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Obama shakes hands with Cuba's Castro in 'gesture of hope'

US Conservative said:
Is it ever a simple handshake? :roll:

"Improving, or attempting to improve, relations with any country is always a good thing. Especially when it is done with something as simple as a handshake." You said this, not me.
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Should we pull out the images of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam?
 
US Conservative said:
Perhaps, after disregarding he was acting on behalf of Reagan and that Iran was the bigger threat to the US at the time-and that he wasn't a president.
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Go for it and tell us more.
 
US Conservative said:
Is it ever a simple handshake? :roll:

"Improving, or attempting to improve, relations with any country is always a good thing. Especially when it is done with something as simple as a handshake." You said this, not me.
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yea. Obama and Castro in that very picture people are all up in arms about. That was a simple handshake.
 
Kreton said:
yea. Obama and Castro in that very picture people are all up in arms about. That was a simple handshake.
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There is also a photo of Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler. The difference is that Chamberlain did not yet know what horrors would take place. Obama must know what the Castros have been up to for over 50 years, and still shakes his hand.
 
Grant said:
There is also a photo of Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler. The difference is that Chamberlain did not yet know what horrors would take place. Obama must know what the Castros have been up to for over 50 years, and still shakes his hand.
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Because the Castros and Hitler is a valid comparison.
 
Grant said:
There is also a photo of Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler. The difference is that Chamberlain did not yet know what horrors would take place. Obama must know what the Castros have been up to for over 50 years, and still shakes his hand.
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That is not really comparable considering that photo of Chamberlain and Hitler was after signing the Munich Agreement. Obama and Castro did not sign any agreement that condemned a country.
 
FYI, this is 2013. There is no Cold War, we can stop acting like Obama just agreed for the United States to eat a Soviet nuke.
 
Grant said:
There is also a photo of Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler. The difference is that Chamberlain did not yet know what horrors would take place. Obama must know what the Castros have been up to for over 50 years, and still shakes his hand.
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Maybe Obama can convince Castro to pull his troops out of Poland.
 
iacardsfan said:
FYI, this is 2013. There is no Cold War, we
can stop acting like Obama just agreed for the United States to eat a Soviet nuke.
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Russia has our Cities targeted with thousands of thermo-nuclear weapons and we are targeting their Cities.

China has been hacking our military computers and represents a real military threat towards Japan and Taiwan, wich we vowed to protect.

Israel isn't going to put up with Irans continued nuclear weapons objectives and it could all go South rather quickly.

Cold war ? No but we're far from being safe from a Nuclear attack.

In the end the Castros are dictators who imprison their own people for wanting what so many here take for granted.

Freedom of expression and dissent.
 
Fenton said:
Russia has our Cities targeted with thousands of thermo-nuclear weapons and we are targeting their Cities.

China has been hacking our military computers and represents a real military threat towards Japan and Taiwan, wich we vowed to protect.

Israel isn't going to put up with Irans continued nuclear weapons objectives and it could all go South rather quickly.

Cold war ? No but we're far from being safe from a Nuclear attack.

In the end the Castros are dictators who imprison their own people for wanting what so many here take for granted.

Freedom of expression and dissent.
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All of these "threats" you mention have nothing pertaining to Cuba. No matter if Russia has nukes pointed at us or not, they don't need Cuba to launch an attack. Also, China is communist and guilty of the same crimes as Cuba in regards to freedoms and rights, why not embargo them as well?
 
iacardsfan said:
All of these "threats" you mention have
nothing pertaining to Cuba. No matter if Russia has nukes pointed at us or not, they don't need Cuba to launch an attack. Also, China is communist and guilty of the same crimes as Cuba in regards to freedoms and rights, why not embargo them as well?
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Its a good question with really only one answer.

We're too economically involved with China and a embargo of a nation that size isn't a practical solution to anything really.

Embargo's in themselves don't stop Nation States from misbehaving, nor from building Nukes or locking up disidents.

But too think we're safer today than we were in the 80s is a bit naive I think.

My oldest is in the Navy, 5 years and I like to try an needle as much information out of him as possible when he gets home.

So, with out getting in trouble he basically tells me that the threat of our Boomers ( Ballistic Missle Subs ) are essentially whats keeping large Nations that may decide to go rogue or attack disputed island territories ( Japan and Tawain ) halfway honest.

That although China is on a mission to steal as much tech from the American millitary as possible, they STILL lack the abillity to excel in tech on their own. ( for some reason )

The Communist State isolates itself on a technological basis by impeding on the creative process of free people and further isolates itself by limiting the free exchange of ideas from people that may want to move there.

Its why the Soviet Union routinely offered up junk in response to Americans technological advances from the 60s to the present.

We made the SR-71 Blackbird, they made the FoxBatt-50 that turned out to be a heap of heavy junk. We successfully landed men on the moon 6 times and 3 rovers while they stranded dogs in space.

Even Russian and North Korea know we could have boats parked unseen and undetected off their coast at any time with the capacity to rain down 250 warheads on their major ciy's within a 15 minute time frame, per boat.

Now if that information is common, imagine what we don't know.

Cuba is still run by Communist Dictators and Obama should have ignored what is essentaially a thug pretedning to celebrate " unity " and freedom.
 
Fenton said:
We're too economically involved with China and a embargo of a nation that size isn't a practical solution to anything really.
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So what, exactly, is the embargo of Cuba a solution to?
 
Fenton said:
Its a good question with really only one answer.

We're too economically involved with China and a embargo of a nation that size isn't a practical solution to anything really.

Embargo's in themselves don't stop Nation States from misbehaving, nor from building Nukes or locking up disidents.

But too think we're safer today than we were in the 80s is a bit naive I think.

My oldest is in the Navy, 5 years and I like to try an needle as much information out of him as possible when he gets home.

So, with out getting in trouble he basically tells me that the threat of our Boomers ( Ballistic Missle Subs ) are essentially whats keeping large Nations that may decide to go rogue or attack disputed island territories ( Japan and Tawain ) halfway honest.

That although China is on a mission to steal as much tech from the American millitary as possible, they STILL lack the abillity to excel in tech on their own. ( for some reason )

The Communist State isolates itself on a technological basis by impeding on the creative process of free people and further isolates itself by limiting the free exchange of ideas from people that may want to move there.

Its why the Soviet Union routinely offered up junk in response to Americans technological advances from the 60s to the present.

We made the SR-71 Blackbird, they made the FoxBatt-50 that turned out to be a heap of heavy junk. We successfully landed men on the moon 6 times and 3 rovers while they stranded dogs in space.

Even Russian and North Korea know we could have boats parked unseen and undetected off their coast at any time with the capacity to rain down 250 warheads on their major ciy's within a 15 minute time frame, per boat.

Now if that information is common, imagine what we don't know.

Cuba is still run by Communist Dictators and Obama should have ignored what is essentaially a thug pretedning to celebrate " unity " and freedom.
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I am not claiming we are not more safe, again though, Cuba is not needed as a strategic launch site any longer. Plus, as I have already mentioned we have relations with not only China, but Vietnam, and Laos. It seems silly to single out Cuba in that group.
 
Fenton said:
Its a good question with really only one answer.

We're too economically involved with China and a embargo of a nation that size isn't a practical solution to anything really.

Embargo's in themselves don't stop Nation States from misbehaving, nor from building Nukes or locking up disidents.

But too think we're safer today than we were in the 80s is a bit naive I think.

My oldest is in the Navy, 5 years and I like to try an needle as much information out of him as possible when he gets home.

So, with out getting in trouble he basically tells me that the threat of our Boomers ( Ballistic Missle Subs ) are essentially whats keeping large Nations that may decide to go rogue or attack disputed island territories ( Japan and Tawain ) halfway honest.

That although China is on a mission to steal as much tech from the American millitary as possible, they STILL lack the abillity to excel in tech on their own. ( for some reason )

The Communist State isolates itself on a technological basis by impeding on the creative process of free people and further isolates itself by limiting the free exchange of ideas from people that may want to move there.

Its why the Soviet Union routinely offered up junk in response to Americans technological advances from the 60s to the present.

We made the SR-71 Blackbird, they made the FoxBatt-50 that turned out to be a heap of heavy junk. We successfully landed men on the moon 6 times and 3 rovers while they stranded dogs in space.

Even Russian and North Korea know we could have boats parked unseen and undetected off their coast at any time with the capacity to rain down 250 warheads on their major ciy's within a 15 minute time frame, per boat.

Now if that information is common, imagine what we don't know.

Cuba is still run by Communist Dictators and Obama should have ignored what is essentaially a thug pretedning to celebrate " unity " and freedom.
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And just what good has over 50 years of "ignoring" done? It has prolonged the Castro's regime immensely already. Do you really want to keep them in power indefinitely just so you can have someone to despise?
By the way...do you know whose rockets now transport all astronauts to the International Space Station?
 
Kobie said:
So what, exactly, is the embargo of Cuba a solution to?
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It's a solution to the fact that the Cubans in Florida would vote overwhelmingly against anyone who suggested normalization of relations with Cuba.
 
Dittohead not! said:
It's a solution to the fact that the Cubans in Florida would vote overwhelmingly against anyone who suggested normalization of relations with Cuba.
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Ding ding ding. Johnny, tell him what he's won.

This is exactly why the Cuban embargo persists.
 
iguanaman said:
And just what good has over 50 years of "ignoring" done? It has prolonged the Castro's regime immensely already. Do you really want to keep them in power indefinitely just so you can have someone to despise?
By the way...do you know whose rockets now transport all astronauts to the International Space Station?
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First, your'e right for a change. We should have taken out Castro and toppled his regime decades ago militarily.

Those rockets the ferry US Astronauts to space with are above and beyond the THOUSANDS of rockets capped with thermonuclear weapons that now target our cities.
 
iacardsfan said:
I am not claiming we are not more safe, again though, Cuba is not needed as a strategic launch site any longer. Plus, as I have already mentioned we have relations with not only China, but Vietnam, and Laos. It seems silly to single out Cuba in that group.
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I think that the US's relationship with Cuba is a little different than say China or Vietnam. It's more of a personal relationship since we have thousands of Cubans that now live in our Country that can attest to the crimes of Castro and his Brother personally.

Because of their size and their local their human rights violations seem more prevalent and sinister, which is silly but it's true.

Plus it would be political suicide for ANY political party in the US to reach out to Cuba right now.
 
Fenton said:
I think that the US's relationship with Cuba is a little different than say China or Vietnam. It's more of a personal relationship since we have thousands of Cubans that now live in our Country that can attest to the crimes of Castro and his Brother personally.

Because of their size and their local their human rights violations seem more prevalent and sinister, which is silly but it's true.

Plus it would be political suicide for ANY political party in the US to reach out to Cuba right now.
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Many argue because the embargo is in place we give cuba the means to mistreat their people because we could provide aid and other necessities to the Cuban people.
 
Dittohead not! said:
That worked out so well for us in Iraq.
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Iraq was a Communist Country 90 miles South South East from the Florida Keys ?

Seriously, apples and oranges dude and Iraq isn't ruled by a Dictator with two sadistic sons anymore and is a good example of a bi-partisan approach to address a issue that was being manipulated by the very dictator that we removed.

Arm Chair Quarter backing it for partisan reasons isn't really relevant to the dictatorship that its 90 miles away from the tip of Florida.
 
iacardsfan said:
Many argue because the embargo is in place we give cuba the means to mistreat their people because we could provide aid and other necessities to the Cuban people.
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I've heard that argument before.

The problem with that argument are the multiple examples of aide and money sidetracked into the waiting arms of dictators in Africa. No matter what your'e still dealing with a Dictatorship who has control over the resources and given Castro's many examples of human cruelty it would be hard to justify giving him more power in any form or fashion.

If you lift the embargo and peoples lives improve, does that mean that the human rights violations stop ? Will people be given the freedom to select their own style of government or even the power to speak freely without the chance of jail or execution ?
 
Fenton said:
I've heard that argument before.

The problem with that argument are the multiple examples of aide and money sidetracked into the waiting arms of dictators in Africa. No matter what your'e still dealing with a Dictatorship who has control over the resources and given Castro's many examples of human cruelty it would be hard to justify giving him more power in any form or fashion.

If you lift the embargo and peoples lives improve, does that mean that the human rights violations stop ? Will people be given the freedom to select their own style of government or even the power to speak freely without the chance of jail or execution ?
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The United States doesn't exactly have the best human rights record for your information. Seems hypocritical to judge Cuba....
 
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