"We opened up a new chapter with the people of Cuba..." - President Barack Obama addressing the Democratic Convention
President Obama's "new chapter with the people of Cuba" has a familiar ring that amounts to an act of political plagiarism. Remember that according to Plagiarism.org "the practice of presenting as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source" is plagiarism.
On July 28, 2016 the President repeated an assertion he first made on December 17, 2014 that he was making "the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years" when he said that they would begin the normalization of relations with the Castro regime.
The current Cuba policy is neither new or original but a copy of the policy pursued by President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s and President Bill Clinton in the 1990s that in both cases extended the life of the Castro dictatorship at the expense of U.S. national security interests with mass exoduses from Cuba and increased bad actions that led to the policy being reversed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan and partially reversed by President George W. Bush in 2003.
Let us also not forget that the first president to normalize relations with the Castro regime was President Dwight Eisenhower in 1959. Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista regime on January 1, 1959. On January 7, 1959 the United States recognized the new Cuban government ushered in by the Castro brothers and had actively pressured the Batista dictatorship to leave imposing an arms embargo in 1958. President Eisenhower thought that he could have normal relations with the Cuban revolutionary government which was also a reason the United States recognized it within the span of a week. In comparison it had taken the United States 17 days to recognize the government of Fulgencio Batista following his March 10, 1952 coup.What happened was that Fidel Castro began installing a totalitarian communist dictatorship, engaging in mass executions, expropriating U.S. companies , embracing the Soviet Union and seeking to subvert democracies in the region . This is what led to economic sanctions in 1960 and the end of normal diplomatic relations in 1961 and the embargo on February 7, 1962 during the Kennedy administration.
President Obama's "new chapter with the people of Cuba" was neither "new" or with "the people of Cuba" but part of the Establishment's long game to normalize relations with the Castro dictatorship that stretches back six decades and time and time again proved negative not only for the people of Cuba, the people of the United States but also the people of Latin America generally.
The claim made by many in the Obama administration that the current Cuba policy was new and original after 50 years of a static policy of isolation is an example of over simplification and political plagiarism that ignored the existing source of this policy during the Carter administration and its repeated failures in the 1970s, 1990s and not surprisingly today.
History rebukes getting into bed with dictatorship whether it be in China, Vietnam, Cuba or elsewhere. Instead of a talking point to make more palatable a policy of legitimizing dictatorship with the claim that it is engaging with the people, U.S. policy should be in solidarity with the peoples striving to be free, not their oppressors. This is why Rosa María Payá Acevedo (whose dad human rights icon, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, martyred on July 22, 2012 during Obama's rush to normalized relations along with her friend Harold Cepero) felt the need to say before the Senate in February of 2015:
Alcoholics Anonymous recognizes that "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results". This sums up Cuba policy as repeatedly carried out during the Carter, Clinton and Obama presidencies.
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| In 1959 the USA recognized the Castro regime, since then pursued normal relations |
On July 28, 2016 the President repeated an assertion he first made on December 17, 2014 that he was making "the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years" when he said that they would begin the normalization of relations with the Castro regime.
The current Cuba policy is neither new or original but a copy of the policy pursued by President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s and President Bill Clinton in the 1990s that in both cases extended the life of the Castro dictatorship at the expense of U.S. national security interests with mass exoduses from Cuba and increased bad actions that led to the policy being reversed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan and partially reversed by President George W. Bush in 2003.
Let us also not forget that the first president to normalize relations with the Castro regime was President Dwight Eisenhower in 1959. Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista regime on January 1, 1959. On January 7, 1959 the United States recognized the new Cuban government ushered in by the Castro brothers and had actively pressured the Batista dictatorship to leave imposing an arms embargo in 1958. President Eisenhower thought that he could have normal relations with the Cuban revolutionary government which was also a reason the United States recognized it within the span of a week. In comparison it had taken the United States 17 days to recognize the government of Fulgencio Batista following his March 10, 1952 coup.What happened was that Fidel Castro began installing a totalitarian communist dictatorship, engaging in mass executions, expropriating U.S. companies , embracing the Soviet Union and seeking to subvert democracies in the region . This is what led to economic sanctions in 1960 and the end of normal diplomatic relations in 1961 and the embargo on February 7, 1962 during the Kennedy administration.
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| Current Cuba policy is a retread of Carter's 1970s policy copied by Clinton in 1990s |
President Obama's "new chapter with the people of Cuba" was neither "new" or with "the people of Cuba" but part of the Establishment's long game to normalize relations with the Castro dictatorship that stretches back six decades and time and time again proved negative not only for the people of Cuba, the people of the United States but also the people of Latin America generally.
The claim made by many in the Obama administration that the current Cuba policy was new and original after 50 years of a static policy of isolation is an example of over simplification and political plagiarism that ignored the existing source of this policy during the Carter administration and its repeated failures in the 1970s, 1990s and not surprisingly today.
History rebukes getting into bed with dictatorship whether it be in China, Vietnam, Cuba or elsewhere. Instead of a talking point to make more palatable a policy of legitimizing dictatorship with the claim that it is engaging with the people, U.S. policy should be in solidarity with the peoples striving to be free, not their oppressors. This is why Rosa María Payá Acevedo (whose dad human rights icon, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, martyred on July 22, 2012 during Obama's rush to normalized relations along with her friend Harold Cepero) felt the need to say before the Senate in February of 2015:
Don’t turn your backs on Cubans again; don’t earn the distrust of the new actors of our inevitably free future, in exchange for complicity with a gerontocracy who belongs to the Cold War era.Things are getting worse in Cuba today and negatively impacting the United States, but that shouldn't be a surprise it happened before in the 1970s when Carter did it first and it got Americans killed in the United States, and it happened again in the 1990s when Clinton did it again and it got Americans killed again.
Alcoholics Anonymous recognizes that "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results". This sums up Cuba policy as repeatedly carried out during the Carter, Clinton and Obama presidencies.
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Obama didn't plagiarize anything. Eisenhower granted Fidel Castro's gov't diplomatic recognition because he was duped into thinking that Castro was intent on restoring democracy to Cuba, only to witness Fidel's true colors as he expropriated US-owned properties and aligned his country with the USSR. Carter's decision not to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba (which was done last year) was a nod to Americans who were still loathe to the idea of a pro-Soviet communist state 90 miles off Florida. Remember, Carter's opening of the US interests section was reflective of his belief in human rights and talking to friend and foe alike, even as Carter himself was not blind to the Soviet military presence in Cuba and Cuba's military adventures in Africa.
ReplyDeleteDavidow... Carter pushed forth on opening Interests sections in their respective capitols and lifted travel restrictions for all Americans. If you read the strategy employed and Carter's own statement that he would have completed normalization during his second term then the political plagiarism of the Obama administration becomes clear. The difference is that Obama, unlike Jimmy Carter had a second term in which to push forward on the policy. However it was a rehash of Carter's Cuba policy read the papers in the Carter library and it is all too clear. Along with the predictable disaster that is unfolding. http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/02/president-obamas-plagiarism-of-jimmy.html
DeleteU.S. and Cuba open direct talks, March 24, 1977
Deletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/us-and-cuba-open-direct-talks-march-24-1977-221071
JIMMY CARTER DIRECTIVE ON NORMALIZING CUBA RELATIONS
ReplyDeleteNational Security Archive Posts 1977 Presidential Order to
Reestablish Diplomatic Ties with Castro Government http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/20020515/