Jim Reed
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cheesy americans
I’m not a big baseball fan but the World Classic, which starts March 3rd is a short series and fun in political as well as sports terms.
The U.S. initially withheld permission for Cuba to play because of financial concerns.
But officials from Major League Baseball and the Players Association reapplied in late December and assured the Treasury Department that Cuba would donate any profits it receives to victims of Hurricane Katrina — a guarantee that the communist country would receive no financial profit from the event.
The American government is so cheesy.
Responses to “cheesy americans”
February 14th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Just so you know JD, I didn’t mean that Americans were cheesy just the bushies
I don’t know if it’s hypocritical as much as it is political…in a silly kind of way…but for sure it hurts the Cuban people and it makes the United States look like a foolish bully. And the sad thing is it accomplishes zilch.
If you’re interested in Cuba, here’s a good blog-
February 14th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
The reason that I see the embargo as being hypocritical is that the U.S. (as I’m sure you’re aware of) does a lot of business with other “non-democratic” states. Basically, it appears to my naive eyes that the reason they continue it is twofold. One, dropping it now would show how wrong it has been for so long, and secondly, to appease a very vocal and politically active Cuban-American minority in South Florida.
Actually, I’ve been fascinated by Cuba’s history ever since I visited there many years ago with my wife. I still remember the time her and I went exploring the rural countryside on motorcycles. I remember her’s broke down in a town and we got swarmed by a dozen or so teenagers. One of them took it off us, walked it around the corner to his mechanic friend and brought it back to us in good shape. In some places in North America, we probably would of never seen the bike again. IMHO if you study the history of Cuba from primary sources, it is extremely fascinating. In particular, I find the early idealistic writings of Che Guevara particularly interesting. I’ll check out the blog that you mentioned- thanx.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
the short answer, JD, is- you are right on…
my point about the hypocrisy is that this was almost a one-off, unique decision the Americans made (i.e. the embargo), after the Cubans decided to take charge of their own affairs- which meant nationalising the banks and a number of other American, Canadian and European assets.
Maybe a better term for the American attitude would be vengeful or vindictive.
The Canadians, British and European states accepted the Cubans’ right to determine their own political and economic future, the Americans never did.
I regard the Cuban politique as somewhere between dictatorship and democracy…but there’s no doubt, it’s authoritarian…with an elitist bureaucracy. The Cuban people however, are refreshingly decent and honest, compared with the rest of the Caribbean. They are also the best educated of the latin American nations.
I find it interesting, for example, that the infant mortality rate in Cuba is lower than that of the United States.
There is a whole debate and discussion required, insofar as the Cuban experience is concerned.
February 14th, 2006 at 10:57 am
The American government’s embargo of Cuba is hypocritical (to say the least). How long does it take a country to realize that a policy is not working? I was disappointed that Clinton didn’t lift the embargo. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the embargo (in addition to being inhumane and hypocritical) has the opposite effect that Kennedy thought that it would have fifty years ago.