Usa And Cuba.

happy for cuba, hopefully it means many of the people won't live in such fucked up conditions
I dont like the castros further consolidation of power it will bring though, that place is a full blown police state

it will change it massively, hope it doesn't loose its charm. it was nice not seeing a single modern brand there
no McD, Starbucks gap etc

the cars will be heavily patched bodged and painted 50s car with any old thing under the hood (most likely Lada engines)

i doubt you would find many really nice original ones. just not practical when parts are not available and your only choice is string, chewing gum and tin cans

 

Normalising relations with Cuba is a top plan. After all, what has keeping them out in the cold achieved in 50 years?
If you want totalitarian regimes to crumble, the best thing is to introduce them to capitalism and free trade. It's what is working in China, slowly.
And at the end of the day, if nothing changes, are the Cubans that miserable? Are they more miserable than US inner cities or present day Romanians? And is it our problem anyway?
The last time we made something our problem, it was Iraq. Talk about an OG.

 

Having visited Cuba 3 times I'm in a bit of a quandary over this whole issue. Cuba is in desperate need of foreign investment as its infrastructure is crumbling, but it would spoil it if the Americans move in and demand McD's etc. The Cuban people that I have met have been incredibly friendly despite having nothing, and they don't seem envious of the trappings we demand. There are an incredible number of old Yank cars that somehow they keep running but there are an awful lot of modern cars around too, but obviously not American, Peugeot, Seat, Hyundai just to name a few! If any of you are thinking of going I suggest you do it sooner rather than later as I suspect Cuba will lose its charm if the American tourists move in.

 

Indeed, although it seems to me that there are differences.
Libya and Syria kicked off spontaneously (until it comes to light that the CIA fomented the whole thing). Having backed the anti-Ghadafi faction in Libya to get rid of a twerp dictator (who had done his best to support global terrorism at one time or another), the West found that the Libyans weren't in the least bit grateful, but adopted extreme Islam. Still, it was damned if you do, damned if you don't.
In Syria, they decided to be damned if they didn't, with perhaps worse results (although the media is pretty quiet about what goes on in Libya these days).
In Ukraine, they poked the bear, made it uncomfortable and prickly until it reacted, having once again failed to really understand anything much about Russia.

But Iraq was different, as it was a country that had some sort of stability until it was needlessly invaded, whether you liked that stability or not. The whole Middle East has been a classic example of aiming a huge boot at a hornets' nest. Most people know that this is a bad plan and most people were happy to point this out before the nest was hoofed. But some people just always know better, don't they George, Dick, Donald, Paul, Daniel and Tony, eh?

 

Libya kicked off spontaneously LOL, so it had nothing to do with Gaddafi trying to set up an Arabian/Middle Eastern bank to return to the oil for gold arrangement that the USA set up after WW2, then reneged on, and changed to US$ as payment, and have been creaming it off every oil sale since then, whether they are involved or not?

 

At last somebody who agrees with me, I thought I was the only one. I've read quite a few books about the US (& UK's) antics in the late 40s and 50s and its not hard to see who the aggressors were. Overflying Russian airspace with spy places starting with (as I recall) Meteors. There have also been cases of the US military actually testing certain chemical weapons unknowingly on their own populace. Their foreign policy is usually to flatten anything they don't understand and what about all the eaves dropping, and torture, we can't do it here its against our constitution..............Oh Ok we'll do it elsewhere...............................I wonder what Obama would be saying if Putin had done that.

Story is waaaaay too one sided.

 

Hang on let's do a thought experiment.

If you had to spend the rest of your life living in Russia or the USA which would it be ?

Do you need any more time ? No I thought not.

 

i would rather visit Russia

 

Little bit off topic - my little brother is a wildlife cameraman - they stayed for quite a while in costa rica and rented a house overlooking a cove. When they moved in - they thought something was stange about the house layout. Not long after they discovered that the house had unusually thick walls. They found out the house was owned by the Americans who used to put agents in there to watch over the cove. The house walls had walkways in them so they could move through the house without being seen... The cove was used by Fidel Castro's body guards. They used to apparently go diving for conche shells (I think the spelling is right but guild will pull me up on it if im wrong). The agents used to plant grenades in shells and see if they could pick them off....

 

So would I, but that was not the question.

 

i have no real truck with the yanks, but find the ruskies more of an interesting bunch, i have become more and more cynical over the years with our leaders in the west and direction we are taking. i would go Russia