Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim727
Rick -
We tend to agree on lots of things, so I'll pose a hypothetical situation to you. What do you think would have been the evolution of Cuba had we conducted trade with them the same way we have done with China? If the citizens of Cuba had more contact with our way of life and approach to prosperity would that have resulted in a greater impetus toward a free society than isolating them as we have done?
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That would have been impossible. China was never a Soviet client state, while Cuba was. We were able to do business with China because of that and the fact that they offered us a good counterbalance to Soviet power. And I'd say Cuba has PLENTY of exposure to the U.S. way of life, far more than China had until around Deng's later years. Aside from the millions of family members living in the U.S., Cubans are bombarded with Radio Marti and plenty of other U.S. propaganda or cultural broadcasts. And Cuba was a U.S. territory before 1959, so there are plenty of folks still there who remember those days.
I don't think corporations' financial interests and our government's security interests are necessarily mutually exclusive.