
U.S. Embassy in Cuba Reopens After More Than 50 Years - aaronbrethorst
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/world/americas/cuba-us-embassy-diplomatic-relations.html
======
ScottBurson
Very glad to see this, and hoping the trade embargo is ended soon. It's pretty
clear, after _five decades_ , that it has had the opposite of the intended
effect -- that it has, in fact, kept the Castros in power. What's that quote
about insanity being when you do the same thing over and over and expect
different results?

~~~
dylanjermiah
Same as war on drugs, affordable housing, affirmative action, minimum wage
etc. One would assume after a program makes the situation worse, you would
stop said program. But the rationale becomes to increase the power and funds
of the program instead.

~~~
daniel-cussen
Yeah American policy needs, so bad, a simple maxim:

If it doesn't work, stop doing it.

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kryptiskt
I wondered if there was any cool 50 year old tech collecting dust there. But
apparently the place wasn't abandoned: "the reopening of the embassy on the
Malecón waterfront in Havana, previously used as an interests section, a
limited diplomatic outpost, ". So this is quite boring.

~~~
marincounty
I don't know about tech, but if the embargo is lifted, car enthusiasts will
swim to that island. I hope the Cubans realize those old cars might be their
only retirement, and don't sell to, "It's only worth this much to me?" Guys?

~~~
qbrass
Most of them look nice from a distance, but have been patched together with
whatever resources were available over the last 50 years.

You might go there to look at them, but you wouldn't want to bring them home.

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ExpiredLink
> _Some fear that Cuban culture will be lost with the opening of the island,
> but others think they will be able at last to earn more money._

Yes and yes.

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discardorama
IMHO, sanctions against an _autocratic_ regime do not work; they just make the
autocrat stronger. See, for example: Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, North Korea,
Cuba, etc.

Sanctions against a _democratic_ regime (for various definitions of
"democracy") can work: for example, Iran, USSR, South Africa, etc.

~~~
nightcracker
By what metric do the sanctions against Iran 'work'?

~~~
jonknee
Many credit the sanctions for Iran's willingness to negotiate.

~~~
tptacek
What possible other reason could they have had to negotiate?

~~~
jonknee
I'm firmly in the camp that the sanctions were the catalyst.

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secfirstmd
Ok, this is going to get downvoted like hell but here is a thought experiment
from a European...

Not a bad record on Foreign Policy for Obama. (Ok, I am being very very
generous in some areas and will let someone else lay out the opposite case but
still...)

-Improve the US image abroad after Bush

-Get out of major boots on the ground in Iraq

-Get out of major boots on the ground in Afghanistan

-Kill Bin Laden

-Reduce the operational capability of Al-Qaeda core members

-Avoid getting dragged into boots on the ground in Syria / get chemical weapons out

-Overthrow Gaddafi

-Re-open Cuban Embassy

-Contain ISIS

-Re-focus on China

-Environment deal with China

-Get cooperation from the Pakistan ISI vs Taliban

-Improve long-term relations with India

-Gain trust of Asian states (like Vietnam) who are threatened by China

-Re-balance relationship with Israel

-Weaken Russia slowly (after getting out manoeuvred in Ukraine by Putin)

-Reduce dependance on Saudi Arabia

-Reduce dependence on foreign oil/gas

-Reduce the slow march of Chinese power in Africa (esp: Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa)

-Shore up NATO vs Russia

-Reduce the influence on Venezuela in South America

-Get a deal on Iranian nuclear program

-Lay the ground work for rebuilding the US military after 15 years of insurgent warfare

-Patch things up (behind the scenes) with Brazil and Germany after Snowden

-Rebuild economy (slowly) after the Bush mess and recession

(EDIT: Just to point out, I don't see these as exactly black and white issues
and am well aware of the nuance. Just trying to give one side of an argument
so others can do the rest. Even a portion of the stuff in there is a pretty
decent record for a President.)

~~~
hueving
>-Kill Bin Laden

He didn't do this. He was just president in an ongoing operation that started
a long time ago. He didn't pass any particular policies or make any changes
that led to this.

>-Contain ISIS

ISIS started under him and it's not contained.

>-Get a deal on Iranian nuclear program

Also 10 years in the making and he made some significant concessions to Iran
that made the deal almost useless. The US has to give nearly a months warning
before it's allowed to check to see if they are breaking the rules.

~~~
discardorama
> >-Kill Bin Laden

> He didn't do this.

As if the president dons his cowboy hat, gets into an Apache Rambo-style and
hunts terrorists, right?

I don't understand how any rational person would have so much difficulty
giving him credit for the operation; it was his call! He made the call to get
Bin Laden, just like Bush made the call to let him and other top Taliban
escape (see "Kunduz Airlift":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift)
)

~~~
coryrc
To be fair, a modern Teddy Roosevelt would probably do that.

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alfiedotwtf
Sit back and watch while Goldman Sachs moves in and takes over the country

~~~
civilian
Are you saying that the Cuban people will be better off if the sanctions stay
forever?

~~~
alfiedotwtf
No, that's not what I said. I'm saying that they are now going to be taken
advantage of.

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zzzsh
I read this as US corps needs more markets.

~~~
wnevets
and cuba is a gold mine?

~~~
dade_
A nickel mine actually: [http://www.mining.com/over-240-mining-and-energy-
projects-wa...](http://www.mining.com/over-240-mining-and-energy-projects-
waiting-for-investors-in-cuba/)

It's been great for Canadian mining companies.

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acheron
This is an event that occurred, yes. I don't see the point of it being on HN
though -- the guidelines suggest staying away from mainstream news, and as
already shown in the first comment here, there's basically no chance of a
worthwhile discussion coming out of it.

~~~
Grazester
Can we spin this to discuss what influence it would have on Cuba's IT growth?
Now that there is an embassy there U.S tech companies might be more inclined
to invest there.

~~~
secfirstmd
Hopefully bring down the price of internet in the country. From what I have
heard from activists on the ground it can often be hundreds of dollars a
month. Plus significant restrictions on access etc. There was quite a good
Guardian article about it.

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/cuba-offline-
in...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/cuba-offline-internet-
weekly-packet-external-hard-drives)

~~~
dublinben
Couldn't the embassy provide a large public WiFi hotspot to the nearby Cuban
residents?

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JupiterMoon
I'm sure that they do. They will not forget to record and track all the people
using it. (Not that the US government is short of ways to get this data
anyway.)

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pyrocat
That's half a centur-y
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fngEnIkz44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fngEnIkz44)

~~~
civilian
I really like auto-tune the news, but HN isn't really the venue for it.

