diplomacy – JFK Facts

How JFK pursued the ‘sweet approach’ to Cuba

Jefferson Morley August 23, 2016

At a conference on the 50th anniversary of the Warren Commission report in Washington in September, Cuba scholar Peter Kornbluh gave a fascinating talk on how President Kennedy pursued the idea of normalizing relations with Cuba in the spring of 1963.

In the State Department this was known as “the sweet approach,” Kornbluh says. The idea was to lure Fidel Castro out of his alliance with the Soviet Union instead of overthrowing him. …

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Play ball: Obama and Castro at the ballpark

Jefferson Morley March 23, 2016

The somewhat extraordinary final day of President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba was eclipsed by news of the attacks in Brussels, First there was the joint Obama-Castro news conference in which the Cuban leader actually had the novel experience of having to answer freely asked questions. Then there was the overlooked story that those notorious communist sympathizers at Google have agreed to provide the country with cheap and fast Internet, confirming fatuous Newt Gingrich’s point that President Obama is a suspected traitor, or something like that. Finally, there was a feel-good photo op: a baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays, which Obama described accurately as, well, “somewhat extraordinary.”

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Obama prepares for the future as critics dwell on the past

Jefferson Morley March 22, 2016

Fidel Castro will be 90 in August; Raúl is just five years younger. At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will see whether Castroism can survive without a living Castro. Anyone who wants U.S. policymakers to have influence when that question arises should applaud Obama’s initiatives.

Source: Obama’s visit will hasten freedom in Cuba – The Washington Post

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Obama to jettison the goal of ‘regime change’ in Cuba

Jefferson Morley March 17, 2016

While Obama will not shy away from discussing human rights, “the difference here is that in the past, because of certain U.S. policies, the message that was delivered in that regard either overtly or implicitly suggested that the United States was seeking to pursue regime change . . . or the United States thought we could dictate the direction of Cuba,” Rhodes said.

Source: Obama’s goal for Cuba trip: Become a source of support – The Washington Post

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JFK assassination aborted U.S. reconciliation with Cuba

Jefferson Morley March 17, 2016

From the Sierra Leone Times: Kennedy assassination aborted U.S. reconciliation with Cuba. …

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Obama to Cuba: who benefits?

Jefferson Morley February 29, 2016

Only the majority of people in both countries.

Cuban-Americans, who increasingly favor Obama’s Cuba policy in general, have tended to oppose his intentions to visit the Caribbean state. A survey made on December 17, 2015, by Bendixen & Amandi International, a Hispanic and multicultural research firm, found that 56 percent of Cuban-Americans agree with Obama’s normalization of ties between the two countries and 53 percent think the U.S. embargo on Cuba should not continue