We just want to start seeing other communists.

I always predicted (as in starting the day after the 2008 election) we would exchange embassies and end the embargo before Obama left office. He kept me biting my nails for a while, there, but better late than never!

that and as long as the Republicans are in charge it probably won't happen. So I think that your prediction about the end of the embargo before Obama leaves office will not come true.

The Republicans only pretend with their God fetish. The one thing they really worship is money. Hotel chains like Hyatt and Marriott are licking their chops at the chance to build hotels on Cuban beaches, and you can bet that Hertz and Avis aren't far behind. Then FedEx, DHL and UPS will be there to deliver and pick up stuff for the tourists, and American, Delta and United (if they can ever find the airport) will be quick to follow. Cubana will want in, and will be courted by Star Alliance, Sky Team and One World as if the airline were runner up of the Miss Universe pageant visiting a frat party.

Those interests will find a way to remind the Republicans that they expect a return on their contributions, and that if the Democrats are the ones pulling for them in this race for the cash, their contributions will go where the money's friends are. Since the next President (as things stand now) looks to be the winner of the Democratic nomination, I'll bet the Republicans are willing to let this one go as a "gesture of good will," even though the very concept is foreign to them.

The Cuban government has already stated that "opening Cuba to trade" does not mean "allowing American companies to flood in". The Cuban economy remains state controlled, and that's unlikely to change any time soon. Cuba will also be keeping its existing laws, which prevent foreign ownership of Cuban land. Their government has been adamant that opening relations with the United States does NOT mean that the country is returning to 1959 when Americans and American companies owned and ran much of the nation as "their" resort. While most Cubans are excited at the thought of having new resorts open up, the authorities in Havana and other coastal cities have also assured their people that they will only permit development that fits with the existing architectural aesthetics of the cities.

The Cuban beaches are unlikely to be lined with American hotel chains in our lifetimes. An "open" Cuba will remain Cuban, owned and run by Cubans...not American megacorporations. And that's a good thing.

The Marriott Warsaw was the only decent place to stay in town for a long time. I got a laugh when I got the bill--2 days and two and half million zlotys (about $189 or so). American corporations will be only too happy to partner with the Cuban government if both come out of the deal smelling like a rose.

I haven't been down there for a while, but some German friends of our were just down there a couple of months ago, and there are some nice beach hotels already, run by foreign outfits (European and Canadian). As usual, off-limits to Cubans who are not employees, just like when I was invited there by their government. Like I said, that was a while ago, and I stayed in a purely Cuban place where they could keep an eye on me, even though I was there at their invitation. I freaked out one of their sales personnel when I was in line in a hard currency shop (5 postcards) and was stuck behind a Soviet Airline crew. They spoke no Spanish and the poor saleswoman spoke no Russian. Impatient to get back to my room and write my post cards, I offered to translate, since I speak Spanish and Russian. When the Russians left, I had to show my passport to buy the post cards. Her eyes bulged out when she saw my US passport, after having just gone back and forth between Spanish and Russian. Too bad I didn't have a photo of that look!

American megacorporations aren't the only megacorporations out there, and the ones from other countries haven't exactly been twiddling their thumbs waiting for us to come late and then edge them out. Plenty of their beaches are lined with hotels--just not ours. That's only a good thing if they are as environmentally conscious as they should be in order not to mess the place up. You don't have to be American to do that. Plenty of German chains have disfigured Mallorca with out one bit of help from us. I hope that when they come, they come tastefully, and with great consideration to both environment and local population. We've seen many of the best coastal areas of Mallorca ruined with wall-to-wall hotels, very few of which are American. Europeans know how to wreck a nice place as well as anyone else.

...is their own personal job security. And a huge chunk of the GOP base still think they're living in the McCarthy era and anyone ending the embargo with Cuba would be a commie sympathizer.

So in this particular case wouldn't bet on them going along.

and common sense. But the party has gone over the deep end and is controlled by extremists who won't follow any sort of reason.

Then it becomes a matter of what their donors want, and if they pull the money plug, *poof* no more Republican candidates.