I would say travel to Cuba to learn these things for yourself, I feel it would be fruitful, but you’re too busy simping for imperialist nations.

being contronted

I realized you lack critical thinking, its like talking to MAGA with you

I’ve seen some other posts by you, you have good takes sometimes, but others like this Cuba post is a shitty take.

Wow I guess you know all your talking points. I should just listen to someone who posts on Lemmy all day instead of my actual lived experience in the country we’re talking about, the many lectures/talks, books, and news articles I’ve consumed on these topics. I don’t want to look deeper and I want to reply with dumb sarcastic comments when I’m presented with an opportunity to do critical thinking like you do. Every single little thing a communist country has ever done was abhorrent and the West did do bad things too but we’ll just ignore those and blame everything on said damn commie country. Better dead than red I’ll say. Don’t worry we’re still leftists though who believe we can reform the capitalist system. Now lets go be ineffective at improving the peoples material conditions!

Cuba literally rejected a US offer of COVID vaccines

The US vaccines couldn’t be stored in Cuba since they needed to be refrigerated and it wasn’t an offer without stipulations. Plus they were developing a more effective vaccine that could be stored in room temperature.

blockade’ that doesn’t actually block other countries from freely trading with Cuba

True-ish, but then those countries/companies can’t freely trade with the US, again who dominates the capitalist markets. It’s basically punishment for trading with Cuba. Some places don’t care, most do. There is also a block of anything made with 10%-25% US materials aren’t allowed in Cuba, which is a big fucking deal.

Cuban people repeated the government line

No one threatens these people to make them say what they say. They believe in the socialist revolution and love their country because they’ve established a class-consciousness surrounding it. Its easy to say “OH DUR GOVURBMENT LINEEEE” when you’re already biased against the system.

I suppose you must think we should support the Soviet Union as well

The Soviet Union collapsed and hasn’t existed since 1991 buddy.

Waoh, and the United Snakes of Amerikkka didn’t stop them with the Imperialist Blockade???

European tourism is big in Cuba and Obama did open up US travel to help (under the guise it wanted them to be more capitalist) but then Trump reversed and added more bans and sanctions. Currently the Trump admin is threatening citizens of other countries that if they travel to Cuba they could be banned from coming to the US for a period of time.

Fuck the embargo though, and fuck the racist GOP and the whinging descendants of Cuban exiles

But the things you’re saying are in line with the whinging cuban exiles and the racist GOP. You’re so lost. Instead of helping and supporting a socialist project like Cuba all you’re doing is spreading US lies, propaganda, and think any practice of communism is “red fascism.” I don’t understand the “comm?” All your talking points are anti-communist. Go read some Michael Parenti or something.

Lol

I never said it completely blocks trade but it heavily does. When I was down there I saw Turkey had a shipping port, Canada has a strong relationship with them, China improves some of the infrastructure. But the US hates what Fidel & Cuba did so they inflict the blockade on them and since it has global hegemony, succeeds.

Also I work with a woman who has spent the last 50 years getting aid to Cuba that the US previously blocked, recently included 3 million syringes for the covid vaccine. Another organization here that sends unused wasted medical supplies to Latin America just got threatened and had their license removed to send aid to Cuba by Trump. These things are happening. You have the Communist Manifesto linked in the community, you should support Cuba more.

which is the source of 95% of the problems in Cuba,

At least thats what the Cubans down there had to say. Yes Cuba has internal problems and corruption but its not the source of their problems.

Do you… do you understand that most of the world, and even the US to some degree, **does** trade with Cuba?

Oh we give them our shitty bleached chicken, good for us

how did they diversify their industry during the Special Period, again?

I forgot to answer. Cuba diversified their economy by funding research to their medical field to be able to trade medical care for things like oil etc, opened up tourism (which has been the biggest part of the economy), and began incredible urban garden programs to become food self-sufficient.

slurping down ML propaganda

No one’s slurping down ML propaganda, but you seem to like spreading your’s

I just traveled to Cuba on a humanitarian mission and learned about all this stuff. A majority of things you’re saying are US talking points aimed to harm Cubans. It is a blockade, part of it is the US blocks aid and resources from getting into Cuba and any ship from a country that trades with Cuba is blocked from US ports for six months, which would heavily effect other countries so they don’t so that. China does help them but they can only do so much. Every country in the UN votes to uplift the blockade because they want to trade with Cuba, except the US and Israel vote against it. Read “We are Cuba” by Helen Yaffe, it’ll give you some good insight.

Cuba does have some market mechanisms in their socialist economy and did diversify their industry during the Special Period, just the little amount of capital doesn’t have any political power. Despite the US blockade (the word I prefer) which is the source of 95% of the problems in Cuba, they are successful in some ways but the blockade does make life extremely difficult. Part of it is literally blocking Cuba access to world financial systems. Don’t forget the purpose of it is to create despair in Cuba so that the people blame and rise up against their government so the US can re-colonize it.

Putin has and still is committing cruel, evil, disgusting atrocities against humanity why would I support that. Listen to yourself you sound silly. Its possible to be against the West while also being against Putin, you just have to evolve your thinking.

Nope I don’t support Putin at all. I’m glad I stopped thinking like you.

Are you ok? I can condemn the US/NATO while also condemning the current Russian regime

Lol well the Soviets did have to move through Eastern Europe to Berlin to fight the nazi invasion

NATOs other purpose is to stop socialism/communism from existing and emerging anywhere, unjustifiably. The Soviet Union wasn’t going to take over Europe, that was a lie created by the US and others. The US was the aggressor during the Cold war working overtime to sabotage any socialist nation because of “freedoms” and “democracy.”

Russia has been a capitalist country since the fall of the USSR (goal accomplished I guess) but the West has still wanted to destroy them even before the Ukraine conflict. Yes what Russia is doing is wrong and they need to be stopped, but also the US, EU, and NATO.

Sorry I’m not supporting an imperialist military organization that bombs civilians and has had nazi leadership

Edit: Crazy this opinion is downvoted

I’m in no way supporting Russia or Republicans when I say this but NATO since its inception has been used for Western imperialist goals and establishing US global hegemony, so in no way do I support its existence anymore

Both are still bad though, and progressivism shouldn’t just be an ideal it should be action and resistance against the status quo. The Democrats and their Neoliberalism is harmful. Maybe not as bad as Conservativism, but also still bad.

Not both sides, Dems are barely left/center and have qualities shared with the right. I support far left politics

Republicans and Democrats*

Illegal in the sense that the current Cuban government sees it as an illegal occupation under international law. The 1903 treaty that practically gave the US Guantánamo Bay hasn’t been recognized by Cuba since 1959. Unethical in the sense that it’s in violation of Cuban sovereignty, and the human rights abuses.

The US occupation of Guantánamo Bay is illegal and unethical

Sometimes I be scheming

W