121–130 of 145 posts
I'm sure this will bring me lots of downvotes, but I actually applaud these tactics. Helping people in oppressive regimes to communicate freely with each other is one of the more humanitarian actions the US can take, and this sort of connectivity is critical in allowing people a degree of freedom even under totalitarian governments. Truly repressive regimes are out there, and without foreign interference and investme…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We prop up worse with less concern. The real reason we won't drop the trade embargo is that it's a very powerful bargaining chip, for whenever the Cuban government decides to talk.
I think the US is still holding a grudge about the little incident with the nuclear missiles, when Che Guevarra tried to convince the Soviets behind the scenes to launch a nuclear preemptive strike against the US...
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Althought strictly speaking I would say that I am comparing Mussolini to the Nazis (@gadders is the one that compared Cuba to Mussolini's Italy) , I firmly believe that you can compare anything to anything. I can compare apples to oranges ("oranges are more acidic and juicier, and apples are crunchier, although both are quite tastey") , I can compare apples to Hitler ("More people have enjoyed apples, and Hitler was…
I meant compare as balance, equate. but I'm sure you understood that you pedantic ass.
Obviously nobody was actually equating Cuba with the Nazis. Nobody in this discussion believes that Castro is ordering the extermination of millions. Nobody in here believes that Castro wants a land war with Russia, wants to invade Poland, or has any particularly threatening military aspirations.
Nobody in this discussion even believes that Castro and Hitler are even as evil or morally bankrupt as each other, despite the obvious geographic, temporal, political, or military differences.
You of course know all of this.
The comparison that was actually made was drawing attention to perceived similarities between defenses that are mounted or have been mounted for Mussolini and Castro. (Namely, pointing out that despite all the other bad things that have been said about [subject], at least [subject] excels in one particular way. The person who made drew attention to this perceived similarity perceives a similarity because they believe the "particular way" that the subject excels is of little relative consequence in the grand scheme of all of [subject]'s actions).
I could just as easily compare my ex-boss to Mussolini: "Say what you want about [REDACTED], at least he came in to work on time." In this case my "defense" of my ex boss is actually an sarcastic quip that is meant to be critical. However obviously I am not balancing or equating an ex boss to a 20th century Fascist.
I see a bad comedy where they pitch this to "secret VC's" and talk about how Cuba is simply the "beach head" with plans to expand into Venezuela next. They're raising now due to an opportunity to take huge share from Twitter in Turkey and Egypt. (where they've gone viral despite only being in Spanish)
Yeah, this could be a bad 10 minute SNL sketch or an amazingly awesome 15 minute "Whitest Kids You Know" sketch.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I meant compare as balance, equate. but I'm sure you understood that you pedantic ass.
I am not being pedantic, I have genuine concern about blanket objections to comparisons to Hitler or the Nazis. Obviously nobody was actually equating Cuba with the Nazis. Nobody in this discussion believes that Castro is ordering the extermination of millions. Nobody in here believes that Castro wants a land war with Russia, wants to invade Poland, or has any particularly threatening military aspirations. Nobody in…
I am so disappointed. The kinds of outreach and charity provided by USAID isn't perfect, but the intent behind it was always good. Heck, if anything I'm really, really proud of the humanitarian work the U.S. government does, including USAID at State and NIH and CDC at HHS. Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions, never mind the fact that the outcomes (especially in the Americas) for…
> Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions Is it? Oppressive regimes can pose a direct threat to human well-being and sometimes the best thing you can do for people's humanity is to overthrough said regime.
People repeat what they hear without knowing the reality. I'm sure everyone in NK has the same standard of living as Pyongyang too.
/Sarcasm
I am so disappointed. The kinds of outreach and charity provided by USAID isn't perfect, but the intent behind it was always good. Heck, if anything I'm really, really proud of the humanitarian work the U.S. government does, including USAID at State and NIH and CDC at HHS. Overthrowing governments is completely at odds with humanitarian missions, never mind the fact that the outcomes (especially in the Americas) for…
I doubt anybody in their right mind and with enough information about Cuba could actually think that the Cuban government could be subverted by a social network. The government controls all communication in Cuba and they listen to it ... all the time! The minute something smells a little anti-government, it gets shut down immediately and people go to prison and are made an example on national TV.
It really does not matter where the money came from to create this network. At the end the Cuban government controlled it and there was no way it could be used for subversion. I really doubt that was the original intention of the project.
The other interesting point is this:
"... the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned after traveling repeatedly to the country on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use."
This is a disguised exaggeration. The equipment Alan Gross brought to Cuba was completely normal (radios, blackberries, routers, etc) with the only alleged exception of some protection against geo-location for satellite phones.
I have to suspect the article for its bias towards Cuban propaganda.