Normalization of relations with Cuba is not the result of a diplomatic breakthrough or a change of heart on the part of Washington. Normalization is a result of US corporations seeking profit opportunities in Cuba, such as developing broadband Internet markets in Cuba.
Before the American left and the Cuban government find happiness in the normalization, they should consider that with normalization comes American money and a US Embassy. The American money will take over the Cuban economy. The embassy will be a home for CIA operatives to subvert the Cuban government. The embassy will provide a base from which the US can establish NGOs whose gullible members can be called to street protests at the right time, as in Kiev, and the embassy will make it possible for Washington to groom a new set of political leaders.
In short, normalization of relations means regime change in Cuba. Soon Cuba will be another of Washington’s vassal states.
Conservatives and Republicans such as Peggy Noonan and Senator Marco Rubio, have made it clear that Castro is “a bad man who turned an almost-paradise into a floating prison” and that normalizing relations with Cuba will not “grant the Castro regime legitimacy.”
Noonan forgets about Guantanamo, Washington’s offshore torture prison in Cuba where hundreds of innocent people have been held and tortured for a large part of their lives by the exceptional Americans. The Cuban Revolution intended to free Cubans from foreign domination and from exploitation by foreign capitalists. Whatever the likelihood of success, a half century of Washington’s hostility has as much to do with Cuba’s economic problems as communist ideology.
The self-righteousness of Americans is extreme. Noonan is happy. American money is now going to defeat Castro’s life work. And if the money doesn’t do it, the CIA will. The agency has long been waiting to avenge the Bay of Pigs, and normalization of relations brings the opportunity.
Copyright © 2014 Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. His latest book, How America Was Lost, is now available.
Capitalism is a most dangerous disease. Many of its symptoms seem benign, even in ways beneficial to people in its grasp. But as this disease incubates it causes subtle but persistent alterations inside its victims. Early on, acquisitions can seem relatively easy, at least on a smaller scale. Comforts for even poorer folks can soothe the edges of hardship for a while, taking their time while permeating the psyches of the people. Differences in coping abilities begin to create a gap between richer & poorer victims. Within the richer, greed takes hold fairly quickly and works exponentially. For the poor, increasing awareness that others are quickly gaining “advantages” over them leads to a greed colored by desperation. This gap becomes a rift, and eventually leads to a chasm that is beyond spanning. Division of society is the norm, and self-interest at both ends of the chasm becomes the only interest. For both ends the focus is on “survival.” For the rich it is survival and spreading of the disease, which will keep them in their privileged condition. For the poor it is simply physical, mental & emotional survival.
I see no good at all for Cuba. Try as they might, I feel the people will gradually come under the death grip of Capitalism. As with any disease, prevention is the best medicine. By inviting it in, Cuba is undermining the possibility of prevention and making way for the virus to thrive.