tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post5904809067801034868..comments2024-03-28T01:33:22.764-04:00Comments on The DiploMad 2.0: On Cuba: Do You Trust Obama?DiploMadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02316439950882822419noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-1333186557138270622014-12-26T15:19:55.145-05:002014-12-26T15:19:55.145-05:00On Cuba: Do you trust Obama?
Dip, you could'v...On Cuba: Do you trust Obama?<br /><br />Dip, you could've skipped the first two words. And I'm assuming this question is purely rhetorical.Akakyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00187471562516416268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-70349353334087459312014-12-24T18:56:40.697-05:002014-12-24T18:56:40.697-05:00Merry Christmas, Diplomad....
From our Texas ranch...Merry Christmas, Diplomad....<br />From our Texas ranch to you.....<br /><br />East Texas Rancher....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-50286654469172149812014-12-24T15:42:45.129-05:002014-12-24T15:42:45.129-05:00Yes, thanks, David--and the same to you!
and to...Yes, thanks, David--and the same to you! <br /><br />and to our host, Chag Shimeach! Mi Yemalel....?Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-37218708284224389542014-12-24T15:40:45.995-05:002014-12-24T15:40:45.995-05:00Oops. Retrocession of Taiwan to China in 1945.Oops. Retrocession of Taiwan to China in 1945.Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-19123693665315512222014-12-24T15:40:13.077-05:002014-12-24T15:40:13.077-05:00Interesting observation about Cuban medical traini...Interesting observation about Cuban medical training, Graham. <br /><br />When I was in China back in the early 90's, I got into a conversation with a migrant worker. One thing I asked about was "Barefoot doctors"--peasants with some rudimentary training who, back in the Sillier 'Seventies, were seen as a serious model for the "Tiers Monde" to emulate. The migrant laughed, said that all they did was inject people with sugar water with one unsterilized syringe for the whole village, and if you were really lucky, they'd lay a copy of the Little Red Book on your chest and chant revolutionary slogans. Hence, when I read of whole villages in Henan province infected with AIDS, I was not surprised, even though I felt very bad for the people involved. <br /><br />I also knew a few colleagues in China who, as college students, were all excited about "the Communist experiment" in China; but once they got on the ground, they became very disillusioned. For one, it was getting to know some Uyghurs while on a train trip; for another, it was being accosted by prostitutes (when Mao was supposed to have done away with them). Of course, the Tiananmen matter pretty much killed it for everyone. <br /><br />Among people who never had illusions about the Chinese Communists, one of my Taiwanese in-law relatives told me "We're all Taiwan Independence now (现在,我们都是台独分子)" after 06/04/89--and these were from a hairy extended clan whose senior generation in Japanese-ruled Taiwan were made to learn [accented] Mandarin after school, thought things were put right with retrocession in 1949, and whose only members who ever talked about their military service were some uncles who came of age in 1949--just in time to hold the Communists off Quemoy (Jinmen).<br /><br />BTW, after a few years of living as a college lecturer in Taiwan, I developed a number of odd perspectives on that problem which didn't exactly mesh with what I'd been told in Modern Chinese History 101-102. I guess paradoxically, I developed a perspective on Chinese culture that was simultaneously both more critical AND more appreciative.<br /><br />As for the young Central American you mentioned, I have to admit I have a lot of mixed feelings about the immigration mess. I currently teach ESOL, and know a number of families who are undocumented. The law's the law, but for at least some, I'd be willing to slap the wrist, make them pay a hefty fine, and then give some kind of temporary status in a number of cases. On the other hand, no country can afford to simply abolish its own borders. And as for people who immigrated according to the rules, I have no gripe at all.<br /><br />Then again, will the people in your young medical friend's country be getting decent medical care, or, will they tell the same story the migrant worker in China told me?Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-75572224505363578352014-12-24T08:28:57.051-05:002014-12-24T08:28:57.051-05:00Thank you David. Same to you.Thank you David. Same to you.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-2562929139830386532014-12-24T04:34:06.330-05:002014-12-24T04:34:06.330-05:00Totally off topic.
It is 20:30 hours Australian...Totally off topic. <br /><br />It is 20:30 hours Australian Eastern Summer Time here on the 24th December and I'd like to wish you all a Happy Hannukah or Merry Christmas depending on your beliefs.<br /><br />Kol tuv<br /><br />David from OzDavid-from-Oznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-49858274800543634652014-12-23T22:22:41.765-05:002014-12-23T22:22:41.765-05:00Cuba will use it like china. Except much shittier....Cuba will use it like china. Except much shittier.<br />leapermanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-9780836494865334972014-12-23T20:05:34.101-05:002014-12-23T20:05:34.101-05:00Just to repeat: I'm no fan of Cuba's horri...Just to repeat: I'm no fan of Cuba's horrible dictatorship, but I still think in the long run it's time we changed our policy, which just has not worked.<br /><br />You might appreciate this tidbit: Some years back I was working with a medical mission group in Central America. American churches wanted to pay for a local lad to get his medical education. However, everyone knew that if he ever came to the US to train and be qualified, he would be unlikely to return to his own country to practice. Who would blame him?<br /><br />The solution was both elegant and less expensive. They paid his way through Cuban med school. Knowing that his degree and training would never be recognized here. I met him briefly just as he got going. Nice fellow, will be of great benefit to his country, but no, his training was not that of a North American medical school. Nothing current, and modest basic knowledge.<br />Cuba's health care system is not something for us to emulate. Sorry, Hollywood.<br /><br />GrahamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-37106504157747387662014-12-23T20:00:00.648-05:002014-12-23T20:00:00.648-05:00First of all, the NY Times will have to dispatch t...First of all, the NY Times will have to dispatch their current "Walter Duranty" to Cuba to tell us what we heard all these years was never true.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-72851074620993248392014-12-23T18:35:48.645-05:002014-12-23T18:35:48.645-05:00Even if I think it will ultimately be good for nor...Even if I think it will ultimately be good for normalization to proceed, I have the following observations:<br /><br />For several years, we've been treated to the Hollywood types telling us what wonderful health care Cuba has (and why did Fleabag have a Spanish specialist flown in to treat his diverticulitis? Why do so few of the Cuban doctors who have sought asylum manage to pass our medical licensing tests?), how much care the Castro bros. have for the education of their subjects, blah blah blah. They were softening us up for this normalization.<br /><br />As for the Nixon-Kissinger opening to Beijing, what we've seen since shows Henry Kissinger as one of the most overrated people ever to pass through Washington (which has had its share of overrated people). He is still positively fawning in his adulation of Mao, which is an utterly shameful position to take for someone who came to America as a refugee from someone psychologically very close to Mao, and about as destructive. Under the Clintons, I dutifully reported what I saw of human rights abuses, corvee, and child labor when Vice Consul in Guangzhou, yet we gave Beijing permanent MFN status. Now, we see Russia and Mainland China as anti-American allies again. We got nothing, and we undercut one ally (Taiwan), while driving another (South Korea) into a position of wishful thinking that Beijing is actually friendly and won't save Pyongyang's bacon when push comes to shove.<br /><br />However, while China is undergoing an interesting cultural ferment due to the opening, there is no telling what will happen when enough contact between Cuba and the States has gone one for a while. I would bet the farm that we'll quickly see the end of Cuba as a destination for the Pilgrim Left as the bad news about its supposed health care advantages come out. Further, there will probably be a re-appreciation for what pre-Castro Cuba had.Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-14907033754094615792014-12-23T12:38:29.467-05:002014-12-23T12:38:29.467-05:00i agree with everything that diplomad has stated h...i agree with everything that diplomad has stated here on cuba. my own small footnote comes from my two years in treasury as a foreign assets control officer, before i joined state. i recall that, since the embargo kept u.s. banks from loaning money to deadbeat cuba, we were happily for once just watching from the sidelines during cuba's perennial debt restructuring talks with the euros, canada and japan. i guess obama just bought us a seat at that sorry and stupid table. jthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06813674789003385660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-50920856270658539882014-12-23T12:32:20.889-05:002014-12-23T12:32:20.889-05:00Cuba already has open trade relations with the UK,...Cuba already has open trade relations with the UK, Canada, and other countries. I had a UK co-worker who went to Cuba for her honeymoon. <br /><br />They've seen "a bit of the outside world", and it's changed nothing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-49689549508235213582014-12-23T10:25:53.890-05:002014-12-23T10:25:53.890-05:00And now State carries sperm so convicted enemies c...And now State carries sperm so convicted enemies can spawn http://nypost.com/2014/12/22/released-communist-spy-returns-to-pregnant-wife-in-cuba/ <br />"US officials later acknowledged that Hernandez’s sperm was collected at prison and then flown to Havana, where his wife was artificially inseminated.<br />The plan was hatched with the help of US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), his office confirmed, to help ensure the release of ailing US aid worker Alan Gross."Faustahttp://faustasblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-73267605875397267372014-12-23T06:13:16.668-05:002014-12-23T06:13:16.668-05:00OK, Rupert/Bloke, I am going to give you a sportin...OK, Rupert/Bloke, I am going to give you a sporting chance to redeem yourself. <br /><br />Let's take this statement: <br /><br />"Iraq - personally I am conviced that there was no evidence that there was any clear and present danger to the West from the Hussein regime, therefore the invasion was justified by lies."<br /><br />No evidence equals lies.<br /><br />Now this statement:<br /><br />"Say what you like about me but call me a leftist and you are seriously out of order."<br /><br />There is no evidence that you are not a leftist, therefore you must be lying.<br /><br />See how that works?<br /><br />~M.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-4787366151041404852014-12-23T03:44:33.816-05:002014-12-23T03:44:33.816-05:00wow... that's a must read.... gotta pick it up...wow... that's a must read.... gotta pick it up<br /><br />- reader #1482Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-38987429706410648662014-12-23T03:42:16.209-05:002014-12-23T03:42:16.209-05:00As for the financial crocodile death roll, 'st...As for the financial crocodile death roll, 'starve the beast' means lower taxes and saddle the government with such 'useful' debt that your liberal successors can't get financing for the grandiose entitlement promises with which they duped their voters.<br />A hundred F-35s may cost us a *ridiculous* amount of money for a plane that's going to be blasted out of the sky by tiny drones, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to a new entitlement promised out to eternity.<br /><br />- reader #1482Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-7081494452927892212014-12-23T02:36:37.845-05:002014-12-23T02:36:37.845-05:00Anon
Thanks for the thoughful put down /sarc.
Sa...Anon<br /><br />Thanks for the thoughful put down /sarc.<br /><br />Say what you like about me but call me a leftist and you are seriously out of order.<br /><br />I loathe and despise leftists. But I thought the Bush presidency was a serious abberration. Reagan would have handled that whole situation a lot better, without dismantling cherished American freedoms in the process.Jack the doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00607160793346466340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-29911637509467130622014-12-22T21:16:43.403-05:002014-12-22T21:16:43.403-05:00Given the reporting that the Cuban regime plans to...Given the reporting that the Cuban regime plans to confiscate the salaries paid to Cubans leaving them only with their current "maximum wage," what makes yo think they will be "allowed to see at least a bit of the outside world?"BlogDoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17426718958622754589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-59324055651254205912014-12-22T17:45:31.714-05:002014-12-22T17:45:31.714-05:00IIRC, Henry Wallace during the Korean War repudiat...IIRC, Henry Wallace during the Korean War repudiated the organization he founded (which fell into the hands of a crank lawyer from San Francisco named Vincent Hallinan) and much of what he had advocated in the realm of foreign policy over the period running from 1941 to 1950. Art Decohttp://wwrtc.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-18995821418496134702014-12-22T15:35:15.248-05:002014-12-22T15:35:15.248-05:00Graham? As to your concluding sentence ...
I'...Graham? As to your concluding sentence ...<br /><br />I'm not always so gracious in applying what would normally be taken as an immense compliment but <br /><br /><i>If there's one thing you have to give O&Co. it's <strong>Efficiency!</strong></i><br /><br />ArkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-89847783979084716242014-12-22T15:19:55.500-05:002014-12-22T15:19:55.500-05:00I said I wouldn't but ...
Bloke in Italy? Don...I said I wouldn't but ...<br /><br />Bloke in Italy? Don't know how lengthy a time you've spent ready here but even a brief trip through our host's archives will disabuse you of any notion that Bush 43 hasn't come in for some serious flak.<br /><br />Why just a few posts ago I recall - can't remember just which - Dip closed his thoughts with, paraphrasing, <i>"Shut down DHS!"</i> ... many many more such examples I can confidently assure.<br /><br />Oh. A "Gimme" might be entering the acronym TARP into Search. Maybe, The Chinese Credit Card, but I think the latter might've been simply included in the body of a paragraph.<br /><br />FOX might not really deserve the accolade "balanced" but I can also with high confidence, assure you Republican Administrations have not enjoyed a larger "free-fire zone" than on this site.<br /><br />It's just that this MisAdministration provides it seems, <i>A *Laugh* Every Day.</i><br /><br />ArkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-35341354253688810172014-12-22T15:04:02.751-05:002014-12-22T15:04:02.751-05:00I don't really share the views of my fellow ri...I don't really share the views of my fellow right wing sisterhood on the Cuba issue. I do agree that there is little likelihood that Obama will manage this matter to the benefit of the United States.<br />However for 50 some years we've cow-towed to the demands of a small but vocal Cuban exile group in Florida, with no real development of a "policy" toward Cuba. And nothing has changed. The Castro thuggery is unchanged. Now those two old geezers have one foot each in the pine box, (and Fidel for that matter may already be in one!). We have to have some sort of presence there if we hope to have any influence on who will follow Raul in power. <br />Once allowed to see at least a bit of the outside world, the Cuban people will demand some improvement in their lot, and we need to be ready to provide it. Otherwise, the Bolivarian bunch will be quick to jump in.<br /><br />I think normalizing relations with Cuba will be to our mutual benefit. I doubt Obama can mess it up that much in the short time he has left.<br /><br />GrahamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-65566976501928703692014-12-22T14:43:50.304-05:002014-12-22T14:43:50.304-05:00Great bookGreat bookDiploMadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02316439950882822419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-83182365322469905592014-12-22T12:20:35.626-05:002014-12-22T12:20:35.626-05:00I cannot, with good conscience, allow this to go u...I cannot, with good conscience, allow this to go unanswered properly.<br /><br /><br /><em>"As an admirer of your blog and your insights and wisdom regarding US foreign policy in this wonderful Obama era, I must say<strong> I feel</strong> [As opposed to <strong>think</strong>] your arguments are weakened somewhat when you seem to imply that George Bush was anything other than a disastrous president. He may well have been less bad than Obama, but that really is damning with faint praise."</em><br /><br />This is a first: a leftist that thinks Obama is worse than Bush.<br /><br /><em>"He whacked up government spending by miles, and whilst his firm and prompt action against Afghanistan was<strong> I think</strong> the right response, he should never have turned a short sharp shock into a lasting occupation. Iraq - personally I am conviced that there was no evidence that there was any clear and present danger to the West from the Hussein regime, therefore the invasion was justified by lies."</em><br /><br />Please Note: when the Bloke agrees with Bush he thinks, but when he disagrees he feels.<br /><br />No evidence includes the 14 U.N. resolutions, the firing at our planes protecting the No-fly zones, the breaking of the agreement to end the first Gulf War, and the payments to Palestinian suicide bombers to the tune of $25,000 a copy.<br /><br /><br /><em>"I believe that had Bush and the whole coterie surrounding him not stood to benefit financially from that war then it would not have taken place."</em><br /><br />This is what really burns me up: Leftist Projection. there is not a dram of proof to this allegation and it can only be conjured by a leftist because that is what a leftist would do. Only Communists kill like that, Bloke. And remember: <a href="http://teriobrien.com/" rel="nofollow">"A Communist is just a Socialist who really means it!"</a><br /><br /><em>"Sometimes it seems to me your comments about Bush are informed by a touch of tribalism, and it is a shame because it lets down much of the rest."</em><br /><br />I think your comments are informed by a touch of Teh Stoopid™, but hey, we all have an opinion.<br /><br /><em>"Great blog though and I come every day."</em><br /><br />See you tomorrow! And have a wonderfully Merry Christmas, Comrade!<br /><br />~M.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com