Cuba -

One of the maxims I like best is “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. This is especially true in world affairs. For example, Israel, which has very strained relationship with Iran, was a principal supplier of arms TO Iran during the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s. The London Observer estimated that Israel's arms sales to Iran totaled $500 million annually during this period. Why? Because they disliked Saddam Hussein’s regime more than they disliked the Iranian regime.

The reverse of this maxim also appears to be largely correct. The friend of my enemy is my enemy. And so it was with the United States attitude toward Cuba. When Cuba, under Fidel Castro, moved to install Soviet missiles in Cuba, Cuba became an enemy to the US just as the Soviet Union was.

It seems ironic to me, that the US is on better diplomatic terms with VIET NAM, where millions of American troops fought and over two hundred thousand were killed or wounded, than with Cuba, where just one American was killed during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and is a benign military threat today.

The US government claims that it can’t deal with the oppressive regime in Cuba, despite dealing quite comfortably with oppressive regimes in Africa (think Zimbabwe and Sudan), in the Middle East (think Egypt and Syria) and in Asia (think Myanmar (my-AHN-mar) and Laos). The US has no embassy in communist Cuba, yet has embassies in communist China and Viet Nam.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not support non-democratic governments anywhere. But if we ARE dealing with all of these other Communist nations like China, and the others mentioned, then what is the logic in hindering the reunion of Cubans living in the US with family members less than 100 miles away in Cuba?

Castro has hurt Cuba and its people. But the United States has likely hurt the Cuban people more by its almost half century of trade and travel restrictions.

If we want our Cuban neighbors to move into the 21st century and democracy, we have to do more to give them access to it. It is time to re-establish normal relations with Cuba because the way to encourage democracy in others is to show them that it works with us.