[Buckaroo]

Cuba's Fidel Castro retires | Reuters

Anyone want to guess when he will pass away?

[Big Mac]

Not soon enough.

[RAILhead]

A sad day for pinkos.

[tie]

Here is our chance to lift the embargo. But we won't.

[Atomic Rooster]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Not soon enough.

Why do you care?

[Shaddim]

His brother is a carbon copy of himself, I don't see this as any kind of change at all.

[nonhuman]

I believe I read somewhere that his brother had hinted at his being more amenable to change for Cuba. Also his brother is himself no spring chicken, so it's not like this move is going to extend the Castro regime indefinitely.

[Doofy]

I can't watch this without laughing uncontrollably:

YouTube - The Fall Of Communism

[macintologist]

The embargo is one of the worst US foreign policies after Vietnam and Iraq

[Apemanblues]

You Americans should celebrate by lighting up a nice big Cuban cigar.

oh...

[nonhuman]

Actually, I've got one laying around that really should be smoked...

[Apemanblues]

Terrorist!

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Apemanblues 

Terrorist!

I know, not keeping it in a proper humidity controlled environment is a crime against humanity. I should probably be shipped off to gitmo and waterboarded.

[lpkmckenna]

Good riddance to bad garbage.

[tie]

Relevant quotes from the debate last night:

MR. RAMOS: Thank you very much. (Speaks in Spanish.) Thank you so much for being with us, and let me start with a little news.

After nearly half a century in office Fidel Castro resigned as the head of the Cuban government. Ninety miles off the coast of the United States we might have a new opportunity.

A question for you, Senator Clinton. Would you be willing to sit down with Raul Castro or whoever leads the Cuban dictatorship when you take office at least just once to get a measure of the man?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, Jorge, I hope we have an opportunity. The people of Cuba deserve to have a democracy, and this gives the Cuban government under Raul Castro a chance to change direction from the one that was set for 50 years by his brother.

I'm going to be looking for some of those changes -- releasing political prisoners, ending some of the oppressive practices on the press, opening up the economy. Of course the United States stands ready, and as president I would be ready, to reach out and work with a new Cuban government once it demonstrated that it truly was going to change that direction. I want to bring the region together, our European allies who have influence with Cuba, to try to push for some of those changes, and to make it very clear that if Cuba moves toward democracy and freedom for its people the United States will welcome that. And as president, I would look for opportunities to try to make that happen and to create the momentum that might eventually lead to a presidential visit. But there has to be evidence that, indeed, the changes are real, that they're taking place, and that the Cuban people will finally be given an opportunity to have their future determined by themselves.

MR. RAMOS: Very simply, would you meet with him or not, with Raul Castro?

SEN. CLINTON: I -- I would not meet with him until there was evidence that change was happening because I think it's important that they demonstrate clearly that they are committed to change the direction.

Then I think, you know, something like diplomatic encounters and negotiations over specifics could take place.

But we've had this conversation before, Senator Obama and myself, and I believe that we should have full diplomatic engagement, where appropriate. But a presidential visit should not be offered and given without some evidence that it will demonstrate the kind of progress that is in our interest and, in this case, in the interest of the Cuban people. (Applause.)

MS. BROWN: Senator Obama, just to follow up, you had said in a previous CNN debate that you would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, among others. So presumably you would be willing to meet with the new leader of Cuba.

SEN. OBAMA: That's correct. Now, keep in mind that the starting point for our policy in -- in Cuba should be the liberty of the Cuban people. And I think we recognize that that liberty has not existed throughout the Castro regime. And we now have an opportunity to potentially change the relationship between the United States and Cuba, after over half a century.

I would meet without preconditions, although Senator Clinton is right that there has to be preparation. It is very important for us to make sure that there was an agenda and on that agenda was human rights, releasing of political prisoners, opening up the press. And that preparation might take some time.

But I do think that it is important for the United States not just to talk to its friends but also to talk to its enemies.

In fact, that's where diplomacy makes the biggest difference. (Applause.)

One other thing that I've said as a show of good faith, that we're interested in pursuing potentially a new relationship, what I've called for is a loosening of the restrictions on remittances from family members to the people of Cuba as well as travel restrictions for family members who want to visit their family members in Cuba. And I think that initiating that change in policy as a start and then suggesting that an agenda get set up is something that could be useful, but I would not normalize relations until we started seeing some of the progress that Senator Clinton talked about.

MS. BROWN: But that's different from your position back in 2003. You called U.S. policy towards Cuba a miserable failure, and you supported normalizing relations. So you've back-tracked now.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, the -- I support the eventual normalization, and it's absolutely true that I think our policy has been a failure.

I mean, the fact is is that during my entire lifetime -- and Senator Clinton's entire lifetime you essentially have seen a Cuba that has been isolated but has not made progress when it comes to the issues of political rights and personal freedoms that are so important to the people of Cuba.

So I think that we have to shift policy. I think our goal has to be ultimately normalization, but that's going to happen in steps.

And the first step, as I said, is changing our rules with respect to remittances and with respect to travel. And then I think it is important for us to have the direct contact not just in Cuba, but I think this principle applies generally. I'm -- I recall what John F. Kennedy once said, that we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate. And this moment, this opportunity when Fidel Castro has finally stepped down I think is one that we should try to take advantage of. (Applause.)

MS. BROWN: Senator Clinton, do you want a quick response?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, I agree absolutely that we should be willing to have diplomatic negotiations and processes with anyone. I've been a strong advocate of opening up such a diplomatic process with Iran for a number of years because I think we should look for ways that we can possibly move countries that are adversarial to us, you know, toward the world community. It's in our interest. It's in the interests of the people in countries that, frankly, are oppressed, like Cuba, like Iran.

But there has been this difference between us over when and whether the president should offer a meeting without preconditions with those with whom we do not have diplomatic relations, and it should be part of a process. But I don't think it should be offered in the beginning because I think that undermines the capacity for us to actually take the measure of somebody like Raul Castro or Ahmadinejad and others.

And as President Kennedy said, he wouldn't be afraid to negotiate but he would expect there to be a lot of preparatory work done, to find out exactly what we would get out of it.

And therefore I do think we should be eliminating the policy of the Bush administration, which has been very narrowly defined and frankly against our interests, because we have failed to reach out to countries. We have alienated our friends and we have emboldened our enemies.

So I would get back to very vigorous diplomacy and I would use bipartisan diplomacy. I would ask emissaries from both political parties to represent me and our country. Because I want to send a very clear message, to the rest of the world, that the era of unilateralism, preemption and arrogance, of the Bush administration, is over. And we're going to start working together. (Cheers, applause.)

MS. BROWN: Okay. Very briefly, and then we're going to move on.

SEN. OBAMA: I think, as I've said before, preparation is actually absolutely critical in any meeting. And I think it is absolutely true that either of us would step back from some of the Bush unilateralism that's caused so much damage.

But I do think it is important, precisely because the Bush administration has done so much damage to American foreign relations, that the president take a more active role in diplomacy than might have been true 20 or 30 years ago.

Because the problem isn't -- is if we think that meeting with the president is a privilege that has to be earned, I think that reinforces the sense that we stand above the rest of the world at this point in time, and I think that it's important for us, in undoing the damage that has been done over the last seven years, for the president to be willing to take that extra step. That's the kind of step that I would like to take as president of the United States. (Cheers, applause.)

I think Obama's position makes a little more sense. I agree with his statement, "And we now have an opportunity to potentially change the relationship between the United States and Cuba, after over half a century." Hillary seemed to be happier with the status quo, and tried to conflate Cuba with Iran. In any case, the policy of not talking to our enemies until they get nuclear weapons (like North Korea) doesn't make sense.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by Apemanblues 

You Americans should celebrate by lighting up a nice big Cuban cigar.

oh...

I have plenty, they're nice. However, my favorites are from the D.R. and the Canary Islands.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

His brother is a carbon copy of himself, I don't see this as any kind of change at all.

I was gonna say. He just handed over power to someone exactly like himself. I wouldn't expect much to change right off the bat, unless Raul turns out to be sloppy enough to get himself deposed. But I don't see that happening either, as he's already pretty well been running things for over a year.

I just hope that when it does happen, the country doesn't collapse and create a vacuum filled by Segram's and MacDonalds. I want to go to Cuba, legally, before the American corporations totally take over. I'd like to see self-determination for the Cuban people happen on their own terms too, and not under the auspices of a bunch of 40-year-exiles rushing back in to fill a power gap.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

I have plenty, they're nice. However, my favorites are from the D.R. and the Canary Islands.

I found you can get a damn fine cigar in Puerto Rico. Even the cheap ones there are better than most of what you can get here, because they're fresh.