US to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba

[US 41]

The article http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-cuba-releases-alan-gross-20141217-story.html#page=1

[NE2]

Thanks, Obama!

[mtantillo]

Now I want to go there!! Roadmeet?

[jeffandnicole]

Aren't we like the only country that was still feuding with them.  Apparently Canadians take a fair amount of trips there.

[agentsteel53]

a shame Luciano and Lansky never got around to building that bridge from the Keys ... I could be driving there now.

[vdeane]

It's a good step, but I don't think it's the sea change the press keeps claiming it is.  For one thing, US tourism there is still banned, and despite the changes, the embargo still stands.  Obama claims we should "have a debate".  This is a bunch of BS.  Obama could end it now if he so chooses.  The dirty little secret that the media is not talking about is that the embargo is regulated by the "Trading with the Enemy" act, which originally applied to both Cuba and North Korea (Bush lifted the provisions against North Korea a few years ago).  The embargo needs to be renewed every year, and Obama has done so every year.  Ending the embargo is as simple as Obama deciding not to renew it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hZjNO3I-Q

[formulanone]

Immigration Freedomway, and let slip the bulldozers of shovel-ready projects!

[cjk374]

Cuba's largest new import to the US:  old car parts from their factories that have had to build parts to keep their 40s & 50s model cars running since they haven't had any new cars since then.

[US 41]

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

I do think that the embargo will be lifted soon (within the next 5 years). Restoring diplomatic relations is just step 1 in lifting the embargo.

[vdeane]

Immigration Freedomway, and let slip the bulldozers of shovel-ready projects!

Indeed.  What better way to build a bridge than to build a literal bridge across the Gulf?

It can be an eastern extension of I-2 to Miami.

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

To be fair to Cuba, it was kinda hard to be neutral back then, especially when you just had a revolution to overthrow a US-backed dictator.  They were going to make an enemy of the US regardless of what happened (even a capitalist regime would have been a US enemy), and there's the old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" (especially when you're in the backyard of a superpower that is not afraid to go to war to support its own interests).

[agentsteel53]

Cuba's largest new import to the US:  old car parts from their factories that have had to build parts to keep their 40s & 50s model cars running since they haven't had any new cars since then.

I've heard that the cars have been modified to accept European parts.  old 8-cylinder GM motor goes?  replace with 4-cylinder Zsiguli or Fiat.  somehow get that to work, because Cuba.

[1995hoo]

Now I want to go there!! Roadmeet?

I want to go there before it changes too much with the influx of American money over time.

[agentsteel53]

I want to go there before it changes too much with the influx of American money over time.

I don't think that will be the change.  Canadian/European/Mexican/etc/etc money has been available for decades; it's the government's policies of strong central management that have prevented the money's effective disbursement to the local population.  and it looks like those policies are slowly, but surely, changing.  one effect, and not a cause, of that is going to be the influx of American money - but it's only equally as green as the other sources, not in some special way more so. 

I'm thinking the country will end up similar to, say, the Dominican Republic.  it won't be Las Vegas Part II.  the days of Lucky Luciano are long gone.

[NE2]

Why Repub-a-dub-dubs hate this (other than Obama presidenting while black):

[nexus73]

To me the amazing thing is that diplomatic negotiations were conducted in secret for a year and the secret never leaked out.  If we can trade and do tourism with the People's Republic of China, why then should we embargo Cuba?  Remove Castro's excuse that sanctions have left Cuba crippled and over time the Cubans will realize that their version of socialism failed the test economically.  Then we'll see regime change or the regime making changes. 

Besides, who wouldn't want to see Cuban cigars come here along with some of those Fabulous Fifties machines.  The Cubans who owned and kept them up can cash in big time!

Rick

[bandit957]

It would have been much more fun to visit when it was illegal to do so.

But that said, I support the change. America already has cozy relations with dictatorships that are far worse.

[ghYHZ]

There's some beautiful Resorts in Cuba now. Over a million Canadians visit each year and it's the #2 destination after Florida for Canadian Snowbirds.

We've been going for years......and here's some shots of those "˜50s era cars from a trip into Havana last spring.....

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12245.msg296185#msg296185

And the Cuba Highway Map:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12408.msg299652#msg299652

[kkt]

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

We tried to invade their country at the Bay of Pigs, remember?  We try to invade them, of course they turn for help to someone else.

How long do you want to hold a grudge?  You know, the British burned Washington (after we burned Toronto).  Maybe we should embargo them too.

[1995hoo]

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

We tried to invade their country at the Bay of Pigs, remember?  We try to invade them, of course they turn for help to someone else.

How long do you want to hold a grudge?  You know, the British burned Washington (after we burned Toronto).  Maybe we should embargo them too.

Not saying I agree with them (heh, we have three Japanese cars, so clearly I don't agree with them), but there are still people who refuse to buy Japanese products because of the Pearl Harbor attack. I worked at a retirement home when I was in high school and one of the residents tried to lecture me about my having a 1982 Honda Accord because you shouldn't buy Japanese "because of what they did to Pearl Harbor." I thought I was pretty even-keeled and respectful when I replied, "Sorry, but that was way before my time and it doesn't hold the same significance to me." She still complained to my supervisor, though nothing ever came of it.

[bandit957]

Why is it OK to have diplomatic relations with a dictatorship like Singapore that outlawed bubble gum, but not Cuba?

[jeffandnicole]

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

We tried to invade their country at the Bay of Pigs, remember?  We try to invade them, of course they turn for help to someone else.

How long do you want to hold a grudge?  You know, the British burned Washington (after we burned Toronto).  Maybe we should embargo them too.

Not saying I agree with them (heh, we have three Japanese cars, so clearly I don't agree with them), but there are still people who refuse to buy Japanese products because of the Pearl Harbor attack. I worked at a retirement home when I was in high school and one of the residents tried to lecture me about my having a 1982 Honda Accord because you shouldn't buy Japanese "because of what they did to Pearl Harbor." I thought I was pretty even-keeled and respectful when I replied, "Sorry, but that was way before my time and it doesn't hold the same significance to me." She still complained to my supervisor, though nothing ever came of it.

She'd have a heart attack if she knew how many visitors to Honolulu were Japanese.

[NE2]

Why is it OK to have diplomatic relations with a dictatorship like Singapore that outlawed bubble gum, but not Cuba?

Because durians.

[algorerhythms]

Why is it OK to have diplomatic relations with a dictatorship like Singapore that outlawed bubble gum, but not Cuba?

Because durians.

I'd think that would be a reason to ban diplomatic relations with Singapore...

[agentsteel53]

She'd have a heart attack if she knew how many visitors to Honolulu were Japanese.

specifically, to the Pearl Harbor memorial.  it seemed to me to be equal mix of white, East Asian, and Pacific Islander folks.

[1995hoo]

I think the embargo should stand. I also think an embargo should be placed on countries like North Korea and Iran. Cuba was going to let Russia put missiles on their country, so I don't think Cuba can ever be fully trusted.

We tried to invade their country at the Bay of Pigs, remember?  We try to invade them, of course they turn for help to someone else.

How long do you want to hold a grudge?  You know, the British burned Washington (after we burned Toronto).  Maybe we should embargo them too.

Not saying I agree with them (heh, we have three Japanese cars, so clearly I don't agree with them), but there are still people who refuse to buy Japanese products because of the Pearl Harbor attack. I worked at a retirement home when I was in high school and one of the residents tried to lecture me about my having a 1982 Honda Accord because you shouldn't buy Japanese "because of what they did to Pearl Harbor." I thought I was pretty even-keeled and respectful when I replied, "Sorry, but that was way before my time and it doesn't hold the same significance to me." She still complained to my supervisor, though nothing ever came of it.

She'd have a heart attack if she knew how many visitors to Honolulu were Japanese.

Heh. I think it's reasonable to say Waikiki is something of a Japanese village. Really weird to see how all the hotel breakfast buffets have the standard American stuff (eggs, sausage, bacon, French toast, etc.) next to a section of things like seaweed and the like for Japanese guests.

We didn't make it to Pearl Harbor the one time I've been to Hawaii, just didn't have time to fit it into the schedule since we didn't stop in Honolulu for long before heading to our friends' house on Kauai for the week. Maybe next time.