US/Cuba Look to Normalize Relations

@Frank Apisa,

Oops, didn't see that Kolyo beat me to it.

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I've been reading this thread since the first page, but for once, I have nothing to add. I don't know beans about Cuba or any of the attending issues.

One post caught my eye, from glitterbag, it is sort of scary to think of Russia being there so close to us.

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Certainly anyone alive and aware in 1962 understood the significance of that relationship. People seriously considered the possibility of thermonuclear war. The U.S. Navy played a tense game with Russian supply ships and submarines. We none of us knew what would happen, and it was a very tense, anxious time.

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@Setanta,

I had my own little living room under my school desk

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I served during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was plenty worried after the Navy was ordered to sink that Soviet ship. Always been grateful it turned around - the ship, not the Navy.

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@Lordyaswas,

Quote:

See A2K's little ray of sunshine has arrived then?

Progressives are scared of the light? I know they are scared of Islam.

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I think the Russians thought they'd pull it off before we knew they were there. U2 overflights showed the missiles and the launch vehicles, and Kennedy immediately ordered the naval blockade. That was a really close call.

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@Setanta,

I think I read somewhere that the Russians already had nukes in Cuba (FROG missiles). It just wasn't disclosed until years later. I think it was a WIKI article. Was that correct?

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@rosborne979,

It could be, i don't know. It is worth keeping in mind that the embargo against Cuba began in 1961, and that Castro requested the deployment of Russian missiles to "blackmail" the U.S. into dropping efforts to overthrow him. The Russians were nothing loathe--the U.S. had ICBMs deployed in Europe and Turkey capable of reaching Moscow, as well as air bases in Europe, in Alaska and in West Pakistan from which bombers would carry nuclear bombs to the USSR. In effect, the outcome of the missile crisis was a decided and significant defeat for the Soviets. They could launch ICBMs at the U.S., but they would come in over the pole, and there would be enough warning for MAD--mutual assured destruction. Deploying missiles in Cuba was an attempt by the Soviets to redress this "imbalance" of forces.

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@Setanta,

Oh, well, maybe I can be excused, wasn't born until 1965, also was somewhat introverted because of my hearing loss. I do remember the scary shows we had to watch at school and hiding under our desk, but didn't really know what it was all about.

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I read once that Che Guevera tried to persuade Catro to seize the Russian missiles and stand off everybody. I don't state it as the total truth, because I never saw the proof.

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@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

Americans would thoroughly enjoy their holidays there, and no doubt flock there in their droves once the embargo was lifted.

Speaking for myself, I could never enjoy a vacation on a beach knowing that the Castros were torturing people less than a mile away from me, and merely for the crime of disagreeing with the government.

I'm OK with lifting the embargo though. Maybe it'll lead to human rights in Cuba.

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@Setanta,

Here is the quote I read in the Wiki article on the History of Cuba. I don't know the validity of the quote. I have not researched it at all. The part I found most interesting is the bolded part at the end.

Quote:

Only after the fall of the Soviet Union was it revealed that another part of the agreement was the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. It also turned out that some submarines that the U.S. Navy blocked were carrying nuclear missiles and that communication with Moscow was tenuous, effectively leaving the decision of firing the missiles at the discretion of the captains of those submarines. In addition, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian government revealed that nuclear-armed FROGs (Free Rocket Over Ground) and Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle bombers had also been deployed in Cuba.

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https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10846431_757283014364755_7939067395772694522_n.jpg?oh=7e28ec9367f597f5db0352e0b895a6d1&oe=5509AE51&__gda__=1430350477_941203f9fdced8c0e05d079f22a40857

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@edgarblythe,

I just had a brilliant idea, perhaps we can sell them our old cars and buy the Chevy classics they have been driving around for 60 years. And by our old cars, I mean anything produced after 1999. Are there any models you have ever yearned for?

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@edgarblythe,

Quote:

I read once that Che Guevera

I read that Che was a murderer and a racist. And those might be his best qualities.

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@coldjoint,

coldjoint wrote:

Quote:
I read once that Che Guevera

I read that Che was a murderer and a racist. And those might be his best qualities.

Wow, cold joint, did you find this thru Ancestry.com.

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@glitterbag,

Quote:

Wow, cold joint, did you find this thru Ancestry.com.

No, I got it from history, not revisionist history. Glorifying killers is not my style.

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@glitterbag,

glitterbag wrote:

I just had a brilliant idea, perhaps we can sell them our old cars and buy the Chevy classics they have been driving around for 60 years. And by our old cars, I mean anything produced after 1999. Are there any models you have ever yearned for?

Not happening any time soon.

Quote:

– Cuba is giving hundreds of thousands of medical workers raises that in some cases exceed 100 percent, official media on the island announced Friday, though pay remains much lower than what medical professionals earn elsewhere.

The Communist Party daily newspaper Granma also reported that Cuba expects to take in $8.2 billion this year for the tens of thousands of medical workers it sends to care for the poor in countries such as Venezuela and Brazil.

Granma published a sample of what the pay hikes, which take effect June 1, will look like. At the high end, doctors with two specialties will see their salary go from the equivalent of $26 a month to $67, while an entry-level nurse will make $25, up from $13.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/21/cuba-hikes-salaries-for-doctors-nurses-to-as-much-as-67-month/

Interestingly enough the cuban medical system does a long list of things better than our does.

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@coldjoint,

coldjoint wrote:

Quote:
Wow, cold joint, did you find this thru Ancestry.com.

No, I got it from history, not revisionist history. Glorifying killers is not my style.

Ancestry.com is a genealogy site. They can get census, birth/death certificates and help people find long deceased family members. So, do you think census records are revisionist history??? Wow, is it painful being that stupid???

1 Reply

US/Cuba Look to Normalize Relations

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