Kerry calls for democracy as US flag is raised in Cuba

[thaibeachlovers]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

It's especially rich for the USA to be calling for Cuba to be a democracy when the USA has installed many dictators and supported many others.

It's only a thought, but if the US hadn't allowed a dictator to corrupt his country and let the mafia in, Cuba might never have seen Fidel in charge.

[chuckd]

Yet despite all of Obama's rhetoric or Kerry's flowery speeches, this is what the Cuban position is.

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Cuba says won't move 'one millimeter' to placate enemies in U.S.

Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:42pm EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's lead negotiator in talks with Washington told Reuters on Friday that the island's internal affairs would never be on the table and Havana would never move "one millimeter" to placate enemies in the United States.

"Decisions on internal matters are not negotiable and will never be put on the negotiating agenda in conversations with the United States," Josefina Vidal, director of U.S. affairs for the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said in an exclusive interview.

"Cuba will never do absolutely anything, not move one millimeter, to try to respond," she said after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Havana that the U.S. Congress was unlikely to ever lift a punishing economic embargo on Cuba unless the Communist government improved its human rights record.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN0QJ2D920150814

And nor should they move a millimetre

Then, pray tell, why is the infamous duo of Obama/Kerry going through this charade?

My guess is they are scatter shooting legacy attempts to see if something finally sticks.

I'm sure if the Internet was available to you back in the 90s, you'd be belittling reestablishment of ties with Vietnam and telling us when finishing off sadam would be a wise thing.

And I am equally sure you know nothing of which you speak...as usual.

You don't know me, you have never met me or talked to me in person so any presumption you can possibly dream up has no basis on reality.

[fxe1200]

"Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers." - Aristoteles

I do not believe, that the U.S. are a democracy.

Edited August 15, 2015 by fxe1200

[thaibeachlovers]

"Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers." - Aristoteles

I do not believe, that the U.S. are a democracy.

It's not. It's a Republic.

[fxe1200]

"Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers." - Aristoteles

I do not believe, that the U.S. are a democracy.

It's not. It's a Republic.

Thank you for the clarification.

[craigt3365]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-america-a-republic-or-a-democracy/

Is the United States of America a republic or a democracy?

I often hear people argue that the United States is a republic, not a democracy. But that’s a false dichotomy. A common definition of “republic” is, to quote the American Heritage Dictionary, “A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them” — we are that. A common definition of “democracy” is, “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives” — we are that, too.

The United States is not a direct democracy, in the sense of a country in which laws (and other government decisions) are made predominantly by majority vote. Some lawmaking is done this way, on the state and local levels, but it’s only a tiny fraction of all lawmaking. But we are a representative democracy, which is a form of democracy.

............

But there is no basis for saying that the United States is somehow “not a democracy, but a republic.” “Democracy” and “republic” aren’t just words that a speaker can arbitrarily define to mean something (e.g., defining democracy as “a form of government in which all laws are made directly by the people”). They are terms that have been given meaning by English speakers more broadly. And both today and in the Framing era, “democracy” has been generally understood to include representative democracy as well as direct democracy.

[Scott]

Please stay on topic. The topic is about Cuba; not what form of gov't the US has.

[kamarada]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

Do you mean, why don't they respect the freedom of despots to stay in power forever?

If it is one despot or a few oligarchs who let the public vote for a nominee isn't that much different. Just a more advanced version of dictatorship, giving the people the feeling they can change something.

So I guess you know much better than the "people". Lucky you...

[samran]

Then, pray tell, why is the infamous duo of Obama/Kerry going through this charade?

My guess is they are scatter shooting legacy attempts to see if something finally sticks.

I'm sure if the Internet was available to you back in the 90s, you'd be belittling reestablishment of ties with Vietnam and telling us when finishing off sadam would be a wise thing.

And I am equally sure you know nothing of which you speak...as usual.

You don't know me, you have never met me or talked to me in person so any presumption you can possibly dream up has no basis on reality.

So you voted Clinton/Gore in 92/96 and were a contentious objector to Iraq pt 2?

Edited August 15, 2015 by samran

[sdanielmcev]

Once again, Kerry is no statesman. All he did is reiterate the same drivel that has been keeping the two countries apart.

[Exsexyman]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

Good luck with that one! Lets face it, it would be a first!

[Seastallion]

From the sniping between the two governments, it appears that this re-establishing of ties has nothing to do with a desire for friendly relations.

What's in it for the US and Cuba?

Cuba, economic reasons, but the US?

[kamahele]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

The problem here is that the Cuban people haven't been able to choose their own form of government. Could you tell us when the last free and open election was in Cuba? Never.....

[kamahele]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

------------------------------

I am a U.S. citizen also.

I am also a historian.

I had a native born U.S. Japanese American friend whose parents were detained at a camp in Arizona during world war two simply because they were of Japanese extraction.

Thousands od U.S. born Japanese American U.S. citizens were rounded uo and taken to "detention camps" in 1942 as possible Japanese agents.

There only "crime" was that somewhere in history their family was at one time Japanese.

Never forget, that is the "reality" of "democracy" in the U.S.

Freedom is never free, it always has to be earned.....often by the suffering of those including American citizens.... whose government for some reason decides to deny them that right to "democracy".

No matter what the Politicians say.... that is the reality of "democracy" in the history of the U.S.

The US has indeed committed great sins, including the detention of Japanese Americans and the confiscation of their property during WWII. This however doesn't define the country as the sins of a man or woman doesn't define the whole person.

[kamarada]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

Do you mean, why don't they respect the freedom of despots to stay in power forever?

Those despots were what was keeping the middle east under some sort of control. Hows democracy been working in Iraq and Afghanistan since the US decided it knew better.

Kind of agree with that. But Cuba is not a Muslim-tribal territory, is a Western country

[willyumiii]

I am always baffled when the USA, a republic, wants other countries to become democracies!

If the US ( my country ) really believes in freedom, why don't they respect the freedom of others to chose their own form of government?

Do you mean, why don't they respect the freedom of despots to stay in power forever?

Those despots were what was keeping the middle east under some sort of control. Hows democracy been working in Iraq and Afghanistan since the US decided it knew better.

Kind of agree with that. But Cuba is not a Muslim-tribal territory, is a Western country

Geographical, yes, western.

But the culture and blood have been pretty much replaced with the Spanish and Africans due to the conquest of the European "explorers" and the African slave trade that followed.

Are Mexico and Brazil considered western cultures?

I am honestly not sure.

[mango66]

Kerry pleace listen to Cubas people democratic mind too:

US, give back the occupied land of Guantamo to Cuba !!

Be the first - start with !! go ahead !!

[Thakkar]

T

[samran]

T

Strictly speaking, waterboarding must have been a cuban innnovation then....

[Thakkar]

T

Strictly speaking, waterboarding must have been a cuban innnovation then....

Water boarding is a tool for pussies (...and what do ya call the brother of a pussy?--ALSO a pussy, BOOyah!).

Real terrerist fighters build walls, man, walls.

I tell ya what I'd do: I'd get the Cubans to pay us to occupy and run Gitmo. I'd encircle Cuba with water and takes their doctors.

T(rump)

[samran]

T

Strictly speaking, waterboarding must have been a cuban innnovation then....

Water boarding is a tool for pussies (...and what do ya call the brother of a pussy?--ALSO a pussy, BOOyah!).

Real terrerist fighters build walls, man, walls.

I tell ya what I'd do: I'd get the Cubans to pay us to occupy and run Gitmo. I'd encircle Cuba with water and takes their doctors.

T(rump)

They'd be socialist doctors. The very fabric of the US would fall apart at the seams!

Pretty soon there would be zombie socialist patients everywhere. They'd be infected.