The Treasury Dept. won't let Cuba Play Baseball
I'm not a big fan of the Cuba embargo (I just think that by this point it has been proved that it didn't work - also, I believe that an open market would go much further to undermine Castro's rule).
Anyway, I don't understand the rationale behind not letting Cuba play in a pretty cool baseball tournament - this type of thing could be like the Olympics of baseball. Though, as they won't explain themselves, we'll never know.
KH - by the way, the link goes to Hit & Run, which allows links to the comments section - so to read the post, you have to scroll up.
Anyway, I don't understand the rationale behind not letting Cuba play in a pretty cool baseball tournament - this type of thing could be like the Olympics of baseball. Though, as they won't explain themselves, we'll never know.
KH - by the way, the link goes to Hit & Run, which allows links to the comments section - so to read the post, you have to scroll up.
posted by Kid Handsome at 11:16 AM
2 Comments:
The Cuba embargo provides a valuable function... Screwing over the commies. Totalitarian countries just take that open market money to prop their own internal facist networks.
Lets see there is Iran, China, Argentina, Nazi Germany, and France...
Otter
I don't get the logic. The Cuba embargo has given Castro an excuse to deny people access to his country for 30+ years. Also, it is that lack of access to some slice of revenue that makes it possible for him to control his country's people and culture.
Further, I would argue that China, Iran and Argentina actually have very strong western (progressive) cultures that lurk not very far beneath the totalitarian governments - which are, admittedly, nutty and evil. In fact many in China and Iran lead very "Western" lives. This was never true in the old Soviet Bloc countries where the government controlled everything that came in or out of the country.
I just think free markets = healthy black markets. Black markets, to me anyway, introduce a lot of people to a healthy disrespect for government. Those people are more likely to rise up (win or lose) at some point.
I guess my point is that while Totalitarian leaders may benefit from free markets, they simply cannot control all the money and opportunity that comes with free markets. Sanctions and embargos tend only to hurt and disenfranchis the poorest people - look, for example, at how lavishly Saddam decorated his 100's of homes and solidified his control over Iraq during the period of sanctions. The same is true, to a lesser extent, of Castro in Cuba.
Finally, sanctions don't work if places like France (spit) and Germany and the rest of the E.U. or even South American countries don't abide by the trade restrictions. Also, again, how have sanctions and embargos worked against Castro in the 30+ years we've had them? My view is that they haven't worked to do much other than to aid in the retardation of an economy that was bound to falter under communist principles anyway.
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