Monday, April 4, 2016

Cruz Cuba Trump and the Tango. Pt 1



Nero fiddles while Rome burns, perhaps not 100% historically accurate but it is a by word for heartless and callous behavior from a leader in a time of crisis. Perhaps the phrase needs an update, Obama tangoed as Brussels burned.  Perhaps nothing in the long Obama nightmare shows the ineptitude of the Obama foreign policy as did his recent foray into Cuba/central America. He loves despots, he undermines freedom advocates, he blames America for the entire world’s problems, terrorism isn’t a big deal and he has a very high tolerance for the suffering of others.  Let’s look at President Obama’s foreign policy and how the two remaining Republican hopefuls react.

Policy point 1, Love of despots:
President Obama once said “I’m not a dictator,” but I have no doubt he wishes he could be. He has cultivated positive relations with such dictators as Rual Castro, yet alienates traditional allies such as Israel and England time and again. While his embracing of Castro is telling his support of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is damning. He actively supported one of the worst extremist groups rise to power then openly condemned their removal. His support of a nuclear deal that will lead to Iranian nuclear weapons though is the worst example.   Iran already a threat to the world through its support of terror would become the greatest threat to our firmest ally in the Middle East, Israel.  
Cruz from his campaign website: Two terms of the disastrous Obama-Clinton foreign policy have had one useful effect: we now know what the world starts to look like without America. The next president will have to start on day one rebuilding what they have tried to tear down. A truly conservative foreign policy would have three simple principles:
To preserve our country we need to exert leadership on the global stage, not withdraw from it.
We need to fiercely defend our allies and interests.
And we need to judge each challenge through the simple test of what is best for America.  Because what is best for America is best for the world.
On day one, a President Cruz will immediately repeal every word of President Obama’s dangerous Iran deal and will prioritize American national security interests in every instance.
Trump from his nothing on foreign policy except renegotiating deals with China, and bombing Isis he has however made it clear that he thinks the Iran deal is a poor one but prefers to fix it rather than abandon it: “[that] ... Because I’m a deal person. And when I make deals ... I will police that deal. You know, I’ve taken over some bad contracts. I buy contracts where people screwed up, and they have bad contracts. But I’m really good at looking at a contract and finding things within a contract that, even if they’re bad, I would police that contract so tough that they don’t have a chance. ... And the problem is, by the time I got in there, they will have already received the $150 billion.”

Point #2 Undermines freedom’s advocates:
Pres. Obama said, “What I've said to the Cuban government is, if . . . we're seeing some progress in the liberty and freedom and possibilities of ordinary Cubans, I'd love to use a visit as a way of highlighting that progress, " What Obama did was to go to Cuba and offer Cuba millions in American investment without one single concession on human rights, and all the evidence proving that the oppression of the Cuban people worsening. This is a pattern that began early while chaos was spreading over the middle east Obama ignored the democracy movement in Iran that may have made overthrown one of the most evil and dangerous regimes in the modern history of the world.
Cruz reaction: “For decades, leftists and Hollywood liberals have made the pilgrimage to Cuba to pay homage to Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro,” Cruz said. “It’s very chic, it’s very chichi for leftists to celebrate vicious communist dictators.”

If elected president, Cruz vowed he would visit Cuba too, though under different circumstances.

“I cannot wait as president to visit Cuba,” he said. “But when I visit Cuba, it will be a free Cuba. It will be a Cuba without Raúl Castro, without Fidel Castro. And I can’t wait to celebrate with the people of Cuba 90 miles off America’s shore.”
Trump was more concerned about the personal insult payed the pres. By Castro Wow, President Obama just landed in Cuba, a big deal, and Raul Castro wasn't even there to greet him. He greeted Pope and others. No respect

Point # 3 Blaming America:
Many many quotes from Obama imply or directly say, he blames the US for the world’s prblems but with the emphasis on Cuba I’ll pull just one line from that speech: I know these issues are sensitive, especially coming from an American President.  Before 1959, some Americans saw Cuba as something to exploit, ignored poverty, enabled corruption.  And since 1959, we’ve been shadow-boxers in this battle of geopolitics and personalities.  I know the history, but I refuse to be trapped by it. I’ve made it clear that the United States has neither the capacity, nor the intention to impose change on Cuba.  What changes come will depend upon the Cuban people.  We will not impose our political or economic system on you.“
How do you impose freedom? How do you force people into self-determination, compel people to exercise free markets?  This has been a recurring theme in liberalism, at its core is the belief that America is nothing special, that the great experiment in freedom is the moral equivalent of a great experiment in Marxism or Maoism or Sharia. In the end Obama sees an equivalency between American governance and Communist oppression, and always looking back Obama sees the hand of America as the root cause of the issues not the communist oppressors who lied to gain American support than seized power and instituted their totalitarian regime.
A Cruz quote directed at Russia: “Autocrats have reason to fear when Americans focus on our principles, and focus on exceptionalism, because it’s been American exceptionalism that stood up to the Nazis, stopped the murder from the Nazis And it was American exceptionalism that stood up to the Soviet Union and freed hundreds of millions from behind the Iron Curtin.  So Putin is right to be concerned about American exceptionalism.”

Trump: “we’re not a strong country anymore. We will have so much winning if I get elected, that you may get bored with winning.”

Time and space fail but next time we’ll look at the last two points, since the issue of terrorism deserves its own post.


Until then, keep on the firing line!

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