General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere it is, the speech heard around the world today
concerning normalizing relations with Cuba.
flamingdem
(39,303 posts)and I loved that he said about the lives of Cubans "no es facil" meaning "it's not easy" a saying every Cuban on the island uses.
madokie
(51,076 posts)tears of joy, no aprehensions, no regrets all just looking forward to the good that will come of this
I'm old enough to remember that C&H used to stand for Cuban and Hawaii sugar.
flamingdem
(39,303 posts)- must have been many in Cuba thanking Ellegua today!
malaise
(267,801 posts)Love it
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Thank you President Obama.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)on this auspicious occasion, or doing photo shoots?
Schema Thing
(10,283 posts)Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)Last edited Thu Dec 18, 2014, 06:21 AM - Edit history (1)
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-cuba-relations-guantanamo-bay-will-not-be-closed-part-thaw-white-house-says-1761851US Cuba Relations: Guantanamo Bay Will Not Be Closed As Part Of Thaw, White House Says
By Dennis Lynch @neato_itsdennis on December 17 2014 4:56 PM
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base will not be under discussion, the White House said on Wednesday. U.S. President Barack Obama announces a shift in policy toward Cuba in an address to the nation from Washington, Dec. 17, 2014. Reuters/Doug Mills/Pool
Re-engagement with Cuba will not affect the status of the U.S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the White House said Wednesday, according to McClatchy DC.
President Barack Obama's announcement of restored relations between the two companies came as Cuba released Alan Gross, an American who has been held there for five years. The U.S. released three Cuban nationals in exchange.
Cuba reportedly asked the U.S. to return Guantanamo, a 45-square-mile plot of land on the southeast tip of the island, but the U.S declined. American military has detained high-value prisoners captured in the War on Terror there since 2002.
Obama said his broad approach to Cuba will include re-establishing a diplomatic relationship, easing travel restrictions so as to reconnect families and promote economic growth in Cuba, and ending an embargo that went into effect in 1960. Lifting the embargo would require a vote in Congress.
The status of the Guantanamo Bay facilities is not mentioned in either of the White Houses press releases on Cuba, even though the administration stated it did in fact want to close the controversial facility. A number of Guantanamo prisoners -- who do not have the right of habeas corpus -- have gone on hunger strike to protest their continued imprisonment without trial.
A number of Guantanamo detainees were subject to the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques," which critics call torture, before they were interned there. An exhaustive report by the Senate Intelligence Committee released last week shed light on the tactics.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)suddenly a reason for surprise?
I asked, because - Cuba. Guantanomo Bay. Place where we have people we've renditioned.
It seems sensible enough to inquire.
I'm really hoping that this may be the preliminary step to that long-awaited closure.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)We NEED some closure from that horrible blight on our nation's history. It isn't "inconvenient" to discuss it, it's an embarrassment that we have to in the first place.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)Last edited Wed Dec 17, 2014, 09:59 PM - Edit history (1)
Beyond the Senate Torture Report
Rebecca Gordon, The Torture Wars
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175934/tomgram%3A_rebecca_gordon%2C_the_torture_wars/#more
Its the political story of the week in Washington. At long last, after the endless stalling and foot-shuffling, the arguments about redaction and CIA computer hacking, the claims that its release might stoke others out there in the Muslim world to violence and throw the C.I.A. to the wolves, the reportyou know which oneis out. Or at least, the redacted executive summary of it is available to be read and, as Senator Mark Udall said before its release, When this report is declassified, people will abhor what they read. Theyre gonna be disgusted. Theyre gonna be appalled. Theyre gonna be shocked at what we did.
So now we can finally consider the partial release of the long-awaited report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the gruesome CIA interrogation methods used during the Bush administrations Global War on Terror. But heres one important thing to keep in mind: this report addresses only the past practices of a single agency. Its narrow focus encourages us to believe that, whatever the CIA may have once done, that whole sorry torture chapter is now behind us.
In other words, the moment we get to read it, its already time to turn the page. So be shocked, be disgusted, be appalled, but dont be fooled. The Senate torture report, so many years and obstacles in the making, should only be the starting point for a discussion, not the final word on US torture. Heres why.
Mainstream coverage of US torture in general, and of this new report in particular, rests on three false assumptions:
1. The most important question is whether torture worked.
2. US torture ended when George W. Bush left office.
3. The only kind of torture that really counts happens in foreign war zones.
Lets look at each of these in order.
Article was also published by The Nation.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)heinous to focus on when the market crashes to direct the misery inward.
How's that thought for you?
I'm absolutely disgusted with our politicians, this celebrating that Obama opened trade with Cuba (which I DO agree with), while turning a blind eye to trade deals that will end 65% of the wealth of those who possess any of it, and lets our standing in the view of the world be degraded because on HIS, YOUR and MINE - our watch, we rectally fed human beings that we weren't even certain were guilty of a goddamned thing.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)The only part I'm a little leery of, is the notion of throwing hte doors open to American business and banking. That's proven, time and time again, to be an excellent way of ruining a developing nation's economy. However, i'm certai nthe cubans are well aware of this, and the topic will be worked over in detail as things progress.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)a huge crash is coming regardless because the default swaps were such a handy way to explain why the LAST economic train wreck occurred. Congress paved the way for yet another one, and I'm pretty sure it will destroy the FDIC this time.
I hope I'm being over-cautious and stating something that won't happen. I've lost that faith, though, because I've seen the cycles of every 7 years the market resets itself, and a HUGE one is coming.
Take your money out, a bit at a time, because if you have savings (which many people don't anymore, but I digress) you won't get saved this time.
Brother Buzz
(36,212 posts)Cha
(295,899 posts)Methinks the President is going to stick it to the pukes for these next two years. He has been unleashed and taking advantage of it
Cha
(295,899 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)This is a momentous day in our lives
Cha
(295,899 posts)thanks to Cubano, Ted Cruz.
Ole!
madokie
(51,076 posts)when I realized that President O was going to do what needed to be done, things that he legally can do that is. No way would he try or even want to do something illegal
Its almost like every day is another awesome day in the life of this old man and by extension the whole country, hell the whole world.
Cha
(295,899 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)from here on out all he has to do is be true to himself and I trust he will be surprising us with some awesome happenings. Things that should already have been done that now he can do that he doesn't have to worry with stepping on anyones toes while doing it. He's a smart man and I'd bet money that he is going to pull some things out of his hat that will surprise us all, all good stuff too. Like reclassifying weed and emptying out some of our prisons of non violent drug offenders etc.
The pukes have done pissed this man off and I'm happy to see it finally happen.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Walter Hickey - Oct. 24, 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-plan-second-term-economy-jobs-election-2012-10?op=1
The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
But above all, try something.
The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.
We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer. We need the courage of the young.
Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you. May every one of us be granted the courage, the faith and the vision to give the best that is in us to that remaking!
Oglethorpe University Commencement Address (22 May 1932).
One paragraph at Wikipedia, split up by me. Yes, that was the intent of President Roosevelt, and that is what we need - not the slogans - not the labels - the intent behind things, with life being the most important thing.
yellowwoodII
(616 posts)This is way overdue
freshwest
(53,661 posts)malaise
(267,801 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)malaise
(267,801 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)piss on a bunch of asshole republiCONs who will try their damnedests to derail this big step in the right direction.
malaise
(267,801 posts)Seriously that was a checkmate moment. Left them scrambling like typical ReTHUG morons.
Road kill Rubio exposed yet again that he is a sub-par amateur attempting to box way above his weight - I recommend that he grabs another bottle of water and heads back to the lower ranks where he belongs..
madokie
(51,076 posts)Definitely in over his head