I was not alive during the Cuban missile crisis.
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I was not alive during the Cuban missile crisis. In 1962 during the height of the Cold War the US and Russia were pointing nuclear missiles at each other.
I *thought* that Russia started it but, no, the US started it. The US put nuclear missiles in allied countries pointed at Russia. Russia said "bet" and put missiles in Cuba and the US freaked out.
They could do this because Cuba was a client state and ally of Russia.
But now Cuba is alone.
@futurebird truly US history is a string of "how DARE they respond to our provocation!!!"
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I was not alive during the Cuban missile crisis. In 1962 during the height of the Cold War the US and Russia were pointing nuclear missiles at each other.
I *thought* that Russia started it but, no, the US started it. The US put nuclear missiles in allied countries pointed at Russia. Russia said "bet" and put missiles in Cuba and the US freaked out.
They could do this because Cuba was a client state and ally of Russia.
But now Cuba is alone.
The next part of this story is where I'm trying to explain why we have a harsh and inhumane embargo on Cuba. The official reason is that their government is oppressive, anti-democratic and bad.
This line about "this country has an oppressive government we must change that" really isn't working for me at all. It's so inconsistent. Many nations have oppressive governments. Only certain ones are the target of American ire. Why?
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@futurebird truly US history is a string of "how DARE they respond to our provocation!!!"
I still have a copy of my HS history book and I am not a bad student. The paragraph in the chapter on the Cold War really makes it sound like Russia just put nuclear missiles in Cuba out of nowhere for no reason.
I learned what was on offer at the time.
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I was not alive during the Cuban missile crisis. In 1962 during the height of the Cold War the US and Russia were pointing nuclear missiles at each other.
I *thought* that Russia started it but, no, the US started it. The US put nuclear missiles in allied countries pointed at Russia. Russia said "bet" and put missiles in Cuba and the US freaked out.
They could do this because Cuba was a client state and ally of Russia.
But now Cuba is alone.
@futurebird yeah, I remember finding this out in the forward to a peace work from the time, a letter addressing JFK and basically asking why the Americans are expecting the Russians to live with something they’re not willing to live with. Why is it right for us to do to the Russians and not for the Russians to do to us?
really brought home how much American history textbooks can lie with the (partial) truth.
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The next part of this story is where I'm trying to explain why we have a harsh and inhumane embargo on Cuba. The official reason is that their government is oppressive, anti-democratic and bad.
This line about "this country has an oppressive government we must change that" really isn't working for me at all. It's so inconsistent. Many nations have oppressive governments. Only certain ones are the target of American ire. Why?
@futurebird the only explanation that ever actually made sense to me was “they dared to stand up (and even potentially thrive) against US hegemony and we need to make an example of them.”
can’t have ANYONE in the global south even think they can stand against us, lest everyone realize that they probably should
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The next part of this story is where I'm trying to explain why we have a harsh and inhumane embargo on Cuba. The official reason is that their government is oppressive, anti-democratic and bad.
This line about "this country has an oppressive government we must change that" really isn't working for me at all. It's so inconsistent. Many nations have oppressive governments. Only certain ones are the target of American ire. Why?
The real issue seems to be that Cuba took the property and power of a group of people who the US welcomed and those people are still bitter about it.
And maybe they even have a point... but this isn't my fight. I don't really care.
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The next part of this story is where I'm trying to explain why we have a harsh and inhumane embargo on Cuba. The official reason is that their government is oppressive, anti-democratic and bad.
This line about "this country has an oppressive government we must change that" really isn't working for me at all. It's so inconsistent. Many nations have oppressive governments. Only certain ones are the target of American ire. Why?
@futurebird there is probably a more nuanced answer to that one, but my guess would be because we think we deserve to have a sphere of influence over it because it’s right close to us.
It was the Spectre of communism on our doorstep and the one military attempt we made to remove the power was such a cluster that nobody wanted to go again. Whereas elsewhere in Latin America, there was a way for us to put money into war and genocide.
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The real issue seems to be that Cuba took the property and power of a group of people who the US welcomed and those people are still bitter about it.
And maybe they even have a point... but this isn't my fight. I don't really care.
Some of these people expelled from Cuba were or have become very wealthy and they have been twisting our governments arm to do something to put them back in power for half a century.
And this embargo makes them very happy, but it's probably not enough to get them what they want.
"they" is Marco Rubio.
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Some of these people expelled from Cuba were or have become very wealthy and they have been twisting our governments arm to do something to put them back in power for half a century.
And this embargo makes them very happy, but it's probably not enough to get them what they want.
"they" is Marco Rubio.
Lil’ Marco Rubio, wannabe Governor of Cuba.
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Some of these people expelled from Cuba were or have become very wealthy and they have been twisting our governments arm to do something to put them back in power for half a century.
And this embargo makes them very happy, but it's probably not enough to get them what they want.
"they" is Marco Rubio.
Right now US military might is for sale to the highest bidder so a host of actors are purchasing their wish lists.
That's what these wars seem to be. People talk about "Israel controlling the US" and get antisemetic about it, but Israel is just *one* of the people in line to get their dream fulfilled. US Cubans (some of them) want the US to "fix" their country. Venezuela was something similar. Bibi has dreamed of bombing Iran forever... we are the doordash of war.
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Lil’ Marco Rubio, wannabe Governor of Cuba.
Republicans are saying they think he's the best bet to run for president. Can you imagine?
ugh.
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Right now US military might is for sale to the highest bidder so a host of actors are purchasing their wish lists.
That's what these wars seem to be. People talk about "Israel controlling the US" and get antisemetic about it, but Israel is just *one* of the people in line to get their dream fulfilled. US Cubans (some of them) want the US to "fix" their country. Venezuela was something similar. Bibi has dreamed of bombing Iran forever... we are the doordash of war.
@futurebird ... Wardash
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The real issue seems to be that Cuba took the property and power of a group of people who the US welcomed and those people are still bitter about it.
And maybe they even have a point... but this isn't my fight. I don't really care.
@futurebird idk what that point would be. it's just more hegemony as nation state policy. "join us or we will call you barbarians and build walls around you", as the Romans did.
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The real issue seems to be that Cuba took the property and power of a group of people who the US welcomed and those people are still bitter about it.
And maybe they even have a point... but this isn't my fight. I don't really care.
@futurebird Whatever point they had became invalid the moment they allied with fascism. Fuck them all.
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Republicans are saying they think he's the best bet to run for president. Can you imagine?
ugh.
He is less dislikable than Vance.
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Right now US military might is for sale to the highest bidder so a host of actors are purchasing their wish lists.
That's what these wars seem to be. People talk about "Israel controlling the US" and get antisemetic about it, but Israel is just *one* of the people in line to get their dream fulfilled. US Cubans (some of them) want the US to "fix" their country. Venezuela was something similar. Bibi has dreamed of bombing Iran forever... we are the doordash of war.
US "military might" is not magic. It is not an inexhaustible resource. Each time you use power you risk becoming a paper tiger.
Our missiles are old, our ships are old, we have not been investing in good research or real new technology. How would it feel to look up and no one thinks the US is invincible anymore? It happened to Russia.
Putin refuses to reconsider that this has happened and it's cost the lives of so many of his people. And everyone's people.
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