Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Barack Obama, Brussels, Latin America
Brussels happened. And it is rather sad. It is a major event.
But Barack Obama cutting short his trip would be the stupidest thing he could do right now. That would cause mayhem across America. Every town population 50,000 and up would get riled up for no reason. Bad as Brussels is, most Americans have not heard of it. Barack Obama cutting short his trip would amplify the fear that the terrorists intend.
A POTUS does not stop working just because he is on a foreign trip. It is work travel. The US government machinery keeps chugging full throttle. The POTUS stays in control. There already was a swift retaliatory strike in Yemen. Something tells me Obama might have had something to do with it.
भारतके मुसलमान: पाँचवा कास्ट
Negotiating With Terrorists
The Issues And The Donald
Paris And Brussels
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Putin And Russia
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| English: AGRA. Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin visiting the Taj Mahal. Русский: АГРА. Владимир и Людмила Путины во время посещения мавзолея Тадж-Махал. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Vladimir Putin with his mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, in July 1958. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Vladimir Putin at school age (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
No two democracy is alike. America is not like Canada is not like Britain is not like France is not like Germany, and so on. Which means perhaps countries are like fingerprints. Each country is going to end up with a slightly unique political system and culture. Russia is not waiting to photocopy any other country politically. Maybe Russia is a little too different.
I believe in democracy and human rights like no American I have ever met. I believe democracy is good for every country. And I am not exactly America inspired. Although it is obvious that America is the loudest example today. The world's first republic was birthed by the Buddha. We also recently found out Iraqis came up with calculus over a thousand years before Newton.
I do want to see a more western Europe style democracy in Russia. I very much want Russia to become a more robust economy. I want Russia to do double digit growth rates. But I don't believe in military intervention. Except in Russia's case that is not even an option. The species should survive.
My prescription would be the deepest possible engagement with the country. If you want a western Europe style democracy in Russia, you want the deepest possible engagement with the country. That is the best option, that is the only option. Which means sanctions are a bad idea, and not sustainable over the long term. I understand the circumstances that brought them about. But at some point down the line they will have to be rolled back.
One mistake America made early on was while it expanded NATO right to Russia's borders, it did not at the same time respectfully engage Russia. Russia joining NATO might be an outlandish thought, but America could have offered to carry out joint naval exercises in the Pacific, for example. This is one more thing we can blame on Bush. (The list is long.) Looks like not only W messed up the War On Terror, he rekindled the Cold War too.
The Russia India friendship does not have a parallel. This is not like the friendship between America and England. India and Russia are not shared cultures. There are no shared languages. There is not even a shared border. It is almost like a friendship between two human beings, only it is between two peoples. It is not a military alliance. And business is not the primary motive. It is just friendship.
Putin
Russia's Ego Is Geopolitical
Friday, January 01, 2016
What Did I Do?
2016: The Year For Barack Obama's Revolution From The Top
Right To Privacy Is Important
What Did I Do?
As a Barack Obama volunteer in 2007 and 2008 (I would not know much about 2008), you basically did two things. You knocked on doors. And you made phone calls. The guy had dumbed it down for the rest of us. While I mull about on foreign policy, here, you knock on doors. And you make some phone calls. If you might feel so enthused, here, knock on some more doors, make some more phone calls. It was almost patronizing. He read somewhere, 40% of Americans can’t point out the Pacific on a map. And so he be like, here, make some phone calls, and knock on some doors. Some of his most impassioned speeches were like, “If you will just knock on some doors for me, if you will just make some phone calls for me ……..” And then he would taper off. People be like, you got the looks. I am making the phone calls.
The more creative and original among us naturally gravitated towards the phone call regimen. But no, even there they gave you a script. Here, read this out. That took out the possibility of originality. There was no room for how you feel about Obama, and how it all came out to be, and what your particular story is that might inspire the person on the other end. None of that.
Too bad Donald Trump picked up a fight with Jeff Bezos or, for as uninspiring as he is, he could be hiring Amzon turks this season. Here, make some phone calls for me. He fills up auditoriums with struggling actors. Amazon turks are just a few blocks down that road.
I did not give Obama credit for the stimulus. I am like, he is filling a ditch he did not dig. The credit goes to Bush. This is too Soviet. But by the time health care reform showed up. You know when you volunteer for someone who becomes president, when you see him on TV, things like that, you feel a certain connection. I mean, I did meet the guy before he became president. When he signs a major bill, you feel like maybe you had something to do with. But then he soon became really unreachable. Health care was (and is) in this country so complex an issue that when he did get it passed, I am like, what did I do? Health care was supposed to be this issue. They have god, gay and guns. We have health care. It was supposed to just stick around permanently as an issue that you emote about. It was not supposed to be solved. No one was expecting any kind of resolution. And he goes ahead and solves. And I am like, what did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?
Cuba really knocked me out. You don’t expect the Rocky Mountains to move. I was left scratching my head. What did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?
I mean, I did take credit for Iowa. Like, deeply, personally. I met Michelle Obama at a Harlem event in the summer of 2007. I said, “You give us Iowa, we will give you New York. We will make it quick and painless for Hillary.” And she delivered oh so handsomely. And I am like, Michelle, we are talking! Not New York, but we almost delivered Brooklyn. We had Anthony Weiner worried. Hillary, you need to make one trip to Brooklyn. And she did. Make one trip. To Brooklyn.
Right To Privacy Is Important
What Did I Do?
As a Barack Obama volunteer in 2007 and 2008 (I would not know much about 2008), you basically did two things. You knocked on doors. And you made phone calls. The guy had dumbed it down for the rest of us. While I mull about on foreign policy, here, you knock on doors. And you make some phone calls. If you might feel so enthused, here, knock on some more doors, make some more phone calls. It was almost patronizing. He read somewhere, 40% of Americans can’t point out the Pacific on a map. And so he be like, here, make some phone calls, and knock on some doors. Some of his most impassioned speeches were like, “If you will just knock on some doors for me, if you will just make some phone calls for me ……..” And then he would taper off. People be like, you got the looks. I am making the phone calls.
The more creative and original among us naturally gravitated towards the phone call regimen. But no, even there they gave you a script. Here, read this out. That took out the possibility of originality. There was no room for how you feel about Obama, and how it all came out to be, and what your particular story is that might inspire the person on the other end. None of that.
Too bad Donald Trump picked up a fight with Jeff Bezos or, for as uninspiring as he is, he could be hiring Amzon turks this season. Here, make some phone calls for me. He fills up auditoriums with struggling actors. Amazon turks are just a few blocks down that road.
I did not give Obama credit for the stimulus. I am like, he is filling a ditch he did not dig. The credit goes to Bush. This is too Soviet. But by the time health care reform showed up. You know when you volunteer for someone who becomes president, when you see him on TV, things like that, you feel a certain connection. I mean, I did meet the guy before he became president. When he signs a major bill, you feel like maybe you had something to do with. But then he soon became really unreachable. Health care was (and is) in this country so complex an issue that when he did get it passed, I am like, what did I do? Health care was supposed to be this issue. They have god, gay and guns. We have health care. It was supposed to just stick around permanently as an issue that you emote about. It was not supposed to be solved. No one was expecting any kind of resolution. And he goes ahead and solves. And I am like, what did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?
Cuba really knocked me out. You don’t expect the Rocky Mountains to move. I was left scratching my head. What did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?
I mean, I did take credit for Iowa. Like, deeply, personally. I met Michelle Obama at a Harlem event in the summer of 2007. I said, “You give us Iowa, we will give you New York. We will make it quick and painless for Hillary.” And she delivered oh so handsomely. And I am like, Michelle, we are talking! Not New York, but we almost delivered Brooklyn. We had Anthony Weiner worried. Hillary, you need to make one trip to Brooklyn. And she did. Make one trip. To Brooklyn.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Cuba And Cancer: Who Would Have Thought?
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| English: The Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Español: El líder cubano Fidel Castro. Italiano: Il leader cubano Fidel Castro Français : Le dirigeant cubain Fidel Castro. 日本語: キューバの最高指導者であるフィデル・カストロ Português: O líder cubano Fidel Castro. Norsk (bokmål)‬: Cubas statsoverhode Fidel Castro. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Americans could soon be thanking Fidel Castro for their revolutionary cancer drugs
an accord between New York’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology that will bring the Cuban lung cancer vaccine Cimavax to the United States for clinical trials ..... While not a cure for cancer by any means, Cimavax is a powerful and incredibly cheap cancer drug in Cuba. “Medical researchers at the Center for Molecular Immunology worked on Cimavax for 25 years before the Ministry of Health made it available to the public — for free — in 2011”
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Barack Obama (Big Picture Guy) And Cuba
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| Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I think it is about his being black. Unless you are exceptionally good, a black guy does not end up in the White House. And so Barack Obama being amazingly good is everything about his being a black dude.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Israel Can Defend Itself
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| English: Map showing the maximum territorial extent of countries under the direct influence of the Soviet Union — between the Cuban Revolution/21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union/Sino-Soviet split. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
During the Cold War it would have been like the Soviet Union saying to the US, if you attack Cuba, we will attack your ally Turkey. That was proportionate talk somewhat. This talk by Iran is outlandish. Oh really? You are going to attack Israel?
I don't mean to take sides, but objectively speaking, in terms of sheer military capability, Israel could take Syria and Iran at once. Or Israel would not have been talking - like it has for years - in terms of going solo into Iran to take out its nuclear sites.
This is kind of like if Poland threatened a trade war with the United States. China threatening a trade war would be plausible. But Poland?
The president should not worry about Israel and do right by the people of Syria.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Gaddafi Helped Mandela
Image via WikipediaIt is important to maintain perspective. I have always believed in democracy, and I have never thought of it as some kind of a western thing.
The day 9/11 happened I compared it to the start of something along the magnitudes of the Cold War.
Gaddafi is like Castro in that he saw a lot. He saw colonialism, the Cold War, the aftermath, the War On Terror. This guy stayed in the news for half a century.
I was doing school in Kathmandu. We were amazed about this guy who seemed to drive Reagan crazy. Who i-s this guy? We read up on him.
One of the details that has to be noted is that Gaddafi helped Mandela when nobody helped Mandela. Dick Cheney was opposed to imposing sanctions on the apartheid regime and I don't think he has ever course corrected that stand.
I have often wondered what a Gaddafi like political animal functioning in a democratic set up might look like. Because the world does need people who will speak to the west on their own terms.
I am thinking Imran Khan might emerge that welcome voice, someone who is a democrat, a son of the soil, intelligent beyond belief, and someone who simply can not go corrupt.
Gaddafi was a dictator like Saddam was a dictator. I would not put Castro in the same basket. Castro was never a mass murderer. And the US could learn from some of what Cuba has done in education and health. Castro exported many a doctor to Third World countries over decades.
A new world order asks for personalities like Imran Khan who will ride the world stage on behalf of their peoples, democratically elected, and subject to peaceful recall once every few years.
Imran Khan
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