Comment by SkyMarshal
3 years ago
Given how badly that idea failed with China, I don’t see it happening any time soon with Cuba, a mere 90 miles from the US mainland. That proximity is a main reason why Cuba gets such special attention.
3 years ago
Given how badly that idea failed with China, I don’t see it happening any time soon with Cuba, a mere 90 miles from the US mainland. That proximity is a main reason why Cuba gets such special attention.
I mean, China has all the base resources to be a superpower — and has been a continent-spanning, colonizing empire many times in its past — so it's unclear what the US was expecting to happen there. (Probably something to do with short-term realpolitik "rock and a hard place" leverage.) Cuba has never and will never be a threat to the US, except insofar as they provide projection of strength for some other ally. A Cuba that sees itself as a sovereign nation would be a good thing, in the same way that ex-USSR satellites that see themselves as sovereign nations are a good thing.
Also, if you want to talk about countries that the US actually gives "special attention" to, I'd more compare/contrast to the relationship between the US and Panama.
> in the same way that ex-USSR satellites that see themselves as sovereign nations are a good thing.
Cuba would have do what those other ex-USSR satellites did and discard communism and authoritarianism in favor of democracy. Then, yes, seeing themselves as a sovereign state would be a good thing.
It doesn't even have to discard the communism. Look it Vietnam: we fought a war against them in living memory, and we invite their people to go through our military training schools now so they can see how we do things.
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