Is it possible to think up yet another hypocritical reason for objecting to President Obama’s decision to normalize relations with Cuba? Yes! Cries the Washington Post! The President is telling us that normalizing relations with Cuba is just like normalizing relations with Vietnam and China. But, says the Post, that’s why it’s a bad idea:
“The Chinese standard of living has risen, and Chinese enjoy far more personal freedom than they did under Mao — to choose where to live, say, or whom to marry. But in the past decade, political freedom in China has declined — there is less freedom of speech, of the press, of cultural expression. More political prisoners have been locked up and tortured. Tens of thousands of censors keep tight control over the Internet.
“The same is true in Vietnam: more foreign investment, less political and religious freedom, more bloggers in prison. And these are not anomalies: In the years that Mr. Obama has been in office, freedom has receded across the globe1—without much protest or response from his administration.”
It’s certainly true that life in both China and Vietnam is far from perfect—and, even though life in the U.S. is far from perfect as well, I’d much rather live here than there—but isn’t it a bit ridiculous to think that the U.S. can force other nations to alter their political institutions to suit our fancy merely by demanding that they do so in return for diplomatic recognition? How is that working in Iran? What we have in Iran—and in Cuba—is a political stalemate that works to enforce misery on the common people—a stalemate that the Post would continue merely to prove that we are “right” and they are “wrong.”
Afterwords
One could also point out that both China and Vietnam are half way round the world from the U.S., and that China has a population of over one billion and Vietnam, 90 million. Cuba, in contrast, is 90 miles away, with a population of 11 million. How can Cuba help but be absorbed in the U.S. economy? It can’t.
-
The Post “proves” this questionable claim by citing itself. If only life were so easy! ↩︎
