Supporting a 50 year dictatorship in Cuba must be getting unbearably embarrasing for some Spaniards. One can understand how they might want company to feel normal and how they crave implied approval about what they have been doing. Approval from the Dutch and others is just not enough.

Just a couple of weeks ago a US court awarded $80 million to 5 Cubans who had been enslaved by a Dutch company as part of an agreement with the tyranny. The 5 had been forced to work 120 hours per week for U.S.$0.10 per hour in order to help pay back the tyranny's debt. Revolutionary, isn't it?

To think that Cubans are not even allowed to travel freely within their own country, let alone exercise any of the liberties intrinsic to US or any civilized citizenship, or independent presses, or effective access to the Internet.

To think that over 2 million Cubans, over 33% of the 1959 population, have sought exile since Castro. Exiles, as is known worldwide, are 'worms' to the tyranny. Just a couple of weeks back the new VP called out to the masses to take care of any 'opportunists' (as worms are called on the archpielago). Reminds me of the pre-US election 'real america' vs. 'other America' precipice that threatened civility in the US.

Obama will have to ponder about Cuba I think. US policy since March 10, 1952 might be a good place to start.

From some of the comments posted here it seems like a lot of people do not understand that many of the prisoners in Guantanamo would be released if there own countries would take them back. Either they don't want them back or the countries of origin use torture on their own prisoners and U.S. law forbids returning prisoners to those countries. Now I just want some of the posters here to explain how the U.S. can send these people back. AS far as the Spanish
Prime Minister, you get what you give. He has no respect for George Bush, George Bush owes him nothing in return.

Obama is up against a very difficult next four years. When he was still a senator Obama was a large part of passing the Global Poverty Act, which is an act that would end severe poverty by 2025. The Borgen Project is also working to pass the Global Poverty Act. According to The Borgen Project:
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$540 billion: Annual U.S. Defense Budget.
Find out more at borgenproject.org!

My own suggestion is
that what should come first in any mans Heart and Soul should be in any particular order established as a = b = c so that each is = to each other in importance
God, Family, and Nation.

Amen... for the Red White and Blue of Mom and Dad
and the rest of Us.

dePaul Consiglio
NYMetroCityState US

http://iconsiglio.blogspot.com
http://www.iconsiglio.com

aroundtheworldin88minutes
a google blog

In Gitmo it is only assumed that they make war. Trials will bring to surface evidence and fairly punish those who are guilty. If there is evidence to guilt, they will be punished, if not, they are innocent for all intents and purposes. No one responsible for holding of those prisoners should worry about trials if everyone in Gitmo "makes war" on the USA. "close gitmo" is not fluff, it is something that should really be considered to uphold the "values" of america.

The embargo would have been lifted under Clinton but Castro attacked a US airplane.

Every time moderation was tried with Cuba Fidel always attacked.

Fidel was a nut case - how can you have a normal relation with a nut case?

Will Rauol be different? I hope so.

But President Obama can only respond to the realities of Cuba read good intentions into a country that wanted to start a nuclear war between the US and Russia -because we tried to get rid of their barbaric leader.

Closing Guantanamo implies that there is no such thing as an international criminal preying on humanity and that is a fundamental myth of 'rights' advocates and world anarchists who profess to protect them. The mistake at Guantanamo is that it was reserved for sociopathic entities rounded up for 9-11 crimes against humanity and not reserved for entities engaged in crimes against humanity in general. Chemical traffickers, female and child slavers, and genociders all qualify as sociopathic suspects engaged in crimes against humanity. The European belief that such people caught in an environment of crimes against humanity are innocent until proven guilty and should not be detained somewhere is an absurd, irrational distortion of human public safety. It is equivalent to saying that plaque carrying rats are entitled (ie: have rights) to leftovers in Parisian or Berlin garbage cans. At some point, a facility like Guantanamo or several of them will be needed as globalization continues. Guantanamo may have been a recent American social innovation but the criminals there were bred all over the world and they are a world problem as are all crimes against humanity perpetrators.

"Close Gitmo" is just fluff and a useful political slogan to rally people on the left.

There is nothing "undemocratic" about Gitmo and certainly nothing wrong with holding those who make war on the USA. Obama is getting the same intelligence briefings as Bush. He will leave Gitmo open. If he feels it necessary to close it for window-dressing, Obama will need to open the same camp elsewhere.

Iñaki, I agree on the urgency of stop penalising Cuban citizens, revisiting / redesigning the entire control system of the SEC and the Federal reserve to prevent the excessive creativity of some financial products to happen again, and on judging or freeing the people in Guantanamo.

But if I were Obama, knowing that he's going to confront "gigantic forces against change", I would do the following : write in a piece of paper a short list of 5 long term changes or issues, essential topics that he would not like to compromise, 5 things that if not achieving them at 75% before the end of his turn he will feel unhappy. Share it with your team as soon as you nominate them, and align them. Set intermediate metrics on how you expect to score against those 5 topics after 3 months, after 1 year, after 2 years, etc. Lock it in your safe at the Oval office, and check your progress against them one a quarter.
Otherwise, the risk that you might lose the focus is too high given the muscle of your adversaries, a focus on a few key topics that is the essence that has made millions embrace your change project and vote you !
Don't disappoint them/us now.

P.S. and only if you have extra time to waste, explain to Zapatero why he should stand up in front of the American flag as a minimum sign of respect....

First, realize that Mr Obama is not the President yet. Everyone will have to wait until January 2009 for that.

Second, realize that George W. Bush is still president, and can really make a horrible mess of things between now and January.

Third, realize that Bush & Co are in 100% reaction mode. They have no considerations for the future, are in cover-their-butts mode, and have very little to lose by disaccomodation of the entire world.

I don't think that making the most of the Washington economic summit on November 15th is specific enough of an action. Let's just say that Mr Obama should attend, actively listen to what's going on and proposed, and consult with a dozen economic experts in the U.S. afterwards. The world economcy will HAVE to wait in order to avoid a poorly thought out, knee-jerk reaction. Better to wait a few weeks to a month to avoid driving off a cliff. And yes, discontinuing the Bush Shutout policy of non-diplomacy would go a long way.

Guantanamo prison must go. All inmates should be given immediate, open, civil trials; and either convicted and sentenced to regular federal prisons, or acquited, compensated, and sent back to their homes of origin. SuperMax, which has been largely ignored due to Gitmo, also needs to be humanized. The Guantanamo Prison should be publically dynamited to a pile of rubble afterwards.

Yes, lift the Cuban embargo. It never accomplished what it was intended to do. And disregarding any suffering of Cuban citizens, would open an important market for American goods and services that would do more to democratized Cuba, and improve the U.S. economy, than anything we've done since Kennedy.