Cuba, U.S. in low-level talks about oil spill

[flamingdem]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2010/05/cuba-us-in-lowlevel-talks-about-oil-spill.html

Cuba, U.S. in low-level talks about oil spill

The State Department confirmed Tuesday that "low, technical level" talks are under way to help Cuba respond if the sprawling oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should move close to its shores.
The oil spill is prompting fears in Cuba, which boasts one of the most pristine coral reefs in the Caribbean, miles of mangroves and nesting areas for green sea turtles.
Cuban government officials called U.S. oceanographers looking for assistance last week, the scientists said. And the State Department is "exchanging information and looking at avenues for further information exchange."
For more on this story, click here.
–LESLEY CLARK.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2010/05/cuba-us-in-lowlevel-talks-about-oil-spill.html#ixzz0oK6NGdSe

[Peace Patriot]

1. Communism saved the beaches, coral reefs and ocean. Capitalism threatens to wreck them. What irony!

Communism didn't save the environment in Russia or China--far from it. But communism combined with Cuban sensibilities (artistic, democratic) has very much done so in Cuba, along with other Nature-friendly policies such as the Cuban revolution in organic agriculture.

--

A fascinating article...

"Cuba’s organic revolution

The US trade embargo of Cuba, plus the collapse of the island’s Soviet market, has meant that the country has found it virtually impossible to import the chemicals and machinery necessary to practise modern, intensive agriculture. Instead, it has turned to farming much of its land organically - with results that overturn the myths about the ‘inefficiency’ of organic farming."

(MORE)

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr118h.htm

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We need to overturn a whole range of mythology about Cuba, and stop being stupid dolts as to absorbing the propaganda of our corpo-fascist press about how awful Cuba is on "human rights." (Criminy, what a joke! I mean, WHO has been ACTUALLY torturing prisoners on the other end of the island of Cuba?!) Why not take good ideas where we find them--like universal free medical care and FREE educations for doctors and other health care professionals, or preserving beaches, coral reefs and oceans, or organic farming--instead of STUPIDLY demonizing a country like Cuba because you can't become a billionaire there. (The odds are against you here as well--but the billionaires running things really don't want you to know about the zero odds that you will become "one of the elect." Meanwhile, they are intent upon looting your Social Security or sending your job to Cambodia.)

I also like Cuba's COLLECTIVE thinking and action. We need some of that here. I like their notion that everybody gets to eat, have shelter, be part of things and be educated FREE OF CHARGE to the limit of their abilities. Suppressing CIA agents and plots may overly-hamper free speech, and having a sort of "benevolent monarch" like Castro is not a governance theory that I favor. I am a democrat with a small (as well as large) d. Still, there are things to be admired about Cuba. Why not admire them, study them and imitate them or adapt them, when that is advisable?

What is OUR system of predatory capitalism and monster corporations and unjust war doing that is so great for the common good and the majority of people? We have not had a truly free market in many decades. Small businesses are being crushed. American creativity has been stifled. We have been looted and plundered by the rich. Now our system threatens to send gobs and gobs of toxic ooze Into Cuba's pristine beaches and waters. How ironical can you get? Our corporate rulers don't hate Cuba enough already? They haven't inflicted enough harm on Cubans already, with embargoes, and blown up planes and hotels, and other dire plots and relentless vilification? Now they're simply going to destroy this island's natural beauty BECAUSE NOBODY HERE HAS REGULATED THE OIL INDUSTRY?

[Billy Burnett]

2. Great post.

:fistbump:

Cubans in Cuba overthrew this shit in the late 50's. They said "Enough!" back then.

[Judi Lynn]

3. For anyone with time to read, the following link has important info. on US/Cuban relations

which will capably illuminate some "small details" you may appreciate:

Cuban Agriculture Before 1959: The Political and Economic Situations1
José Alvarez2

~snip~
American investments in Cuba, estimated at $1 billion at the time of Batista's overthrow on January 1, 1959, were also important in other branches of the economy. The U.S. selective investment in Cuba gave rise to what Thomas calls a “reserve country” in many ways, which was clearly infuriating to the Cubans. And he adds:

The mines were only worked when North America was waging a war. Peace brought inactivity. It was the same story as in the sugar industry. U.S. ownership of the mineral fields meant that the Cuban economy could never be seen as a whole. Even those minerals which were exported were left unprocessed.... The importance of Cuba to the U.S. will not be fully understood without realizing that the U.S. companies engaged in Cuba read like the Who's Who of American business: total U.S. investment stood at $1 billion; shareholding and commercial-political interest was widespread. Any action in Cuba which affected these interests would be bound to have widespread consequences. 160,000 workers, over 90% of Cubans, were employed in North American firms in Cuba, and North American firms spent $M730 in Cuba, of which $M70 was in taxes—almost 20% of the Cuban budget. Many of these firms were Cuban subsidiaries of U.S. companies, dependent on the parent company for supplies. Any radical party in Cuba would have been driven to affect these interests since the U.S. business community dominated Cuban trade... (1971, pp. 1171-1172).

This picture may seem exaggerated to those who praise pre-1959 Cuba. The U.S. influence, however, was only part of the total situation, as will be seen in the following sections of this fact sheet.

More:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fe479

[Judi Lynn]

4. Recommening. Thanks for this thread, and the comments.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: