Shuffled into the mainstream media’s daily dosage of demonizing Putin and Russia, the teleprompter-reader popped up to announce “normalizing relations” with Cuba. It seemed to come out of nowhere?
How can you tell they’re lying? Their lips are moving.
The United States and Cuba ended more than a half-century of enmity Wednesday, announcing that they would reestablish diplomatic relations and begin dismantling the last pillar of the Cold War.
Saying that he was “under no illusion about the continued barriers to freedom that remain for ordinary Cubans,” Obama said he was convinced that “through a policy of engagement, we can more effectively stand up for our values and help the Cuban people help themselves.”
• source: WashingtonPost.com
So, helping the Cuban people, human rights, blah, blah, blah…….right.
It wreaks of Orwellian Double-Speak.
Isolation failed…?
Arguing that “50 years have shown that isolation hasn’t worked,” President Obama announced sweeping new steps toward normalizing relations with Cuba on Wednesday.
In comments from the White House, the president asserted that “neither the American nor Cuban people” were well served by existing restrictions on travel and trade. Obama said he was ending “an outdated approach that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests.”……
Obama described the trade embargoes as an outdated relic, saying it was important to “cut loose the shackles of the past.”…….while on the other hand, he keeps the pressure on the EU to support the US in strengthening sanctions against Russia. Then there’s Syria, Iran, North Korea…….
“We should not allow U.S. sanctions to add to the burden of Cuban citizens we seek to help,” he added.
The president also argued the restored diplomatic dies would enable the U.S. to raise concerns about the Castro regime’s brutal civil rights violations more directly.
• source: theHill.com
Then it hit me. I refer back to this article from July 13, 2014
Putin Promises to Assist Cuba With Offshore Oil Exploration
President Vladimir Putin pledged to help revive Cuba’s struggling offshore oil exploration at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America as Russia aims to reassert its influence on the communist-ruled island.
Putin was joined in Havana by ally and head of state oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, to finalize a deal to explore for oil off Cuba’s northern coast.
Putin also promised to reinvest $3.5 billion of Cuban debt with Russia into development projects on the island, part of a deal in which Russia forgave 90 percent of Cuba’s debt, or almost $32 billion, most of it originating from Soviet loans to a fellow communist state.
Both measures inject much-needed foreign investment into Cuba and demonstrate an act of defiance against the U.S., which maintains a 52-year-old economic embargo that effectively shuts out many Western companies from doing business in Cuba.
“We will provide support to our Cuban friends to overcome the illegal blockade of Cuba,” Putin said Friday.
Any major oil find would radically improve Cuba’s economic trajectory.
• source: theMoscowTimes.com
The Current State of Cuba’s Offshore Oil Development
Business Insights: Cuba
July 2014
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that offshore reserves in the North Cuba Basin could contain an additional five billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable crude oil. Cuba estimates its reserves in 20 billion barrels….
Now, Cuba is asking for Russia’s help with the support of President Putin. Russian companies Rosneft and Zarubezhneft signed an energy agreement with Cuba in May 2014 to explore offshore oil deposits….
U.S. Embargo – Cuba Drilling
The embargo against Cuba denies access to Cuba of U.S. equipment for drilling and environmental protection. Exports and re-exports to Cuba of foreign made items incorporating, commingled with or drawn from controlled U.S. origin items exceeding 10 percent of U.S. components and technology – the so-called De Minimis Rule under Sections 734.4 and 736.2(b)(2) of Export Administration Regulations (EARs) – are prohibited by the Embargo.
Several experts have said that the only country that produces the necessary equipment is the United States. Therefore, Cuba would not have access to U.S. equipment unless the embargo is lifted or altered…..
Members of Congress have presented several proposals to deny oil and gas leases and permits “to persons who engage in activities with the government of any foreign country that is subject to any sanction or an embargo” by the U.S. government.
• source: foxrothschild.com
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