Why is China America's friend, but Cuba isn't?

[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?

Rich O Brien

Cuba doesn't have nukes.

Gaieus

Russia has oil, gas, all sorts of other raw materials the EU is dependent on. Especially gas.

jeff hammond

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.

jeff hammond

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]

EarthMover

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.

Ecuadorian

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.

EarthMover

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.

jeff hammond

@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..

EscapeArtist

@unknownuser said:

@escapeartist said:

Cuba - commies with nothing we want.

hmm.. maybe you've never tried their sandwiches?

.

Yes I have, had one yesterday as a matter of fact. But there are a lot of Cubans here who have shared this cultural culinary tasty treat with us, no need to give Castro our money!

EscapeArtist

@solo said:

@unknownuser said:

Cuba - commies with nothing we want.

They have awesome baseball players Oh and great doctors too.

We import them too.

In all seriousness, I find the Cuba/China thing as hypocritical and foolish as any other rational human would. But then, the US has a long history of keeping or putting bad people in power, supporting bad regimes, or finding ways to eliminate those that disagree with what the government wants. I find governments completely irrational.

While I think that communist Cuba has a huge divide between the haves- and the have-nots, and there could be some serious benefits to becoming Westernized, I'm perversely kind of rooting for them because if they caved in that island would be overrun with casinos and all-inclusive resorts overnight. There wouldn't be much Cuba left, and it would become like many of the other tourist-dependent Caribbean islands. Poor people working at rich resorts for a pittance.