http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/315881/cuba-congress-oks-reforms
Cuba's latest Party Congress seemed indicative of a global trend towards market liberalization. Cuba, one of the old stalwarts of the state-run economy, seems to have finally abandoned its' burdensome regulations concerning business. Cubans are now allowed to run their own enterprises without being branded as criminals, and state subsidies are now targeted to the neediest rather than given out to everyone indiscriminately.
It reminds me of when Deng Xiaoping opened up the Chinese economy by announcing that to be rich is to be glorious, and by saying that "no matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat." Since then, China has become a world power with centers of incredible prosperity. It has also become a country where there are increasingly widening gaps between the poor and the rich, and it faces the somewhat unique situation of a country that has a neo-liberal economy with few welfare programs governed by a totalitarian police state. If one uses the rough and sometimes imperfect Gini coefficient to stake this out statistically, China's income inequality is now higher than most developed nations, and it is still increasing steadily. Chinese citizens also suffer from the fundamental lack of respect the government has for basic human rights, as the arbitrary arrests of human rights activists such as Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiaobo clearly indicate.
Still, it is obvious China's ascent is something Cuba wants to mirror. I also have a dim sense of optimism that the Cuban government will reform itself politically. One of the changes laid down in the Congress was a limit on terms, and the Cuban government has been releasing political prisoners.
Regardless, many people will believe that it is the American embargo that is killing the island rather than any lack of economic or political reform. It is true that at least some of the dearth in foreign exchange and economic prosperity is due to this terribly stagnant policy, but it does not represent the whole picture. Hopefully, these tentative steps towards reform will coalesce into a thawing in what has been perhaps the most contentious relationship in the Western hemisphere. The Obama administration has seemed open to this possibility. If this is done right, both countries will benefit enormously.
Most of all, I hope the Cuban people can benefit from this grand experiment. Castro made waves when he said the Cuban system wasn't even working for Cuba anymore, and I cannot help but agree with him. On a recent visit to Cuba, I could not help but notice the relative poverty of the areas outside the resorts. One night, I met one of the security guards who patrolled the beaches. I talked to him at length thanks to some translation help from a friend I was with, and after asking him a couple of trivial questions about baseball, I wondered what his life was like.
I'll never forget what he said. He loved Castro, and he loved Che, but he said his life was very hard. That was obvious. The man looked like he was 65, yet he was still working hard, and doing what amounted to a young man's job. He said his family often struggled with food. I gave the guy twenty dollars, since he spent two nights regaling us with his stories, and he seemed to be a nice guy. I knew too that he would be able to get much more from these twenty dollars than I ever could. A friend I was with gave him some money too. His face simply lit up.
His name was Antonio. He said he wanted to emigrate to America, and seek a better life there, but he was too afraid to do so.
Hopefully, with the advent of economic and political reforms, prosperity will come to him and other Cubans, rather than lurking just around the corner.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Thursday, 28 April 2011
While I'm on that beat---
speaking of the true cost of war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3ou1QfhQI
alert---it's kinda graphic. also spoiler alert for you people out there who don't know Germany lost WW2.
they seriously need to show this clip to everyone brought up on a diet of Rambo and G.I Joe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3ou1QfhQI
alert---it's kinda graphic. also spoiler alert for you people out there who don't know Germany lost WW2.
they seriously need to show this clip to everyone brought up on a diet of Rambo and G.I Joe.
Kill em all---how war can make the most horrible of crimes forgettable.
In 1949, in special consideration of how war is a time where the fundamental human rights of civilians and combatants is especially vulnerable, most nations of the world signed and ratified the Geneva Conventions. However, the conflicts that have played out after this signing indicate that many nations still do not heed this edict.
One example of this comes from declassified American military documents that record that "US commanders repeatedly, and without ambiguity, ordered forces under their control to target and kill Korean refugees caught on the battlefield."
It comes on the heels of other declassified documents that implied American knowledge, and complicity with South Korean massacres of suspected leftists-including women and children. The death toll has been rumored to be up to 100,000, although it is likely we will never know the whole truth due to the political sensitivity of these killings.
If America, self-avowed leader in the rights and dignity of mankind, can simply look on as her allies slaughtered thousands of their own citizens, and actively participated in this slaughter---well, it certainly dispels the notion that evil and good are black and white, Soviet and American, freedom fighter and terrorist-----doesn't it?
It's a scary thought, since I really think America is one of the better nations in this regard. I am sure that other regimes have committed much worse (Stalin and Mao's crimes against their own people come to mind). In fact, the only reason why I would bother posting American war crimes is because the American people have the freedom to acknowledge and rectify these grievous errors, a privilege that is denied to most of the world.
It's a sad thought to think that even a country like America is prone to these bouts of savagery.
This idea also gets to the notion of the "true cost of war". I have always found that governments seem to make a game of tricking their own citizens by classifying sensitive documents that describe the whole picture of what's truly going on in their name (and of course, financed by their money). We only know about the Korean war atrocities because fifty years later, the American government has decided her people have more or less forgotten about Korea (which they were quite right on). It makes me wonder what they're trying to hide in the top secret documents they have out there now. We already know that some American soldiers murder Afghan civilians for sport. Perhaps if we knew the true cost of wars, we'd understand why there seem to be so many suicide bombers (can we really blame lunacy and the fact they hate our freedoms for this long?). Perhaps if we knew the true cost of war, we'd understand the terrible implications of it, and grasp that it truly is a tool of last resort. Perhaps if we knew the true cost of war, there would be less war.
but here I am, dreaming again
and hoping someday you'll join me too
One example of this comes from declassified American military documents that record that "US commanders repeatedly, and without ambiguity, ordered forces under their control to target and kill Korean refugees caught on the battlefield."
It comes on the heels of other declassified documents that implied American knowledge, and complicity with South Korean massacres of suspected leftists-including women and children. The death toll has been rumored to be up to 100,000, although it is likely we will never know the whole truth due to the political sensitivity of these killings.
If America, self-avowed leader in the rights and dignity of mankind, can simply look on as her allies slaughtered thousands of their own citizens, and actively participated in this slaughter---well, it certainly dispels the notion that evil and good are black and white, Soviet and American, freedom fighter and terrorist-----doesn't it?
It's a scary thought, since I really think America is one of the better nations in this regard. I am sure that other regimes have committed much worse (Stalin and Mao's crimes against their own people come to mind). In fact, the only reason why I would bother posting American war crimes is because the American people have the freedom to acknowledge and rectify these grievous errors, a privilege that is denied to most of the world.
It's a sad thought to think that even a country like America is prone to these bouts of savagery.
This idea also gets to the notion of the "true cost of war". I have always found that governments seem to make a game of tricking their own citizens by classifying sensitive documents that describe the whole picture of what's truly going on in their name (and of course, financed by their money). We only know about the Korean war atrocities because fifty years later, the American government has decided her people have more or less forgotten about Korea (which they were quite right on). It makes me wonder what they're trying to hide in the top secret documents they have out there now. We already know that some American soldiers murder Afghan civilians for sport. Perhaps if we knew the true cost of wars, we'd understand why there seem to be so many suicide bombers (can we really blame lunacy and the fact they hate our freedoms for this long?). Perhaps if we knew the true cost of war, we'd understand the terrible implications of it, and grasp that it truly is a tool of last resort. Perhaps if we knew the true cost of war, there would be less war.
but here I am, dreaming again
and hoping someday you'll join me too
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Big Ben on the tape.
http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/live-blogging-bernankes-news-conference-2/?hp
The New York Times is following Ben Bernanke's news conference. It seems that, as far as I've gleaned, the loose monetary policy the Fed has embarked on with rounds of quantitative easing is going to end. Whether or not the American economy will start losing momentum with this announcement and the impending budget cuts is the big question. Britain, a case study for austerity measures, seems to have done decently, even if there was a slight blip.
http://forexblog.oanda.com/20110427/uk-economy-grows-0-5-in-q1/
Still, they're not even close to getting out of the woods, and things don't look great. There's no need to even mention the disastrous implications of IMF measures on the poor debt lepers of the Eurozone. I'm slightly worried, to be honest, that the American economy might just relapse into contraction.
Still, you gotta balance the budget someday I suppose.
On a somewhat related note, in my head, given recent events, I've already constructed how America could fall if her policy-makers aren't careful---rampant inflation caused by peak oil, food riots, a Republican administration that goes bats*** crazy about inflation and instability, and tightens money policy up to the maximum, with massive cuts in social welfare programs to balance out a China-like budget for domestic security (of course, tax increases will never come into the question, and in fact further tax cuts will be given.). Then, there will be riots about the cuts. because of previous cuts in welfare programs (low-income housing/education etc.) and the continuation of drug war policy, you have an underclass of people just spoiling for blood since they have basically been given nothing for their lives.
I guess that fills my "2012" quota of the year. incidentally, I guess that means the last time I can mention apocalypse is when the goddamn thing will be happening.
The New York Times is following Ben Bernanke's news conference. It seems that, as far as I've gleaned, the loose monetary policy the Fed has embarked on with rounds of quantitative easing is going to end. Whether or not the American economy will start losing momentum with this announcement and the impending budget cuts is the big question. Britain, a case study for austerity measures, seems to have done decently, even if there was a slight blip.
http://forexblog.oanda.com/20110427/uk-economy-grows-0-5-in-q1/
Still, they're not even close to getting out of the woods, and things don't look great. There's no need to even mention the disastrous implications of IMF measures on the poor debt lepers of the Eurozone. I'm slightly worried, to be honest, that the American economy might just relapse into contraction.
Still, you gotta balance the budget someday I suppose.
On a somewhat related note, in my head, given recent events, I've already constructed how America could fall if her policy-makers aren't careful---rampant inflation caused by peak oil, food riots, a Republican administration that goes bats*** crazy about inflation and instability, and tightens money policy up to the maximum, with massive cuts in social welfare programs to balance out a China-like budget for domestic security (of course, tax increases will never come into the question, and in fact further tax cuts will be given.). Then, there will be riots about the cuts. because of previous cuts in welfare programs (low-income housing/education etc.) and the continuation of drug war policy, you have an underclass of people just spoiling for blood since they have basically been given nothing for their lives.
I guess that fills my "2012" quota of the year. incidentally, I guess that means the last time I can mention apocalypse is when the goddamn thing will be happening.
Uganda reverses course on executing gays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/26/uganda-anti-gay-bill-death-penalty
I cannot believe how this law has stood despite violating basically every aspect of human rights. To me, it's an extension of the fundamentalist Christian "homosexual agenda" gone completely wrong, where Ugandan politicians are basically concerned about the most ludicrous thing (homosexuals recruiting children to join them), and therefore, they can justify gay rights advocates such as the assassinated David Kato becoming prey to irrational prejudices, and they can justify killing their own citizens for personal choices that do not really harm anyone else.
It has meant a whole lot of suffering for a whole lot of people, as Ugandans now feel they can persecute any actual or merely suspected homosexuals with impunity.
Even though the law is pared down to the point where capital punishment is probably going off the table, the imposition of a life sentence on anyone convicted of a homosexual act is still a possibility.
I cannot believe how this law has stood despite violating basically every aspect of human rights. To me, it's an extension of the fundamentalist Christian "homosexual agenda" gone completely wrong, where Ugandan politicians are basically concerned about the most ludicrous thing (homosexuals recruiting children to join them), and therefore, they can justify gay rights advocates such as the assassinated David Kato becoming prey to irrational prejudices, and they can justify killing their own citizens for personal choices that do not really harm anyone else.
It has meant a whole lot of suffering for a whole lot of people, as Ugandans now feel they can persecute any actual or merely suspected homosexuals with impunity.
Even though the law is pared down to the point where capital punishment is probably going off the table, the imposition of a life sentence on anyone convicted of a homosexual act is still a possibility.
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