Thanks. I sometimes think that he can't possibly be so stupid as to try to take Cuba but of course he's that stupid. Trying to justify it will, however, be difficult.
As for Duck and Cover and our old friend Bert the Turtle, I wrote a book about the Bomb and devoted a chapter to the whole charade of civil defense. Someday I'll post a condensed version of that here. It's fascinating but also hilariously funny.
Excellent summation of that which is Cuba, and what was Cuba. The present interest, shown by Trump, enablers, in the close in Island, 90 miles from U.S. Shores can not any longer be that security risk that, let us note what an Iran may be. However, our Great Leader, a fully Transactional Real Estate Magnet, may well see Cuba as an unrecognized Real Estate Play, one to be developed after we Taxpayers fund the preparation of such.
Unfortunately, I agree. He is that stupid. You’ve only got to look at what he has done in recent months! The ghastly thing is that no-one seems the least bit interested in stopping him!
Excellent piece, Jerry. Thank you for writing. I agree with you and other friends here that tRump cares not one whit about the actual people of Cuba but just another piece of property he can put a resort/casino etc on encased in gold leaf and stamped with his hideous name.
Very worried that this is exactly it — but as you say, the “best and the brightest” also got sucked into regime change arguments. I really hope this isn’t what is next however. Because Venezuela is definitely not significantly better right now. And it’s brewing a problem for the future. As is Iran, however it gets settled, and to that we can most likely add Cuba. But I loved the historical perspective. I remember the Bay of Pigs in terms of parents discussing it - I remember more about the Missile Crisis to include sitting cross-legged under desks in the basement of our school with our hands covering the back of our skulls. As if this was going to ward off nuclear radiation - neither the desks nor the hands over the heads would have helped really for anything, I don’t think it would have kept a floor beam from above from crushing us either. We had lots of those drills, so i think sometimes about these drills school kids have today about active shooters and compare - probably more likely what they are doing in an active shooter drill is more useful than ours. Neither should be a way kids have to learn.
The US virtually owns ($1 a year permanent lease, I think?) a little spot of Cuba - Guantanamo Bay. How they used it during the last foray into Iraq was execrable. God only knows how it would be abused if they took the rest. Leave it alone and be a good neighbor; if the people want another revolution, let them do it unmolested. For a nation that prides itself on its own Revolution from tyranny, it’s disgusting how it attempts to foist its version of democratic politics out of the barrel of a gun.
Your American readers will no doubt appreciate the Bay of Pigs history lesson — Playa Girón, as we call it in Cuba.
As for your final assessment: I think you inadvertently made my point for me. You write that you "really don't know enough about the internal politics of Cuba to make a confident prediction" and yet here we are, at the end of a lengthy piece about Cuba's future. That's a significant caveat to bury in a conclusion. What Cubans think about their situation, what they want, what they make of the prospect of external intervention, these are not secondary details. They are the whole story. And they are not well served by analysis that acknowledges its own blind spots only at the end.
If you're looking for a rigorous, evidence-based starting point, I'd genuinely recommend this: https://cubasiglo21.com/intervencion-en-cuba-indeseable-preferible-o-imprescindible/. It's available in English and engages seriously with the questions you're raising. We've also covered some of this ground in our own Substack, but I'll leave the self-promotion aside.
Thanks. I sometimes think that he can't possibly be so stupid as to try to take Cuba but of course he's that stupid. Trying to justify it will, however, be difficult.
As for Duck and Cover and our old friend Bert the Turtle, I wrote a book about the Bomb and devoted a chapter to the whole charade of civil defense. Someday I'll post a condensed version of that here. It's fascinating but also hilariously funny.
Thanks. Yes, that's exactly his intention.
Excellent summation of that which is Cuba, and what was Cuba. The present interest, shown by Trump, enablers, in the close in Island, 90 miles from U.S. Shores can not any longer be that security risk that, let us note what an Iran may be. However, our Great Leader, a fully Transactional Real Estate Magnet, may well see Cuba as an unrecognized Real Estate Play, one to be developed after we Taxpayers fund the preparation of such.
Thanks. That's exactly his intention.
Unfortunately, I agree. He is that stupid. You’ve only got to look at what he has done in recent months! The ghastly thing is that no-one seems the least bit interested in stopping him!
Excellent piece, Jerry. Thank you for writing. I agree with you and other friends here that tRump cares not one whit about the actual people of Cuba but just another piece of property he can put a resort/casino etc on encased in gold leaf and stamped with his hideous name.
Thanks Emily
Very worried that this is exactly it — but as you say, the “best and the brightest” also got sucked into regime change arguments. I really hope this isn’t what is next however. Because Venezuela is definitely not significantly better right now. And it’s brewing a problem for the future. As is Iran, however it gets settled, and to that we can most likely add Cuba. But I loved the historical perspective. I remember the Bay of Pigs in terms of parents discussing it - I remember more about the Missile Crisis to include sitting cross-legged under desks in the basement of our school with our hands covering the back of our skulls. As if this was going to ward off nuclear radiation - neither the desks nor the hands over the heads would have helped really for anything, I don’t think it would have kept a floor beam from above from crushing us either. We had lots of those drills, so i think sometimes about these drills school kids have today about active shooters and compare - probably more likely what they are doing in an active shooter drill is more useful than ours. Neither should be a way kids have to learn.
The US virtually owns ($1 a year permanent lease, I think?) a little spot of Cuba - Guantanamo Bay. How they used it during the last foray into Iraq was execrable. God only knows how it would be abused if they took the rest. Leave it alone and be a good neighbor; if the people want another revolution, let them do it unmolested. For a nation that prides itself on its own Revolution from tyranny, it’s disgusting how it attempts to foist its version of democratic politics out of the barrel of a gun.
Exactly.
Your American readers will no doubt appreciate the Bay of Pigs history lesson — Playa Girón, as we call it in Cuba.
As for your final assessment: I think you inadvertently made my point for me. You write that you "really don't know enough about the internal politics of Cuba to make a confident prediction" and yet here we are, at the end of a lengthy piece about Cuba's future. That's a significant caveat to bury in a conclusion. What Cubans think about their situation, what they want, what they make of the prospect of external intervention, these are not secondary details. They are the whole story. And they are not well served by analysis that acknowledges its own blind spots only at the end.
If you're looking for a rigorous, evidence-based starting point, I'd genuinely recommend this: https://cubasiglo21.com/intervencion-en-cuba-indeseable-preferible-o-imprescindible/. It's available in English and engages seriously with the questions you're raising. We've also covered some of this ground in our own Substack, but I'll leave the self-promotion aside.
The reading is worth your time, trust me.