Afternoon tea with Raul?

During the US Presidential election, Obama's public stance that he was willing and able to talk with dictators (i.e., Cuba, Iran, North Korea) to improve relations received much media attention. Many (including myself) questioned the underlying logic and wondered if having "afternoon tea" with dictators would lead to anything other than US embarrassment.

Thankfully, Obama the President has been much more practical and pragmatic, actively seeking better relations as promised, but not blindly engaging in dialogue or inadvertently giving them prestige (the Chavez smiles notwithstanding).

The dialogue issue came up recently when Cuba was aggressively pushed to into the limelight during the recent Latin American conference, where multiple leaders called for lifting the embargo and accepting Cuba as a responsible state. This set off a short, intense flurry of public communications where it appeared Cuba was ready to "discuss anything".

Naturally, the US got excited and there was talk of a new beginning, with both Obama and Clinton calling for more "gestures" from Havana, to push the process forward. Promising and exciting indeed.

The last few days however, have shown the risks in talking to these folks at the highest level. Fidel publicly stated that Obama had misinterpreted Raul, and that Cuba was not willing to change the core of the revolution. Then today, Raul is quoted as:

• We have reiterated that we are willing to talk about everything with the United States, in equality of conditions, but not to negotiate our sovereignty, nor our political and social system, the right to self-determination, nor our internal affairs," he said in a speech to a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.

So what exactly is Raul willing to talk about then? It seems as though its a one-way conversation - Cuba will continue to oppress its people and starve them to death, while the US lifts the embargo and accepts Cuba as a responsible international member. Not much of a dialogue.

We should all wish Obama much success in changing these regimes via dialogue - that would be a phenomenal achievement. But...we need to be careful...countries like Cuba, North Korea, and Iran think of these negotiations/discussions in terms of decades, not in 4-year blocks, have proven their "staying power", and are unconcerned with their people's suffering.

With this context, the US should take extreme measures that it doesn't legitimize these regimes by simply having "afternoon tea" with them.

Here is the article from today;

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Raul Castro repeats U.S. talks offer
Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:49am EDT
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro repeated on Wednesday an offer to discuss "everything" with the United States to try to improve relations, but said Cuba did not have to make any "gestures" to its long-time enemy.
"We have reiterated that we are willing to talk about everything with the United States, in equality of conditions, but not to negotiate our sovereignty, nor our political and social system, the right to self-determination, nor our internal affairs," he said in a speech to a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.
"Cuba has not imposed sanctions against the United States ... and therefore it is not Cuba that has to make gestures," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month eased the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba by removing limits on Cuban American travel to the communist-ruled island.
But Obama said he wanted to see "signals" from Cuba on such issues as freeing political prisoners and improving human rights to be able to move to normalize relations.
Castro has offered wide-ranging talks with the U.S. before.
The last time was on April 16, when he said discussion topics could include political prisoners -- whom Cuba views as "mercenaries" in the service of the United States -- as well as democracy and freedom of the press.
The Obama administration greeted the April 16 comments as an important gesture, but Raul Castro's older brother, former leader Fidel Castro, wrote a few days later that the words had been "misinterpreted" and indicated Cuba had no intention of making concessions to Washington.
Cuban and U.S. officials have begun informal talks in Washington to explore ways of improving relations that have been hostile since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and transformed Cuba into a communist state.
(Reporting by Nelson Acosta; Writing by Jeff Franks; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
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