest resources required to be a credible sponsor of terrorism can once again be an achievable goal for the Castro regime.”
— President Barack Obama
“Obama has always viewed this as a tragic error, out of sync with the sympathies of the modern left, leaving a stain on the Democratic party’s post-war trajectory.” Now that he’s president, the insider concluded, “Obama is finally in a position to promote Marxist ideology, both rhetorically, and materially”.
“Getting off this ‘terror sponsor’ list may piss off a bunch of elderly Cuban-Americans in Florida, but who cares? We can still torture their friends and relatives left behind in Cuba. A pair of pliers, a blow torch, a car battery. It doesn’t cost much to have a few laughs, and keep our opponents in line. Obama understand this.”
“In its current state, Cuba can barely sponsor a roll of toilet paper, or replace a broken headlight on a 1957 Chevy, much less sponsor actual terrorism. It’s time our foreign policy recognizes this. It’s our obligation to help restore Cuba’s economic vitality, so that the modest resources required to be a credible sponsor terrorism can once again be an achievable goal for the Castro regime,” the president said this morning from the rose garden, in a brief statement to the press.
“Obama always hated the Truman and Kennedy tradition of pro-American, anticommunist rhetoric. Obama has always viewed this as a tragic error, out of sync with the sympathies of the modern left, leaving a stain on the Democratic party’s post-war trajectory.”
— White House insider
“Sponsor terrorism, are you kidding? The last thing I sponsored was a medianoche sandwich, on a paper plate, and a bottle of Fanta. That was in 1989. Sponsor terrorism? I wish! Even if I did have a few thousand pesos for a car bomb, or some black market Korean bio-weapons, I’d probably save it for a dentist appointment, or just buy some new sandals”, said Raul Castro. Read the rest of this entry »
THE PANTSUIT REPORT: Hillary Obstructs Congress
Posted: March 31, 2015 Filed under: Law & Justice, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Benghazi, Benjamin Netanyahu, China, David Remnick, Diplomacy, Hillary Clinton, Internal Revenue Service, Israel, Richard Nixon, United States Department of Justice, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Watergate scandal Leave a comment
She erased emails after the Benghazi probe wanted to see them
If the House panel investigating Benghazi really wants to get a look at Hillary Clinton’s emails, perhaps it should subpoena the Chinese military. Beijing—which may have hacked the private server she used to send official email as Secretary of State—is likely to be more cooperative than are Mrs. Clinton and her stonewall specialists now reprising their roles from the 1990s.
“Mrs. Clinton’s real message to Congress: You’ll see those emails over my dead body.”
On Friday Mrs. Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, disclosed that he couldn’t cooperate with the Benghazi committee’s request that she turn over her private server to an independent third party for examination. Why not? Well, the former first diplomat had already wiped the computer clean.
Of course she had. What else would she do?
The timing of the deletions isn’t entirely clear. Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy says they appear to have been deleted after Oct. 28, 2014, when State asked Mrs. Clinton to return her public records to the department. That could qualify as obstruction of Congress, as lawyer Ronald Rotunda recently argued on these pages.
The deletions certainly violate Mrs. Clinton’s promise to Congress on Oct. 2, 2012, when the Benghazi probe was getting under way. “We look forward to working with the Congress and your Committee as you proceed with your own review,” she told the Oversight Committee. “We are committed to a process that is as transparent as possible, respecting the needs and integrity of the investigations underway. We will move as quickly as we can without forsaking accuracy.”
[read the full text here, at the Wall Street Journal]
Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kendall say the vanishing emails don’t matter because State and the committee already have all the relevant documents and emails they’ve asked for. But State and the committee don’t have the actual emails, only the printed copies she provided to State.
Hillary used iPad for official emails at State
The Hill reports: Hillary Clinton used an iPad and Blackberry to send official emails at the State Department despite her claim that she relied on a personal address to avoid the inconvenience of multiple devices, according to The Associated Press.
And State had previously assured the committee it had everything it had asked for before Mrs. Clinton coughed up 850 pages of email copies from her private server this month—emails State couldn’t turn over before because she hadn’t provided them despite clear State Department policy that she and other officials do so….(read more)
Mrs. Clinton’s real message to Congress: You’ll see those emails over my dead body. Read the rest of this entry »
CATO Institute: Cuba Libre? An End to the Counterproductive Cuban Embargo
Posted: December 19, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Global, Think Tank | Tags: Barack Obama, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cato Institute, Cuba, Cubano, Diplomacy, Embargo, Fidel Castro, Havana, Reuters, United States, United States embargo against Cuba Leave a comment
President Obama’s announcement to overhaul U.S. policy toward Cuba is historic. And, according to Cato scholar Juan Carlos Hidalgo, president’s move should be uncontroversial.
“U.S. policy toward Cuba has been a blatant failure,” says Hidalgo. “It has not brought about democracy to the island and instead provided Havana with an excuse to portray itself as the victim of U.S. aggression…The 114th Congress should pick up where the president left off and move to fully end the trade embargo and lift the travel ban on Cuba.”
Cato scholars comment on the unexpected policy change:
- “Obama’s Historic Move toward Cuba,” by Juan Carlos Hidalgo
- “The Cuba Opening: American Foreign Policy Meets Reality,” by Ted Galen Carpenter
- “President Obama Right to Call for Trade with Cuba: Half Century of Failed Embargo Is Enough,” by Doug Bandow
- “Republicans in Congress Really Like the Cuba Embargo,” by K. William Watson
- “Time to Trade with Cuba: Regime Change through Sanctions Is a Mirage,” by Doug Bandow
- PODCAST: “Castro Regime May Undermine Reforms,” featuring Juan Carlos Hidalgo
- PODCAST: “An End to the Counterproductive Cuban Embargo,” featuring Ian Vásquez
Bells Ring in Havana, Anger Erupts in Miami
Posted: December 18, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Alan Phillip Gross, Barack Obama, Cuba, Cuba–United States relations, Cuban American, Cuban exile, Diplomacy, Little Havana, Miami, United States, United States embargo against Cuba Leave a comment
Havana (CNN) — Church bells rang out Wednesday afternoon in Havana, marking a major moment in history — Cuba and the United States are renewing diplomatic relations after decades of ice-cold tension.
Word of the massive change was met with passionate opinions and some protests in the United States. And tearful celebrations erupted in the streets of the island after President Raul Castro announced the news in a televised address.
“With the main obstacle for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations eliminated, the only unknown is the next step. Is the Cuban government planning another move to return to a position of force vis-a-vis the U.S. government? Or are all the cards on the table this time, before the weary eyes of a population that anticipates that the Castro regime will also win the next move.”
— Yoani Sanchez, a well-known Cuban blogger
But there was uncertainty and some anger amid the joy.
Dissident Cuban blogger Yusnaby Perez tweeted that his neighbor asked him whether a change in U.S.-Cuban trade relations would mean that he could finally afford to buy meat.
Other dissidents worried that their concerns will now be overlooked.
Yoani Sanchez, a well-known Cuban blogger, decried what she described as a carefully plotted victory for the Castro regime in the swap of detained U.S. contractor Alan Gross for Cuban spies imprisoned in America. Read the rest of this entry »
Reality Check: It’s Not the U.S. Embargo that Keeps Cuba Poor, it’s the Brothers Castro
Posted: December 17, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Economics, Global | Tags: Barack Obama, Cuba, Diplomacy, Fidel Castro, Havana, Human Development Index, Miami, Public policy of the United States, Raúl Castro, United States 2 Comments
Bobby Ghosh writes: Many Americans and Cubans believe that it is the tight noose of the US embargo that keeps the island nation deep in poverty. This narrative suits the regime of Fidel and Raul Castro, because it gives the grim brothers a ready excuse for their inability to give their subjects decent economic opportunities.
“For a microcosm of the Castros’ failure as managers of the Cuban economy, look no further than the tourism industry….for 20 years most tourist services and imported products in Cuba have been priced in an artificial currency created by the regime to bilk foreigners.”
But the noose is pretty loose: Most of the world does business with Havana. Although much is made of Cuba’s special relationship with Russia and Venezuela, it trades with most of the countries that would be considered close US allies. With a halfway competent government, Cuba could be a fairly wealthy nation, able to brush off the American embargo as a minor inconvenience.
For a microcosm of the Castros’ failure as managers of the Cuban economy, look no further than the tourism industry. The island—blessed as it is with gorgeous beaches, warm weather, fantastic music, and terrific rum—gets nearly 3 million foreign tourists a year. Nearly a million come from Canada, with the UK, Italy, Spain, and Germany all accounting for large groups. Read the rest of this entry »
Pause for a Smoke: Celebrations Begin for American Consumers of Cuban Cigars
Posted: December 17, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Alan Phillip Gross, Barack Obama, Cigar, Cuba, Cubans, Diplomacy, Havana, Miami, United States, United States embargo against Cuba, White House 1 Comment
WASHINGTON — With President Obama announcing major shifts to diplomatic relations with the island nation of Cuba, it’s going to get easier to find the one of the country’s most renowned exports:
Cigars.
In the changing relations, the “number of steps to significantly increase travel, commerce, and the flow of information to and from Cuba,” will increase, diplomatic officials told reporters Wednesday.
American citizens will be also authorized to import additional good from Cuba.
The ease of travel and commercial restrictions may soon result in more Cuban cigars in the country. Relaxed commercial restrictions may facilitate the ability to do exports by making the general process easier, as well as more travelers from Cuba bringing back the famed smoking sticks. Read the rest of this entry »
No Respect
Posted: January 22, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, The Butcher's Notebook, White House | Tags: Arms race, Breaking news, CNN, Diplomacy, Foreign Minister, iPhone, Iran, media, Middle East, nuclear, nuclear enrichment, Obama, Security, White House Leave a comment
Still Doing Donuts in Obama’s Front Yard: Russians Official Jabs Obama
Posted: September 16, 2013 Filed under: Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: American exceptionalism, Barack Obama, Diplomacy, New York Times, Twitter, United States, Vladimir Putin, Washington, World War II Leave a commentBrilliant item from Rat’sRight! Re: Navy Yard Shooting:
‘Clear Confirmation of American Exceptionalism’
RAT writes: Following the Monday shooting at the Navy Shipyard, Russian Foreign Affairs committee member Alexey Pushkov couldn’t resist taking a shot at Barack Obama and the United States, tweeting:
“A new shootout at Navy headquarters in Washington – a lone gunman and 7 corpses. Nobody’s even surprised anymore. A clear confirmation of American Exceptionalism.”
pundit from another planet 