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The Spectacle Blog
So Ron Paul wants to engage the Castros and end the embargo with Cuba.
Clearly, Paul isn’t putting much effort in Florida.
View all comments (32) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/01/23/paul-wants-to-engage-the-castr
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Mike 3/505| 1.23.12 @ 9:55PM
It will never sell in Florida's expatriate community...but...he's right...also...The moderator made the wrong assumption. When Castro croaks...all the traffic will be heading South, as this expatriates try to go back and reclaim their old family properties.
Jack in Wi.| 1.23.12 @ 11:14PM
There was a poll,out today with Ron Paul getting 41% of the hispanic vote in Florida. I think after 53 years of a failed embargo it is time to let Cubans go back and see their relatives and help them out. Castro would never have survived this long if we had opened up trade with Cuba decades ago. The Pope called for the end of sanctions on Cuba over a decade ago. All the embargo has done is hurt the Cuban people and made Castro stronger. Sanctions are an act of war. we should never had sanctions on Iraq either. They led to the deaths of over 500,000 children and old people. The sanctions put on a starving Germany after WW1 helped lead to WW2
JmsA| 1.23.12 @ 11:52PM
So what do you call Castro confiscating private Amnerican property? You forgot about that, didn't you?
Jack in Wi.| 1.24.12 @ 1:12AM
I could are less about the property of United Fruit, the nickel mines, or the Mafia's chains of brothels, gambling dens, and hotels. Let them sue Cuba in the World Court. They might collect something if we have diplomatic relations.
JmsA| 1.24.12 @ 1:55AM
Of course you don't give a crap; it wasn't your property. Good luck collecting from Cuba. Castro and his clan have transferred all the stolen wealth to other countries.
Hobbes| 1.24.12 @ 10:17AM
Paul is right, our sanctions have propped up Castro for half a century. Time to get a clue.
Hobbes| 1.24.12 @ 10:16AM
Ron Paul made an excellent point that the US has cut benefits for poor Americans while giving tons of aid to countries like Israel who spend the money on FREE health care. Why are other countries poor more important than ours?
Mike| 1.24.12 @ 11:27AM
Yes, this is the expat's fondest illusion.
Clint| 1.23.12 @ 10:24PM
" Talking about the Cuban embargo, Paul said the U.S. policy has failed.
"If we wouldn't have had this embargo for 40 years, (Fidel) Castro would have been gone a long time ago," he said.
When told his position might offend people in Florida who fled Castro's regime, Paul answered:
"They have their opinion and I have mine, because I look at mine through history. … History shows you're more likely to get rid of a dictator if you undermine his support by trading with him."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is In Florida.
JmsA| 1.23.12 @ 11:36PM
Castro has traded with the entire world, and even the U.S. sells Cuba medicine and food, yet the dictatorship continues unabated. If you haven't lived it, you won't understand it. And apparently neither does Congressman Paul, as he failed to see that had Castro had his way, he would have pulverized at least one third of the U.S. had the Russians not prevented him from doing so in 1962.
Occam's Tool| 1.23.12 @ 11:45PM
Uh-huh. No, Castro would have used this to get rid of his criminals.
JmsA| 1.24.12 @ 1:50AM
OT, it goes without saying that Cubans in the U.S., all of the nearly two million of them, are not exempt from criminality as is neither anyone else. That said, I suspect that you are referring to the criminals Castro dumped on the U.S. during the El Mariel boat lift in 1980. Ultimately, out of the approximately 125, 000 that ultimately reached these shores, 3,000 were hardened criminals, who were eventually repatriated following the Wet Foot/Dry Foot treaty with the Clinton administration.
My father and my grandfather were not among those lucky enough to escape at that time despite my mother's brave attempts to get them out. For you see, my father and grandfather did not fit into Castro's propaganda scheme: only anti-revolutionary scum, or Escoria as they referred to it in Spanish, would be allowed to leave. This is because my father was then a practising physician and dean of the La Habana Medical School (you might be interested to know, he started out as a psychiatrist, but then became an internist: allergist/immunologist), as well as co-director of one of the largest and most prestigious bacteriological institutes in all of Latin America. My grandfather was an professor of economics and certified public accountant.
Obviously, not all Cubans that managed to escape from the Island were criminals. As a matter of fact , as far as Cubans are concerned, the overwhelming majority of those who managed to escape that communist hell hole, were educated and successful prior to Castro' dictatorship. You may also like to know that Cuba used to be a net immigration country, the majority of those immigrating to it coming first world countries, including quite a few Jews from Europe following WWII, including so many from Poland, that all Jews, no matter were they came from, were referred to as Polish by the Cubans. Just thought you'd like to know. The Cubans were very kind to those arriving at their shores, so much so, that prior to 1959, and proportionally speaking, Cuba took in more immigrants than the U.S.
Now, back to the main issue of the supposed criminals. Following their unsuccessful attempt to leave the island, my father and grandfather were both left destitute, as their homes had been confiscated, as were their bank accounts, ration cards, and their jobs gone, as they were both ostracized and left to manage through the kindness of friends and family. I would be remiss were I fail to note that, in contravention of international law, Castro issued exit visas to many if not most of those hardened criminals, yet not to those who were leaving because of political reasons.
Both my father and grandfather were ultimately allowed to travel to the U.S., where my father, though 62-years-old, and barely speaking English, managed to pass his foreign boards, and also obtain a Doctorate in Psychology. Prior to his passing a few years later, my grandfather commended his soul to God, and thanked the U.S. for allowing him to die a free man. Some of my cousins, however, were not so fortunate. They died fighting Castro's proxy wars in Africa, Yemen, you name it, and some of them were also imprisoned by Castro for their religious beliefs and for refusing to become communists. Yet, I suspect they would have been considered themselves extremely lucky to have been deemed "criminals" and allowed to leave the country through El Mariel in 1980.
My father had remained in Cuba so that myself, my mother and siblings could leave. He was forced to do this because thousands of Cuban doctors and other professionals left the island left to escape communism, resulting in a critical shortage of practitioners and teachers. I did not see my father for eleven years. I have not seen any of my other relatives since 1970. We then travelled to Spain, where we remained for three years waiting to be paroled into the U.S., as per our relatives sponsorship. My mother held three jobs here in the U.S. She never took a dime of welfare. And she worked until she retired at age 83, despite my sibling's and my own protestations.
Cubans are not better than anyone else, including other Hispanics, they're just different, and hardly all criminals.
JmsA| 1.23.12 @ 11:59PM
If my recollection is correct, the British, French, Belgians, Norwegians, Greeks, Dutch, and even the Russians traded with Nazi Germany, yet it did not keep Hitler from making wars on them.
Mike| 1.24.12 @ 11:32AM
JmsA,
Keynes wrote a tract excoriating the idiocy of the punitive treaties sighed at the end of World War I. He predicted that the reparations (is this what you mean by trade?) would prevent the economies of the defeated nations from recovering, would lead to inflation and would result in the radicalization of politics. Hayek much admired this analysis by Keynes.
Mike| 1.24.12 @ 11:29AM
This, among other reasons, is why Nixon went to China.
Also, it is hard to argue that trade with the Vietnamese has been more beneficial than warring with them.
9thID| 1.23.12 @ 10:29PM
Ron Paul wants to open up cannabis trade with Cuba and use the funds to pay the TSA...
Occam's Tool| 1.23.12 @ 11:48PM
9thID: the Paulbots are fascinating, as a cult. Here's the fun part, though---Rand Paul just called for selectively reviewing (profiling) Middle Eastern students travelling to Yemen (for example) in his interview about his problems with TSA tonight. Let's see how the Paulbots spin THAT.
Clint| 1.24.12 @ 8:59AM
The Israel Firster Smear Bund Ass Clowns Are In The Building With The TSA.
Dr. Rand Paul said, " I don't want special treatment. All Americans should be able to choose pat down or go back through the scanning machine."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
Charlie| 1.23.12 @ 10:42PM
New poll from InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research has Paul dominating Hispanic Republicans in Florida, with 41 percent. Go figure ;-)
Sean| 1.23.12 @ 10:51PM
Trading and talking with a country will facilitate faster changes. An embargo hasn't worked in 50 years and continuing it won't work either.
Tom Osterman| 1.23.12 @ 11:06PM
Much as I hate to to sound like I agree with anything Paul has to say on foreign policy, the fact is that Fidel Castro will die in his bed after more than a half-century of the embargo. It didn't work, period.
JmsA| 1.23.12 @ 11:30PM
So, if the embargo hasn't worked, and supposedly helped the Castros so much in maintaining control, why are the leftists in the U.S. so keen to lift it?
Go on believing all the supposed pro Paul polling. When all is said and done, Hispanics, with the exception of Cuban-Americans, will vote democrat.
“Despotic governments can stand ‘moral force’ till the cows come home; what they fear is physical force.” George Orwell
No wonder we're in the straits we're in in this country. Most cannot see pure evil even when it stares them in the face.
Tom Osterman| 1.24.12 @ 12:15AM
When the Castro brothers are deposed, either by a peasant revolt or U.S. military invasion, talk to me. Otherwise, I stand by what I posted.
JmsA| 1.24.12 @ 12:24AM
Yet, you did not answer the question. Because, like the cookie old man, you're ignorant. And by the way, the peasants don't have guns in Cuba, the bad guys do.
Tom Osterman| 1.24.12 @ 1:03AM
The U.S. has the guns and then some. And yet Fidel's mortal enemy seems to be Father Time.
The Communist tyrants in Havana have been in power for five+ decades. It's been two decades since their patron, the Soviet Union, collapsed. And here we are, hoping Raul will be Cuba's Gorbachev.
The Left wants the embargo lifted because it's a domestic victory, not because they're afraid the Cuban regime will collapse any minute now. The embargo has had decades to work its magic. If the U.S. can't take down a Communist banana republic, that's a failure.
JmsA| 1.24.12 @ 2:14AM
I will not assign blame to the U.S. insofar as Cuba is concerned. It was the Cubans that messed it up, and the Cubans that tried to correct the problem in 1961 (Bay of Pigs) and, thereafter until the anti-Castro revolt in central Cuba, in the Escambray mountains, was defeated in 1965.
As for Gorbachev, I wouldn't put stock on the communist bullshit artist. It was the West, and particularly the U.S., as well as other factors, that ultimately brought down the godless communists.
Most Americans don't care about the embargo, so as far a domestic victory, it would not carry much import here in the U.S. What they're pining for is U.S. tax payer subsidized trade with the U.S. to ensure the survival of the regime for the next generation, including the repressive elements.
Susan| 1.24.12 @ 2:59AM
I agree with Ron Paul as to his opinion of the embargo againist Cuba. It is time for our country to but out of other countries. We need to get our country back together before we can tell anyone else what to do.
JmsA| 1.24.12 @ 3:38AM
How much more can a country "but out" of another country than by imposing an embargo on it? That said, the embargo is a myth. The U.S. trades with Cuba, that is, when they can pay in cash. Ever hear of Archer Daniels Midland? They do tons of business with Cuba. Cuba owes money to everyone. They don't produce much. Castro has seen to that. We don't even have an embassy in Cuba, just an interest section. We're not butting into Cuba. That's just propaganda, and certainly stupidity in certain quarters.
Nemo| 1.24.12 @ 8:11AM
Why is Ron Paul "engaging" the Castro brothers?
Why doesn't he just marry them?
Clint| 1.24.12 @ 9:02AM
Why Don't You Get A Pre-Nuptial Agreement From Your Mancrush Bibi, Israel Firster Smear Bund GirlieBoy.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is In Florida.
Eric| 1.24.12 @ 8:35AM
Cuba is not some Germany about to invade the US fact is the embargo has done nothing to bring down the government. We even traded with Russia during the cold war.
Ryan| 1.24.12 @ 9:19AM
I'm not saying that the embargo needs to be ended, but if it needs to be ended or continued, the case needs to be made by each new administration rather than instantly assuming it should be kept.