March 28, 2005
MULTIPOLARITY ON THE MARCH
Dissident scorns EU advice over Cuba protests (David Rennie, The Telegraph, March 28th, 2005)
A Cuban dissident poured scorn yesterday on a visiting European Union leader who told pro-democracy activists to avoid 'provoking' Fidel Castro.The EU development commissioner, Louis Michel, also earned criticism for declaring, at the end of a four-day visit, that he was "very optimistic" about human rights on the communist island because he was allowed to meet groups of senior democracy activists and the wives of political prisoners.
"The government did not interfere with these meetings," Mr Michel said, calling that a hopeful sign.
But one of the dissident leaders who met the commissioner, Marta Beatriz Roque, the economist, said the encounter was window-dressing by the Castro regime, which continued to repress democratic activists. She also "respectfully disagreed" with an EU decision to suspend diplomatic sanctions on Cuba, and to seek closer ties.
"The government is not going to change. Castro is deaf. Sanctions have a political value because they demonstrate to the whole world that Castro is a human rights abuser. The EU should not be seeking deeper relations with a totalitarian regime," she said. "The fact that we could meet Mr Michel one day, for an hour, is an isolated phenomenon.
“But, Madame, please understand. It’s not that the EU wants to develop deeper relations with totalitarian regimes. We have no choice. That dangerous Mr. Bush is grabbing all the free ones.”
Posted by Peter Burnet at March 28, 2005 9:09 AMHave you ever wondered what sane person would choose Cuba over the U.S.?
Posted by: Randall Voth at March 28, 2005 10:08 AMThat's precisely the point. It's no longer a question of sanity but of its opposite.
Europe (if one may be allowed to generalize) has been prevaricating, piling inconsistency upon inconsistency---while calling it nuance, realpolitik, wisdom, experience, vision, what have you---and elevating shady economic practice along with corrupt ideals to the level of virtue for so long now, that it is only a matter of time before it hits the brick wall of reality.
It won't be pretty.
To paraphrase, anti-Americanism is the nationalism of fools.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at March 28, 2005 10:17 AMI remember being in a bar in Stockholm in the late eighties. I had just returned from my first visit to Moscow and was still trying to cope with the psychic chill. A group of Swedes I met insisted that there was no qualitative difference at all between the U.S. and USSR. None. Absolutely equal. Later I wondered why none of them had tried to argue the USSR was actually better. But no, all of them agreed there was no difference at all. Every one of them.
Posted by: Peter B at March 28, 2005 10:30 AMYet we Americans are the ones who are unceasingly castigated for our ignorance of other countries and cultures............
Posted by: ed at March 28, 2005 11:17 AMThe EU IS a tatalitarian regime and that explains the suck-up.
Posted by: Luciferous at March 28, 2005 12:05 PMCuba provides European politicians on vacation with a supply of inexpensive whores. To be blunt.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at March 28, 2005 1:04 PMShouldn't we provide whore coupons to the U.N delegations for P.R. advantages.
Posted by: Ripper at March 28, 2005 1:20 PMYou would think the EU nations would have learned their lessons after Iraq. Coddling Saddam pre-March 2003 has left them scrambling to find some way to get back into the Iraq economy today. Once Fidel breathes his last and the inevitable regime chage occurs, the Cubans are not likely to look kindly on countries that propped up his regime.
Posted by: John at March 28, 2005 2:56 PM