Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
The Obama administration eased trade and travel restrictions on Cuba Tuesday, granting more economic benefits for the communist-ruled island nation in advance of President Obama’s historic trip… Mr. Obama will start a three-day visit to Cuba on Sunday, becoming the first sitting president to travel there in nearly 90 years… ‘These steps not only expand… Read more.
Obama authorizes raft of business dealings with Cuba: The White House on Friday announced wide-ranging changes to loosen travel, commerce and investment restrictions on Cuba, moving to fulfill President Obama’s goal of breaking down barriers between Washington and Havana… They are to take effect on Monday on the eve of the visit to Washington by… Read more.
Here in Washington, DC, we endure pomp and ceremony for every mundane occasion imaginable. This is why the unsung nature of yesterday’s reopening of the Cuban embassy seemed almost as surreal as it was historic. Actually, if you don’t live or work here, you could be forgiven for having no clue how this historic event… Read more.
It was a curious thing to see Jamaicans hailing Barack Obama on Thursday more like a returning “son of the soil” than a visiting president of the United States. Even more curious was seeing CARICOM leaders jostle like UWI students for a photo op. But don’t get me started on the way Jamaican Prime Minister… Read more.
I have written many commentaries on America’s 50-year embargo against Cuba. Here, for example, are excerpts from two of them in which I proffered the moral imperative for the United States to lift it. From “Dancing on Castro’s Grave Is Not Only Unseemly; It’s Premature,” August 2, 2007: Most of us in the Americas are… Read more.
The Editorial Board of the New York Times made news on Saturday, when it published a special editorial calling on President Obama to “End the U.S. Embargo on Cuba:” Scanning a map of the world must give President Obama a sinking feeling as he contemplates the dismal state of troubled bilateral relationships his administration has… Read more.
For over 50 years, American presidents have been enforcing an embargo against Cuba to force regime change, embarrassingly, to no avail. This is why I’ve been in the vanguard of those urging President Obama to end it; especially given that it has done nothing more than relegate generations of innocent Cubans to lives of systematic penury.… Read more.
Hell, given their cozy relationship with President Obama, it would not surprise me to learn that he personally sanctioned their visit as goodwill ambassadors pursuant to the ‘people-to-people’ program he initiated to promote greater cultural exchange between Americans and Cubans. (“Beyoncé and Jay-Z Representing Pop and Hip Hop in Cuba,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 8,… Read more.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z incited a lot of outrage for visiting Cuba last week. They reportedly went to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, which they did by touring historical landmarks and spreading the goodwill of American Pop and Hip-Hop music. But, given the way Republican congressmen beholden to Miami Cubans are reacting, you’d think Bey and… Read more.
I am among those who have been agitating for years for the United States to lift its hypocritical, unconscionable, and demonstrably misguided embargo against Cuba. Not least because the people who have been (and are being) harmed most by it are poor Cubans, the majority of whom are Black. That’s why I’ve argued since 2005… Read more.
