Why are we spending money on Cuba?

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:08 PM

Castro jokes he won't be in office at age 100

BAYAMO, Cuba (Reuters) -- Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader since 1959, joked on Wednesday that he had no plans to be in power when he is 100 years old.

Castro, who will be 80 on August 13, made fun of his long-time ideological nemesis the United States in a speech in which he said more Cubans are reaching 100 thanks to the social services of his Communist government.

"But, our little neighbors to the north should not fear, I am not planning to be in office at that age," the left-wing firebrand said.

Castro spoke to 100,000 people at a rally in the eastern city of Bayamo, Cuba, on the anniversary of the assault he led on a military garrison in 1953 that sparked his revolution.

The Cuban leader has outlasted nine U.S. presidents and survived CIA assassination plots, invasion attempts and the collapse of his Soviet bloc benefactors.

Castro's advancing age -- his pace has slowed since a bad fall two years ago-- has led his enemies to sharpen their knives in preparation for the day he departs the scene.

The Bush administration announced earlier this month it was tightening sanctions on Cuba and adding $80 million to efforts to build opposition to Castro's one-party state on the island.

Washington hopes to prevent a succession headed by younger brother Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister.

Castro said the United States should stop meddling and look after its own social problems, boasting that Cuba's infant mortality of 6.5 per thousand was lower than the U.S. rate.

Copyright 2006 Reuters
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americ...eut/index.html

Ok....No seriously, why are we going to spend 80 Million to build opposition for the government Cuba has? Don't give me the dictator line PLEASE. This small island, is worth $80 Million to get a regime change? Castro is right, maybe we do need to stop meddling....

ballz2wallz · 07-26-2006, 04:10 PM

to fulfill the wishes of PNAC and install a US-friendly regime when castro is gone, full of terrorists etc. like we've done with all the other countries we've helped overthrow.

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

to fulfill the wishes of PNAC and install a US-friendly regime when castro is gone, full of terrorists etc. like we've done with all the other countries we've helped overthrow.

I never heard of the PNAC, and when I just looked them up, I threw up in my mouth a little.

There are terrorists in Cuba? Why would Castro dying make it a terrorist country?

What the hell kind of resource is even there for us? Cigars and Rum?

Scrum · 07-26-2006, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

I never heard of the PNAC, and when I just looked them up, I threw up in my mouth a little.

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

There are terrorists in Cuba? Why would Castro dying make it a terrorist country?

There are terrorists in every country we don't like. That's what gives us the right to do whatever we want.

motivez · 07-26-2006, 04:18 PM

I think because we feel it's important to bring Democracy to that country after Castro is gone.

I think we've been somewhat lucky in our dealings with Cuba, and we're used to the way Castro runs things as a Communist.. but there's really no guarentee that the status quo will remain once he's gone.

That said, it's laughable that we care about Castro and Cuba enough to spend 80 million on dissident groups while completely ignoring China, who by all accounts is much, much worse.

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:19 PM

Why is it that we can only go after the countries we don't like with terrorists, but we don't go after the terrorists in countries we DO like?

ballz2wallz · 07-26-2006, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

Why is it that we can only go after the countries we don't like with terrorists

first of all, the comment about terrorists was a joke. in fact my whole first post was sarcasm. second of all, we go after countries we don't like with terrorists because those countries are friends of terrorists that want to hurt us. it's as simple as that.

but we don't go after the terrorists in countries we DO like?

because they are supposed to go after the terrorists themselves.

motivez · 07-26-2006, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

Why is it that we can only go after the countries we don't like with terrorists, but we don't go after the terrorists in countries we DO like?

Money. We don't go after China because we benefit far more from their nation being run how it currently is to risk interfering with it in any substantial way.

They float most of our debt I remember reading.

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

first of all, the comment about terrorists was a joke. in fact my whole first post was sarcasm. second of all, we go after countries we don't like with terrorists because those countries are friends of terrorists that want to hurt us. it's as simple as that.

because they are supposed to go after the terrorists themselves.

No Smiley = Didn't know it was sarcasm

OK, but in reality, do most of them really go after their own terrorists?

I just can't see Cuba as a breeding ground to become the next terrorist faction to deal with....

$80 Million is alot of money to just toss at a country.

ballz2wallz · 07-26-2006, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

No Smiley = Didn't know it was sarcasm

OK, but in reality, do most of them really go after their own terrorists?

I just can't see Cuba as a breeding ground to become the next terrorist faction to deal with....

$80 Million is alot of money to just toss at a country.

i said it because one of the huge arguments used against bush is that we were friends with saddam before we went to war with him. the same is also said about afghanistan. i believe thorgrim made a huge list of people we were 'friends' with before we went to war with them. i figured the same could apply here. therefore it was more of a joke than anything.

we want democracy in cuba, so we're supporting the opposition to a communist leader. it seems pretty simple, yeah?

thewise1 · 07-26-2006, 04:47 PM

I wish we could step back and remove the log from our own eye before we keep trying to remove the splinter from other countries eyes

DosEquis · 07-26-2006, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

I never heard of the PNAC, and when I just looked them up, I threw up in my mouth a little.

There are terrorists in Cuba? Why would Castro dying make it a terrorist country?

What the hell kind of resource is even there for us? Cigars and Rum?

An in depth study of them reveals a lot of controversial opinions and policies they support. Most of it involves the United States being "the new rome" and imperialism. Basically installing democracys with the military and taking over the world through "freedom".

While that is kind of wacky, the most disturbing fact is who is actually a member of the "project for the new american century".

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

An in depth study of them reveals a lot of controversial opinions and policies they support. Most of it involves the United States being "the new rome" and imperialism. Basically installing democracys with the military and taking over the world through "freedom".

While that is kind of wacky, the most disturbing fact is who is actually a member of the "project for the new american century".

Yeah, I was reading their list of members. And then the list of appointtees of people who belong to that that are now in our Executive Branch.

If these people don't have an agenda, I just give up.

IminWonderland · 07-26-2006, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

i said it because one of the huge arguments used against bush is that we were friends with saddam before we went to war with him. the same is also said about afghanistan. i believe thorgrim made a huge list of people we were 'friends' with before we went to war with them. i figured the same could apply here. therefore it was more of a joke than anything.

we want democracy in cuba, so we're supporting the opposition to a communist leader. it seems pretty simple, yeah?

So simple......it's......GENUIS

What I don't understand, is why in Cuba, are we affected if they have a democracy or not? They haven't had one for this long and so have other countries, and really how does that affect us?

I can't believe people buy this spreading democracy crap, I swear it's the new CRABS.

ballz2wallz · 07-26-2006, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by thewise1

I wish we could step back and remove the log from our own eye before we keep trying to remove the splinter from other countries eyes

you mean we should remove our communist government first?

ballz2wallz · 07-26-2006, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

So simple......it's......GENUIS

What I don't understand, is why in Cuba, are we affected if they have a democracy or not? They haven't had one for this long and so have other countries, and really how does that affect us?

I can't believe people buy this spreading democracy crap, I swear it's the new CRABS.

we're running out of vacation space yo.