Comments on: Which Latin American country matters most? http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/06/27/which-latin-american-country-matters-most/ Continuity and change in Havana, Miami and Washington Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:21:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba | Cuba today http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/06/27/which-latin-american-country-matters-most/comment-page-1/#comment-111 Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba | Cuba today Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:47:25 +0000 http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/?p=923#comment-111 [...] Read more: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba [...] [...] Read more: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba [...]

]]> By: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba | Cuba today http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/06/27/which-latin-american-country-matters-most/comment-page-1/#comment-110 Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba | Cuba today Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:51:05 +0000 http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/?p=923#comment-110 [...] See more here: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba [...] [...] See more here: Which Latin American country matters most? » Cuba [...]

]]> By: walterlx http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/06/27/which-latin-american-country-matters-most/comment-page-1/#comment-109 walterlx Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:47:41 +0000 http://cuba.foreignpolicyblogs.com/?p=923#comment-109 Thanks for drawing attention to this Newsweek article by Moises Naim. I'll share it with others. His idea that Cuba's military involvement in the struggle against South African apartheid served the interests of the Kremlin was also the same excuse Washington gave to cut off diplomatic talks with the island at that time. The argument is false. Read the book CONFLICTING MISSIONS by Piero Glejeses. So, in an inverted way, Naim shares the same obsession as Washington's policy makers does with Cuba. Funny thing, though Washington is today the odd-country-out with relation to Cuba. Brazil, which Naim cites so approvingly in contrast to Cuba, has completely normal relations with the revolutionary island, and favors its full reintegration into the structures of the continent. Only Washington refuses to have fully normal relations with Cuba as does all of the rest of Latin America today, including Brazil. And when Lula goes to Cuba, he meets with Fidel and Raul, not with the opponents of the Cuban government. There is a rather obvious message in that choice, which Moises Naim chooses not to mention. The road to Latin America today leads through Havana, not around nor against it. This is what Washington and Newsweek's Moises Naim fail to and refuse to understand. It's time that THEY got over THEIR anti-Cuba obsession. Thanks for drawing attention to this Newsweek article by Moises Naim. I’ll share it with others. His idea that Cuba’s military involvement in the struggle against South African apartheid served the interests of the Kremlin was also the same excuse Washington gave to cut off diplomatic talks with the island at that time. The argument is false. Read the book CONFLICTING MISSIONS by Piero Glejeses.

So, in an inverted way, Naim shares the same obsession as Washington’s policy makers does with Cuba. Funny thing, though Washington is today the odd-country-out with relation to Cuba. Brazil, which Naim cites so approvingly in contrast to Cuba, has completely normal relations with the revolutionary island, and favors its full reintegration into the structures of the continent. Only Washington refuses to have fully normal relations with Cuba as does all of the rest of Latin America today, including Brazil.

And when Lula goes to Cuba, he meets with Fidel and Raul, not with the opponents of the Cuban government. There is a rather obvious message in that choice, which Moises Naim chooses not to mention.

The road to Latin America today leads through Havana, not around nor against it. This is what Washington and Newsweek’s Moises Naim fail to and refuse to understand.
It’s time that THEY got over THEIR anti-Cuba obsession.

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