ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style2 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style3 { height: 69px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style2">Obama Warms on Cuba</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright March 8, 2009<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">P</span>resident Barack Obama moved intelligently away from a slow-moving economic mess to a potential foreign policy success, signaling the White House will ease travel and trade restrictions to Cuba.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With 82-year-old communist ideologue Fidel Castro forced to step down February 2008 due to illness, his 76-year-old brother Raul seems more amenable to dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Castro drove an irreconcilable wedge between with the U.S., confiscating U.S. property during the 1959 Cuban revolution and subsequent purges, incarcerating and murdering political dissidents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Exiles living in Miami and elsewhere want nothing less than a return of lost assets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower imposed a crippling embargo on Cuba, banning trade and travel to the communist island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama signaled during the campaign, much to the chagrin of Cuban exiles, he was open to change.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>U.S. authorities hint at turning a new page with Cuba when they meet for a Caribbean and Latin American conference in Trinidad and Tobago next month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Administration officials urge relaxing travel and bank funds transfers to Cuba, a step closer to ending the 50-year travel and trade embargo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>  The effect on ordinary Cubans will be fairly significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It will improve things and be very welcome, said an unnamed Cuban official, expecting changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It just takes us back to the 1990s, when policies under former President Bill Clinton were less severe than those of former President George W. Bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Recent trade and defense overtures by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev prompted the U.S. to reconsider its policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s no logical reason to continue a trade embargo that drives Cuba into the arms of Russia, at the same time, punishes U.S. businesses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Cuban Americans have to get over age-old hatreds and realize that things changed in their once cherished homeland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s difficult to pass judgment on the old days where U.S.-backed dictator Fulcencio Batista ruled the impoverished island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Whether the U.S. likes it or not, Castro s communist revolution at least promised better days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While far from perfect, Castro improved employment, education, health care and retirement benefits for rank-and-file Cubans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> There is a strong likelihood that Obama will announce policy changes prior to the summit, said Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programs at the Inter-American Dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Under Batista, the U.S. provided considerable exports to Cuban, especially in the areas of agriculture, communications, construction and technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S. trade, travel and financial restriction have hurt American business more than Cuba.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Obsolete trade and travel policies date back to John F. Kennedy administration, where contact with Cuba was strictly prohibited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Kennedy s disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, where the U.S. trained and supported Cuban insurgents, drove Castro to forge a strong alliance with the Soviet Union, giving Russia a foothold in Latin America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s relaxation would mark a possible turning point in U.S.-Cuban relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It would signal new pragmatism, but you would still have the embargo which is the centerpiece of U.S. policy, said Erikson, supporting strongly administration plans to normalize relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Fifty years of embargo didn t topple Castro and end the Cuban revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It punished ordinary Cubans and American businesses unable to mutually benefit from trade relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Eventually ending the embargo would open up opportunity for both nations.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>With so many foreign policy challenges facing the White House, improving relations with Cuba would show tangible success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s Iraq withdrawal and Afghanistan redeployment plans promise more setbacks at a time of economic upheaval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Opening up new markets in Cuba would be a positive step in a long slog of economic bad news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> There are some things that could be done very easily for example, it s about time we too Cuba off the terrorist list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s the beginning of the end of the policies we have had toward Cuba for 50 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s achieved nothing, it s an embarrassment, said Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba program at the Center for International Policy in Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Scholars like Smith have argued for years that the U.S. policy toward Cuba was counterproductive, hurting American businesses, ordinary Cubans and driving Cuban into the Communist bloc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have far better chances of scoring a major foreign policy success in Cuba than anything in the Middle East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While opening up the door in Cuba might antagonize some Cuban-Americans, a policy change is long overdue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Fidel s brother Raul is far more amenable to improving Cuban-U.S. relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Younger generations of Cuban exiles living in the U.S. are more open to expanding business opportunities and normalizing relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only 90 miles south of Key West, Cuba represents a new frontier for improved relations with Latin America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama s new policy toward Cuba walks a tightrope with hardliners unwilling to compromise unless Havana returns U.S. property and initiates Democratic reforms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Before killing any chance of improving relations, ending travel and trade restrictions would be a good first step.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> .John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analysing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He&#39;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html"><i>Dodging</i> <i>The Bullet</i> </a>and <i> <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</i></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home/strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>