Obama just announced that he was restoring relations with Cuba. Most people would think that is a good thing, but to my shock, the Republicans have denounced this “olive branch” as a compromise with human rights’ violators who deserve to be punished. If I’m not mistaken, the Republican Party is the political home for millions of Christians and I’m wondering if anyone has read the Sermon on the Mount – “blessed are the peacemakers”? I also wonder how and why THIS cold war continued decades after the cold war ended. I am also mystified why the Russians were “forgiven” when it was they who brought their missiles to Cuba? Comparatively, the Cubans did less, but got more – punishment.
I couldn’t help but notice the shallowness of the Republican’s concern for the human rights of the people of Cuba, while advocating for continued sanctions which hurt Cuba’s people. Furthermore, WHY Cuba? There are hundreds of countries that violate human rights that should make the Republicans morally indignant. For example, the US has friendly relations with China who has a host of HR violations and who regularly execute anyone who speaks out against the government. It wouldn’t be hard to conclude, in the case of China, that ‘money talks’. For the Republicans, billions of dollars of corporate profits through trade with China is enough to make their human rights concerns completely disappear. Cuba is different – it doesn’t have much economic benefit to the US, but it is the “one” that got away! They used to be under US control, then they did the unthinkable, and the US has never been able to turn back the clock.
60 years of bitter tears over spilled milk are not going to change the way things are today. Cuba won its independence from the US and they are now going to negotiate peace as a sovereign nation which I suspect is at the root of what the Republicans are all red-faced about. All they can do now is “mind-storm” the American people into thinking that sometimes being bitter and unforgiving is justified.
© Copyright 2014-15, Paul K. Weigel – All rights reserved.