What a difference a day makes
in politics. The Unites States for the longest time has employed a policy of
containment and isolation regarding Cuba. The only visible US paraphernalia on
the Island of Cuba was a deserted U.S. interest section housed by CIA
operatives and Cuban dissidents masquerading as diplomats. The shores of South
Florida and the Florida Keys are clearly visible from the Havana sky line and yet
still, they were worlds apart. Most pundits of US-Cuba relations have been riding
the tide of life waiting for the demise of Castro to engage the last frontier
in the Western Hemisphere with the vestiges of the cold war. Barack Obama has
gone where no other US president has gone by side stepping the “Prisoners Dilemma”
in the Game theory which was basically the policy adopted by all his predecessors
regarding Castro and his Island Nation. He has up the ante and any reversal of
his declaration regarding the establishment of ties with the island nation will
tantamount to the renewal of hostilities and this cannot be afforded by any
administration.
If Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar
Hoover were alive today, they would have considered Obama a communist
sympathizer who deserves to be assassinated or impeached. The cold war is over and all relics of the cold war should be
dismantled just like Ronald Reagan told Michael Gorbachev "Mr. Gorbachev!
please tear this world down". A War of ideology and sphere of interest
across the Florida Keys have taken a heavy toll on the Cuban populace. The Bay
of Pigs, the Mariella boat lift and the frequent antics of Fidel Castro on the
world stage made the Cubans resilient to outlive a sanction regime that has
caused undue hardship to the Cubans. Barack Obama did the right thing by ending
the collective punishment of a people who chose where their strategic interest resides. Humility and reasoning are the corner stone of leadership and Obama exude
these traits. Ride on my African brother. Barack Obama is a tactful calculating leader who wants to open up
America's sphere of influence and also re-brand America’s image outside the
shores of the United States. America has been seen as the world police and he
wants to demystify that assumption. It would have been unthinkable that an
American President will encourage talks with nuclear Iran, attempt to close
Gitmo, offer universal health care coverage and wage a fiscal war on the 2% of
Americans whose tax obligations are not in line with their income. Like him or
hate him, but he has change the course of US foreign policy by disengaging the United
States from age old quagmires they found themselves in without tangible exit
strategies. America now has to tread carefully in its engagement with the
Havana establishment and avoid meddling in the internal affairs of the state of
Cuba. It’s just a matter of time before Cubans demand for more individual
rights and the Cuban exiles in South Florida are not the solution to Cuba’s
problems. Cuba’s redemption will be home grown with the passage of time. The
Castro’s are not new comers in global politics and they will cautiously manage
the new relationship with their northern neighbor to smoothen the transition of
multi party democracy.
Obama’s
world view is different from any other US president and he owes this to his
upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia. Presidential historians have their plate
full because he has far exceeded the expectation set forth by his critics and
supporters. His book title "Audacity of hope" is clearly not an accident
but a deliberate design by a young maverick who believed he can change the
world and change he did. Kudos to him and the early Christmas present Santa delivered on his behalf across the Bering Straits to President Putin. Truly a smack on the face of an arrogant Putin who is currently embroiled in a multi-dimensional mishaps ranging from a crashing Ruble, Ukraine and falling energy prices which is the life line of Russia
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