31–40 of 276 posts
I have to think this is related to tensions with Russia and avoiding a second missile crisis. I wonder if there will be a reaction from Russia about this news.
Uh, what? Cuba isn't a Soviet vassal state any more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is an executive action. Not quite; some restrictions have been lifted but this is not yet a done deal: "Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for now, the administration signaled that it would welcome a move by Congress to ease or lift it should lawmakers choose to."[1] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-rel...
Obama calling for Congress to act is what we in this year of our Lord 2014 call "trolling".
Realizing of course there are so many others he promised to end and hasn't...
I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts. While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.
I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts. While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.
This might have been your impression, coming straight from Canada. I visited Cuba a decade ago, having traveled in Latin America for > 1 year. I can't say that Cuba seemed to be worse off than many of these other countries.
The timing seems really clever here. The USA and OPEC flood the market with oil (literally), crashing prices and sending the Ruble into a spiral. Just as Cuba starts to worry about Russian support going forward, the USA swoops in to provide some economic bracing.
I think this move effects Venezuela more than Russia. It is Venezuela that provides cheaper oil cuba in return for many services like healthcare etc. Now that oil is already cheap, Cuba does not need for patronage of Venezuela.
This seems like it's all a concerted effort to double-down on the embargo and slap Putin where it hurts the most.
Apparently they have a university dedicated to IT stuff[1] but I don't read Spanish and I couldn't really find any projects/research page on there. The only thing that seems to be portrayed is a Linux distro called Nova.[2]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh, what? Cuba isn't a Soviet vassal state any more.
Putin seems to like turning back the clock on that kind of thing. Just because it's irresponsible doesn't mean he won't do it. He's a rational actor in terms of his own grip on power and nothing else.
Since this is HN, does anyone know what the IT sector is like in Cuba? Apparently they have a university dedicated to IT stuff[1] but I don't read Spanish and I couldn't really find any projects/research page on there. The only thing that seems to be portrayed is a Linux distro called Nova.[2] [1] http://www.uci.cu/ [2] http://www.nova.cu/
On the university site, there's a few hidden links to Cuban Mozilla fans[1], a digital publication for open source software [2], a youth-targeted site for open-source users[3] (seems down), and a women-targeted site for IT [4]. Note that there's more, but everything seems to be down at the moment, it might be the HN effect
[1] http://firefoxmania.uci.cu/ [2] http://swlx.cubava.cu/ [3] gutl.jovenclub.cu [4] http://haciendoweb.upr.edu.cu/
In 2008 G W Bush has removed North Korea from Embargo list, and embargo has to be renewed every year based on "some" Enemy Act of 1917. Cuba is the only country in US embargo list, I understand it is personal as Cuba is just few miles away from US, but still the embargo is inhumane and people are suffering. John Oliver has a very interesting piece on his HBO show.
Cuba's main problem is its leadership. The US coaxing it to a free market system that respects human rights and property rights is only good for Cuba. The Castros were more than willing to continue to starve their people and become the West's North Korea.
>John Oliver has a very interesting piece on his HBO show.
Maybe you should get your opinions from something other than lowest common denominator appeal comedians. Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba
and here:
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/cuba
and here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cuba-country-of-c...
Please stop romanticizing the Castro regime.