Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Cuba’s wrongdoing goes unchallenged

Cuba's wrongdoing goes unchallenged
BY FRANK CALZON FRANK.CALZON@CUBACENTER.ORG
03/09/2015 6:05 PM 03/09/2015 6:05 PM

A few days after American negotiators met with Cuban officials to
continue talks to reestablish formal diplomatic relations, a Chinese
ship bound for Cuba was intercepted near Colombia's Port of Cartagena
carrying 100 tons of gunpowder, almost 3 million detonators and some
3,000 cannon shells to Cuba.

On Monday, a Colombian judge ordered that the Chinese captain of the
Hong Kong-registered Da Dan Xia be placed under house arrest.

It's not yet known whether President Obama has been alerted to Havana's
arms purchase. If he has, he's not likely to say anything in this new
era of aggressive niceness. He didn't say anything about Cuba's attempt
in 2013 to smuggle two warplanes, missile parts and 240 metric tons of
war materiél from Cuba into North Korea. Certainly, he wouldn't say
anything resembling his negative response to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress.

As negotiations with Cuba and Iran continue, however, the president
might want to seek a briefing by the University of Miami's Institute for
Cuban and Cuban American Studies, which tracks Cuba's foreign policy and
describes it as "a close and cooperative relationship against the United
States and in support of terrorist groups and states."

Reporting this month on the relationship among Iran, Cuba and Venezuela,
it writes, "Cuba plays a strategic role in terms of
geography...intelligence gathering (both electronic eavesdropping and
human espionage) and logistics." Iran's president is quoted as saying,
"The Islamic Republic of Iran and Cuba can play a significant role in
international organizations. Teheran and Havana share [a] common
viewpoint on major international issues" and "the Hamas-funded Turkish
'charity' known as IHH continues to operate in Havana." In 2014,
Castro's banks were holding accounts for al Qaida affiliates.

Like many, President Obama has bought into the idea that whatever
happened between Cuba and the United States, it was many years ago. The
president is committed to moving forward and implementing the same
failed Cuba policies of the European states, Canada, and others: full
diplomatic relations, millions of tourists filling resorts and
unrestricted trade facilitated by export insurance and loans that aren't
repaid.

Washington will say as little as possible about the regime's beating
Cuban dissidents that peacefully demonstrate against the lack of civil
rights, free elections and economic reforms, and the jailing and killing
of human-rights activists.

While Netanyahu's words are seen as a threat, Raúl Castro's actions
during Obama's tenure in the White House — not what happened 50 years
ago — are not.

Secretary of State John Kerry's record is not much better. While
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry held secret
talks at the home of the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations in New
York without telling committee members. The committee was ignored during
the 18 months of secret talks between Washington and Havana.

At the same time the president wants to take Cuba off the list of states
sponsoring terrorism, he considers putting North Korea back on the list.
Does Obama know about the dangerous alliance between Cuba and North
Korea? He should. In 2008, the State Department removed Pyongyang from
the list, hoping that by doing so the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un
would behave differently.

That is the approach Obama is taking with Havana: Ignore the facts and
acquiesce to demands for recognition. Kim Jong Un hasn't changed, and
there's no good reason to think Raúl Castro will change.

While the president believes the Cold War is over, Vladimir Putin,
Castro, the Iranians and the North Koreans believe it's time to push
their advantage. There will be no end to the indignities inflicted by
North Korea, Iran and Cuba. Moscow is happy. Russian generals think
there is merit in extending a Cold War strategy: visits to Cuba by
Russian spy ships, as we just saw, establishment of an electronic spy
station and when Obama withdraws from Guantánamo, the opening of the
Russian Navy base in the warm waters of the Caribbean at Guantánamo Bay.

FRANK CALZON IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR A FREE CUBA BASED
IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Source: Cuba's wrongdoing goes unchallenged | Miami Herald Miami Herald
- http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article13134779.html

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