(Via NTCNews) It’s so nice to see that some people keep up with the old traditions…
Cuba rejects OAS membership, official says
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Cuba will not rejoin the Organization of American States, even though the multinational organization has lifted the 47-year-old suspension of the country’s membership, a Cuban official said Thursday.
Ricardo Alarcon, president of the National Assembly, made the announcement to reporters. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro had said earlier this week that Cuba had no interest in rejoining the 35-nation group.
…the tradition in this case being the charming Let’s humiliate the President of the United States that Castro has turned into an art form. This particular version was pretty good, for a given value of ‘good:’ the White House traded any restrictions on future readmission* and recognition, a certain amount of backpedalling in front of the rest of the OAS, and quite possibly the state of Florida in the 2012 elections for… well, nothing at all.
This might even taint the eventual removal of the embargo; I say ‘might’ because the Castro regime has shown a remarkable lack of interest in getting rid of it (after all, they’re comfortable) anyway. I also admit to a certain morbid interest in seeing how the regime will ensure it stays up: probably public human rights violations. That’s always reliably inflammatory.
Moe Lane
*Oh, yes, sure: we’d insist on “agreements on human rights and democracy” before we went for full reintegration. Tell it to the Tibetans.
Crossposted to Moe Lane.