freeman3 wrote:Senator Menendez is the son of Cuban expatriates...

Cuba should not be taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism either. Cuba harbors American fugitive Joanne Chesimard, who is on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists for murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. Cuba also colluded with North Korea to smuggle jets, missile batteries, and arms through the Panama Canal in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

These and other such actions are not the actions of a nation deserving of our engagemen

Born in Havana, Posada Carriles came into contact with Fidel Castro while still a student. However, he developed misgivings about the revolution, and fled to the United States after a spell of anti-Castro activism.[9] He helped organize the Bay of Pigs invasion, and after it failed, became an agent for the CIA. He received training at Fort Benning, and from 1964 to 1968 was involved with a series of bombings and other anti-Castro covert activities.[10]

After migrating to Venezuela in 1968, Posada spent the years until 1985 involved in various terrorist activities in the region; until 1976, he continued to have ties to the CIA. He was convicted in absentia in Panama of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Americas, including 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people;[11][12] however, he has always denied involvement.[13] Along with Orlando Bosch, he was also involved in founding the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, described by the FBI as a terrorist outfit.[14] In 1985, he re-established links to the CIA, and moved to Central America, where he became involved with United States support to the Contras, and later admitted to playing a part in the Iran-Contra affair.[15]

In later years, he admitted involvement in a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots.[16][17][18] In addition, he was jailed under accusations related to an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, although he was later pardoned by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso in the final days of her term.[19][20] He has always denied involvement in the airline bombing and the alleged plot against Castro in Panama, but has admitted to fighting to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba.[13]

Sassenach wrote:I'm sure we can find plenty of Republican politicians who take a different view. So what ? It's not necessary to view every goddam issue through a narrow partisan filter.

Where is the risk here DF, Can you answer me that question ? Where is the damage to American interests ?

Critics have long complained that the Obama administration mistreats our allies and coddles our enemies. There are exceptions, of course, but does anyone seriously dispute that general tendency? In just the past few months:

- The Obama administration released five senior Taliban operatives in exchange for an American soldier who walked away from his unit. The five Taliban commanders were transferred to Qatar despite warnings from top U.S. intelligence officials, including the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, that they are nearly certain to attack U.S. interests in the future. Among the stated objectives for the prisoner swap: restarting peace talks with the Taliban.
- Top Obama officials promised to impose additional sanctions on Iran if the regime breached the terms of the interim deal on its nuclear program. Iran was caught violating that agreement, and the administration, rather than impose new sanctions, launched a full-scale effort to block them. As Iran’s leaders publicly mocked U.S. weakness, Obama officials insisted that negotiations must continue.
- Israeli newspapers reported that the Obama administration was considering sanctions on Israel for its settlement activity. When reporters asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest about the reports, he repeatedly refused to deny them. He couldn’t. They were true.
- And, of course, last week the president announced his intention to normalize relations with the despotic regime in Cuba. In exchange for two hostages whose release was sought by Washington, the Obama administration agreed to free three members of the “Cuban Five,” spies for the Castro regime who helped a Cuban Air Force MiG shoot down two small U.S. planes dropping anti-Castro leaflets, killing all four aboard. Raul Castro, who spoke to Obama at length the day before the announcement, objected to the imprisonment of the Cuban assets, admitting that they had been acting on his behalf. “I gave the order,” he told Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts who helped broker the deal, according to an account in Politico. “I’m the one responsible.”

Why do these supposed principles apply so strongly to Cuba and yet not at all when it's Egypt or Saudi (the latter of whom is one of the main funders of militant Islamic terror groups) ?

theshrizzz wrote:

freeman3 wrote:Senator Menendez is the son of Cuban expatriates...

Exactly. Hardly neutral on this particular issue.

DF wrote:"Circumvent the intent and spirit" of the law? Isn't he accusing the President of lawlessness?

DF wrote:So, Cuba has been acting against American interests. Surely, they are renouncing that sort of thing, if we're cutting a deal with them, right? No?

So, this guy thinks Obama is weak and is indifferent to the suffering of political prisoners! He's a hater!

Maybe this Cuba thing isn't just about disliking Obama.

freeman3 wrote:One thing the Republicans are not taking about--Cuba's leader up to now have been able to blame their problems on the U.S. Now they will not be able to do that. It's natural for a people to band together against an outside threat (in this case, the US). Now with the external bogey-man gone, we'll see what happens internally in Cuba.

Doctor Fate wrote:The irrational tripe that passes for logic in the mind of Danivon: if one disagrees with Obama, one must "hate" him.

danivon wrote:

Maybe this Cuba thing isn't just about disliking Obama.

Not from Menendez. I think for Cruz and Rubio it's just one more reason to hate him.

danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:The irrational tripe that passes for logic in the mind of Danivon: if one disagrees with Obama, one must "hate" him.

Is that you being the 'honest' one?

Perhaps you missed it, in your haste to reply and smear me:

danivon wrote:

Maybe this Cuba thing isn't just about disliking Obama.

Not from Menendez. I think for Cruz and Rubio it's just one more reason to hate him.

Oh, I said that it wasn't about "hate" or even "disliking" Obama in Menendez' case. Sure, it is in yours, as we've been able to clearly observe on Redscape repeatedly for the last 6 years or so. But thankfully you are not typical.

First, as The Federalist’s Sean Davis pointed out, the parallels between the extension of diplomatic relations to Cuba and similar overtures toward China and Vietnam are misguided. The American interest in “opening” China was primarily political; exacerbate Sino-Soviet tensions, bifurcate the communist world, and provide America with a freer hand to prosecute the Vietnam War.

China under Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping engaged in dramatic market-oriented economic reforms in the 1970s, and there was no “normalization” of relations between Beijing and Washington until 1979 – well after Kissinger and then Nixon had famously visited the reclusive communist giant in 1971 and 1972 respectively. Reforms first, normalization second.

Moreover, the suggestion that the opening of bilateral diplomatic ties and business relations between America and China helped to transform the People’s Republic into a human rights paragon overnight is complicated by the 1989 massacre of peaceful pro-Democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Even today, despite a booming and markedly capitalist economy, China remains one of the world’s leading human rights abusers.

Since bilateral trade relations alone cannot be counted on to spark internal democratic reforms, it must be – and traditionally has been — granted only as a reward for reforms undertaken preemptively.

As for Vietnam, a shift in policy in that country also preceded the normalization of relations with America. The most notable of these was Hanoi’s decision to withdraw its troops from Cambodia in 1989 following years of requests.

“Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia has been, along with the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, one of the major East-West issues,” The New York Times reported at the time. “China had vowed not to improve relations with Moscow until the Vietnamese left Cambodia. And Vietnam’s own efforts to obtain aid and recognition from the United States in the aftermath of the Vietnam war were frustrated by Washington’s insistence that Hanoi withdraw its troops from Cambodia first.”

Reforms first, normalization second.

danivon wrote:Well, I guess that's one way of avoiding the substantive points.

It's OK to have embassies in Syria and Sudan, but not Cuba. It's OK to sign deals with China which has loads of political prisoners and treats them horrifically, but not Cuba.

And yeah, if Cruz is anything like his old man, he's an irrational hater of Obama who wants to send him back to Africa.