Why is China America's friend, but Cuba isn't?
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Recently there was an iPad app that had 100's of images from within N.Korea. It was truly boggling to behold. One image struck me which was of their first and only fast food restaurant.
Obviously what you saw above the counter to eat was exactly what you got on the plate.
I find it hard to grasp what it must be like to be in a situation where your every move is dictated.
At least Cuba is somewhat liberal. Or that's the impression I have.
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@solo said:
If we cannot break the trade embargo at least lets give them Coca Cola, they are one of three countries in the world that do not sell Coke.
OH, THE HUMANITY!
Getting back to the original question, I suspect at least part of the answer goes back to cold war politics. Cuba was chummy with the USSR, perceived enemy of the West, one result being the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because of their close ties with the USSR, becoming friendly with Cuba was never really an option.
Although a communist country, China was never really on very friendly terms with the USSR, and it seemed natural to draw the one further away from the other; the process of befriending China has been going on for decades, starting with Nixon, and involved the gradual introduction of capitalism. You have to admit the China of today is different from the China of 30-40 years ago (Chairman Mao is probably rolling is his tomb).
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Cuba - commies with nothing we want.
China - commies that make our stuff cheaply so that corporations can make $$$.
It's all about money.
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To think a country's economy never factors in the Great Game of politics, no mater the size of that country, would be naive. But it wasn't/isn't all about the money. Idealogy and world influence played/plays a part, too.
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@escapeartist said:
Cuba - commies with nothing we want.
hmm.. maybe you've never tried their sandwiches?
.
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@unknownuser said:
Cuba - commies with nothing we want.
They have awesome baseball players
Oh and great doctors too. -
Great rum and cigars.
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@gaieus said:
Great rum and cigars.
We worked around that one, we get cigars from the Dominican republic (Cuban style) and rum from Jamaica.
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That's just workaround.
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I'd like to see tourism opening up there, such a beautiful country with so much to offer.
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@solo said:
@gaieus said:
Great rum and cigars.
We worked around that one, we get cigars from the Dominican republic (Cuban style) and rum from Jamaica.
[flash=640,480:1709x2fi]http://www.youtube.com/v/NqQIm-AtsXs?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash:1709x2fi]
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@daniel said:
[Cuba was chummy with the USSR, perceived enemy of the West, one result being the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because of their close ties with the USSR, becoming friendly with Cuba was never really an option.
How ironic it is, then, that today Russia is also in the UN Security Council, while the embargo on Cuba continues. Oh, and Russia is still a place where human rights are... well, not really right. And Russia does not make cheap electronics the West, so.... the question is still open. No, the question is now a bit longer. Why Russia and China, but not Cuba?
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Cuba doesn't have nukes.
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Russia has oil, gas, all sorts of other raw materials the EU is dependent on. Especially gas.
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cuba isn't for sale.. they won't sell their jails, schools, utilities, etc to American based corporations so our (well, not mine) way of punishing them is to put all these trade resctrictions on them.
if they had a shitton of valuable resources (oil, cheap labor, etc) and they still refused to play ball, we'd (well, not me) send in the military and take it.
(edit) or, first we (well, not me) would take out the Castros and try to put a puppet in there.. if Castro(s) can't be found, then force them out of hiding with bombs.
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and most, if not all of that in my last post is a rehashing of things said in this (reposted) video:
confessions of an economic hitman[flash=640,360:23baz7v1]http://www.youtube.com/v/fvAL5w9JCPQ?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash:23baz7v1]
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Agree totally with Jeff. My question is why is it such a bad thing for Cubans? Lose ties with the consumer whore on one hand and rekindle your humanity on the other. No multinational trade agreements helps maintain local economies and while the elites of the country may not get fat on the hog, at least the money stays in circulation. Trade agreements are economic vacuum cleaners in the third world. They are better off staying off of the radar for another few decades until the global economy finishes collapsing.
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Well, while U.S. citizens can't travel to the island, we can. And from people who have been there we know how difficult life is outside the tourist spots. In extreme cases, girls sell their bodies for basic stuff like shampoo. Some Cubans have even migrated (escaped?) to my country, which is by no measure a developed one. Now, I don't know if those hard conditions are a consequence of their own government or of the U.S. embargo, or both.
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Point taken Miguel. I question the necessity of "stuff" as actually bettering ones existence. The perceived need for stuff when it only exist elsewhere, creates poverty of the mind. However when in a temperate lush climate, most of ones basic needs are provided by the Earth. All else is a form of hierarchical needs. Albeit Cuba was fed for years by the industrial teet and consequently built up concrete structures between them and their life source....so suffering ensues. The industrial machine must now return and save them with the power of paper.
However, I must say if they don't have Google (or Sketchup) in Cuba, then a lack of exposure to the information age is truly malnutrition and my sympathies to the Cuban people.
Seriously though, the U.S. is drenched in a long path of hypocrisy to the point of pattern. (We are more surprised in the this country with a politician who is honest than when one lies.) Hypocrisy denotes conscience. Only humans have a conscience. The U.S. is run by the corporations, for the corporate banks....none of which have a conscience. Profit is the moral compass in a Corprotocracy.
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@ecuadorian said:
In extreme cases, girls sell their bodies for basic stuff like shampoo.
bummer.. not only can't i fly to cuba --- even if i could, they won't let me bring shampoo on the plane.
ok, ok.. bad joke.. srry..
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