Cuba's Trying to Play Ball, So Where's Obama?

[flamingdem]

FOREIGN POLICY
OCTOBER 19, 2010

Stiffing Havana

President Obama promised to reach out to Cuba, in hopes it would encourage reform. But now that the Castro brothers are actually following through, Washington is missing in action.

BY ANYA LANDAU FRENCH | OCTOBER 19, 2010

In the high-stakes world of international diplomacy, bluffing is a seldom-seen practice -- the stakes are simply too high to risk getting called out. But, that's precisely what seems to have happened with the Obama administration' s stated policy of détente toward Cuba. Havana is making concessions, but Washington seems incapable of responding in kind. The United States may be fumbling away its best chance at influencing Cuba in the way that it has claimed to have wanted for decades.

It was nearly one year ago that President Barack Obama delivered a message to President Raúl Castro via Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero: "We understand that change can't happen overnight, but down the road, when we look back at this time, it should be clear that now is when those changes began," Obama said. "We're taking steps, but if they don't take steps too, it's going to be very hard for us to continue." If Cuba proved willing to improve relations with the United States, Obama seemed willing to reciprocate.

Obama's conciliatory message may have been on Castro's mind as the Cuban government began making improvements to its much maligned human rights record this summer. More than 40 Cuban political prisoners have been released from jail in recent months. Dozens more might soon follow as part of the government's unprecedented human rights dialogue with the Cuban Catholic Church; it's the first such dialogue of its kind for the church, an institution that previously had been treated with suspicion, if not hostility, by the Cuban government. The political changes have been paired with sweeping labor and economic reforms that have, however belatedly, begun to liberalize the moribund economy: 10 percent of Cuba's workforce will shift into the private sector by next year.

[maddezmom]

1. flamingdem

Please remember DU copyright policy:
Copyrights: Do not copy-and-paste entire articles onto this discussion forum. When referencing copyrighted work, post a short excerpt (not exceeding 4 paragraphs) with a link back to the original.

here is the link.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/10/19/stiffing_havana

thanks in advance

[flamingdem]

2. Thanks for finding the link, I'll edit nt

[maddezmom]

3. thanks for editing it

:hi:

[Mika]

4. There is no copyright to this argument.

I understand the copyright issues here on DU regarding copyrighted articles, but the OP argument is not copyrighted in any way.

This is an argument presented by Anya Landau French, director of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation, that is intended for public dissemination.

Hate to butt-in, but.... :shrug:

= = =

Too bad most posters here don't just email authors of posted articles to ask for permission to post entire articles here on DU. Most all do agree in a New York minute.

My two cents.

:hi:

:party: :grouphug: :dem:

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[maddezmom]

5. I'll ask admin to make sure

I found the link here:
http://www.newamerica.net/user/246
and as you can see at the bottom it carries a FP copright. Here is the copyright policy at New America Foundation:


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[Mika]

6. Thanks.

I appreciate the time you've taken to clarify this.

:hi:

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