In article ,
"Robert Green" wrote:

At any rate, out of all the problems in the world, that of Cuba is at
the bottom of the list.

Ain't that the truth. After over 50 years of isolation we failed to bring
democracy to them (or Communist China). Oddly we seem to have embraced the
"red Chinese" quite completely without demanding they up-end their political
system first just because we said they should. FWIW, anyone who thinks the
Chinese are now our Best Friends Forever is about as deluded as the people
who think SA is a great and trustworthy ally. The relationship with them is
in some ways just as sick. Instead of being addicted to SA's oil, we're
addicted to China's cheap consumer goods.

The main difference is the one I alluded to earlier. There is no
"Little Beijing" in a politically sensitive Electoral College Swing
State. As to the consumer goods addiction, I am more sanguine. We are
saying the same things about China now as we said about Japan in the 60s
and 70s and Mexico in the 80s and 90s. It is much easier to find new
sources of cheap goods.


What really bugs me is that for all the time we've been piddling with Cuba
and the Pakistan tribal areas, real and powerful enemies have had our
computer infrastructure under heavy, relentless and very damaging attack.
Only now are we beginning to realize that the real battle for world
supremacy is taking place in the "electronic ether" and not in Waziristan.
The Sony hack should open at least *some* people's eyes about how exposed we
are.
Good luck with that.


--
³Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive,
but what they conceal is vital.²
‹ Aaron Levenstein