Cuba issue deals blow to US stature at 'Summit of the Americas'

Cuba issue deals blow to US stature at 'Summit of the Americas'

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Unprecedented Latin American opposition to U.S. sanctions on communist Cuba left President Barack Obama isolated at the Summit of the Americas on Sunday and illustrated Washington's waning influence in the region.

In contrast to the rock-star status he enjoyed at the 2009, Obama has had a bruising time at the two-day meeting in Colombia of some 30 heads of state from across the Americas.

Eleven Secret Service agents and five military personnel were caught in an embarrassing prostitution scandal, Brazil and others have bashed Obama over U.S. monetary policy, and he has been on the defensive over calls to legalize drugs.

The prostitution saga, above all, was a major blow to the prestige of Obama's Secret Service bodyguards and turned into the unexpected talk of the town in the historic city of Cartagena.

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For the first time, conservative U.S-allied nations like Colombia are throwing their weight behind the traditional demand of leftist governments that Cuba be in the next meeting of the Organization of American States.

"The isolation, the embargo, the indifference, looking the other way, have been ineffective," Santos said.

Two subjects were expected to dominate the Summit discussions yet both issues were left unresolved. One thing seemingly certain now is that the US is no longer the solo star in this theater and will now be sharing the top billing with Brazil and other rising economic performers in this hemisphere.

Another top topic of discussion, albeit between sessions, was the prostitution scandal which dealt a blow to the US's waning prestige and influence among American nations. Despite the attention drawn by that incident other US delegates to the Summit were still able to enjoy Colombia's night life, kick up their heels a bit, and even sample some Cuban culture - Boom-chickie-boom:

In an ironic twist, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went dancing after midnight on Sunday at a Cartagena bar called "Cafe Havana" where Cuban music is played.

Of other great concern to the American nations:

With the backing of several other Latin American leaders, Mr. Santos gave prominence on the summit agenda to a discussion of whether the longtime, United States-led “war on drugs” ought to be replaced with some potentially more effective strategy, perhaps even decriminalization.

The leaders agreed to direct the Organization of American States to name a group of experts to study the issue. President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala, who favors legalization, said in an e-mail message after the summit that drug use and trafficking was the only topic the leaders discussed at their final closed-door meeting on Sunday. In the discussion, he said, Mr. Obama reiterated his opposition to decriminalization.

“It is a very positive outcome, in the sense that we have to explore what else we can do to find new avenues” to combat the drug trade, Mr. Perez said.

Mr. Obama said, “It is wholly appropriate for us to discuss this issue,” and he called the exchanges “good and useful.”

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reply to post by Erongaricuaro


You better be careful in posting threads that have anything to do with drugs in these parts. We don't want great threads such as this to be removed, based on it containing the topic of drug use!

Originally posted by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS
reply to post by Erongaricuaro

 

You better be careful in posting threads that have anything to do with drugs in these parts. We don't want great threads such as this to be removed, based on it containing the topic of drug use!

The thread is about the fact that nobody is scared of America anymore.

Other nations now laugh at America.

Wow. How embarrassing for the US right now. Secret Service sure are the best of the best...it almost seems like they know that the US is circling the drain and they don't care what they do now. It is sad, but, if history teaches us anything its that all empires fall.

Originally posted by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS
reply to post by Erongaricuaro

 

You better be careful in posting threads that have anything to do with drugs in these parts. We don't want great threads such as this to be removed, based on it containing the topic of drug use!

That is a concern here but moreover it is a topic of great concern to Latin American nations that are growing weary of the failed US-led Drug War where the policy has been for the US government, through their taxpayers, to pay them money to conduct its war while Latin America pays the blood in efforts to halt or slow illicit traffic to the world's most drug-thirsty nation to the north. The four decades of this policy has failed to do either nor those efforts or those of the American government to slake the US thirst of its population for these substances. It is all newsworthy.

Please help by refraining to speak of personal use issues and stay on-topic with the news. It is a matter of grave concern to most of the Americas but gets a cavalier brush-off by the US government who appears to be up to their ears in the prohibition's corruption and profit-making along with use of trafficking of these substances for economic, black operational funding, and political manipulation purposes by extra-governmental agency factions within.

Thanks for your comments and heed of this caution to stay focused on relevant discussion. There is much more that went on there in Cartagena and a noticeable shifting of power that will most likely become even more prominant in times ahead.

reply to post by Germanicus

Oh good we're fat,lazy and stupid again.It makes our military's job so much easer.Yep Yankee running dog,weak emotional preservers of human life ,cowards ,all of us are again completely incompetent,against the superior disciplined faithful.It dovetails so well with being the great Satan,a world threat to all humanity .blah blah blah.If anyone on ATS needs to find a hater here you got the prize ace.China,Russia and the almighty Iran will destroy the western nations and then the east shall rule the earth.
Keep thinking this way. Let your rage guide you.So your transition will be complete to the darkside. Not. You'll just get an ulcer. Or a bomb jacket if you are stupid enough to go that far.

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
reply to post by Germanicus

 

Oh good we're fat,lazy and stupid again ... If anyone on ATS needs to find a hater here you got the prize ace.China,Russia and the almighty Iran will destroy the western nations and then the east shall rule the earth.
Keep thinking this way. Let your rage guide you.

You almost named the whole economic BRIC the US is now ducking - Brazil, Russia, India (not Iran), China. Of that ton the US faced Brazil which had words for Obama about US monetary policy at this Summit.

Regional economic powerhouse Brazil has led criticism at the summit of U.S. and other rich nations' expansionist monetary policy that is sending a flood of funds into developing nations, forcing up local currencies and hurting competitiveness.

The world still loves the United States. There is still tolerance and respect for good neighbors.

The issue of Cuba’s exclusion from events like the Summit of the Americas gathering has been a perennially divisive one, and increasingly so lately, more than 50 years after the United States imposed its embargo of the island nation after the military takeover by Fidel Castro in 1959. While the push to include Cuba was led by leftist governments in the region, including Venezuela and Bolivia, Mr. Santos also joined in the effort, calling the American position a cold war anachronism.

Mr. Obama himself alluded on Saturday to unspecified regional issues that seemed “caught in a time warp,” but at the news conference on Sunday he defended the United States’s stance on Cuba, which had support from Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada.

reply to post by cavtrooper7

Keep thinking this way. Let your rage guide you.So your transition will be complete to the darkside. Not. You'll just get an ulcer. Or a bomb jacket if you are stupid enough to go that far.

Ha! Oh my god thats funny. Ok,I will give in,let the hate flow through me. Only then can my journey to the Dark Side be complete

America is the Death Star buddy. We are going to blow up Delaware. (figuratively of course) The home of your corporatist friends.

On topic- You can clearly see that America has lost its sway. The BRICS rise as the American Imperial Empire takes its last gasps.

They can slant this any way they want but the fact remains. They are begging us to change policies because we still have the upper hand.

Reply to post by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS

The 'War on Drugs' and the criminalization of drugs is a conspiracy in itself. One which can comfortably take a place amongst forums such as Skunk Works (that pun not intended), Spiritualism and Philosophy et cetera.

Unless one goes on to advocate and encourage drug use, the mods really cannot dicipline the OP as it would surely amount to censorship.

ON TOPIC: It's nice to see Pres Obie loosing his footing, like he wasnt expecting it to happen. This should happen more often.
The great thing is that it will. The US' agenda and ways of implementing them are becoming blatantly obvious to nations the world over. Now all thats left is to choose sides...




Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by DavidWillts
They can slant this any way they want but the fact remains. They are begging us to change policies because we still have the upper hand.

The operative word there appears to be "still". It appears you are acknowledging a time factor that may be running out. The US for years had been hosting the feast around the feeding trough in order to gain influence over their neighbors affairs - more so that purpose than purely for altruistic reasons most likely. Problem is, these nations have now found their economic footing and are doing quite well these days while the US empire and economic clout is beginning to spread a bit thin. They are still the big boy on the playground but how well they will be able to embrace and understand Latino culture may play a big part in retaining that upper hand in this hemisphere.

Empires rise and fall, the US's long-term survival may have to do with how well they are able to accept their place as equals among their neighbors.

reply to post by Germanicus

Oh yes sir ,absolutely, my country is being run by a communist.This one POTUS in particular evidently thought he would be greeted like the return of Che himself ,I'm sure.My point is we are still not dead.You would know it too but for some reason you ,the professional,and a few others waste few words in the popular ongoing denigration of my country.
We'll get through this,we now know the tiniest bit of what they have done in our name.
Some people say civil war will pacify all the citizens of the US but the talent for war is in the hands of the vets.
Obama is reaping what the bankers did when they burned their way through South America's bloody history in support of a imperialistic economic foreign policy.
This is not in keeping well with a nation under God at all ,which is what we really are mostly.But because the heavy coastal population centers have had more power than the middle states and that has gotten old.
I am not dead yet so neither is America.

Nuance, people. Nuance.

America's stature is on the decline, America itself is in decline poltically economically and socially. This is a fact.

On the other hand its ridiculous to say that "the whole world now laughs at America and nobody is scared of it," or that it is a fallen empire. It still has the largest GDP on the planet, huge nuclear arsenal, massive military, and signficant cultural torque.

We will know America has really declined when the Internet is no longer full of fire-spitting Anti-American rage. Once people ignore America, then we will know it has truly declined. The fact that it still has the capacity to induce rage means the country isn't there yet. The internet is full of Anti-American threads, regurgitating the same old tune over and over. Not so many anti-Zambian threads or even Anti-Russian threads.

Nuance...the truth usually lies in the gray area, no? America is declining but not yet fallen.

Once America is ignored rather than hated, you will know the end of its superpower status has come. And that day will be better for everyone. Better for the rest of the world, which will breathe a little freer. And better for Americans, who can go back to being "just people" like everyone else, largely ignored.

reply to post by ZionSmasher

Once America is ignored rather than hated, you will know the end of its superpower status has come.

Wasn't that what this whole thread was about?

one of the best diatribes regarding Cuba and the US was Friday night on Maher.

Please be warned : some adult language in the linked vid

reply to post by TXRabbit


I enjoyed that, thanks for posting it.
An 85 yr old in a track suit
Hes an evil commie
Compared to some of our friends, hes an angel.

Brazil and nearby S. American countries had best keep in mind that the US ability to wage full out war on any/all of them is only one good week of propaganda away.

Originally posted by PulsusMeusGallo
Brazil and nearby S. American countries had best keep in mind that the US ability to wage full out war on any/all of them is only one good week of propaganda away.

Not sure how the US feels about messing with a ton of BRICs these days. I'm sure they would rather spark a few insurgencies here and there instead of dealing with matters straight-on that way. I kind of expect them to do that anyway no reason given.

The Summit's unresolved Drug War issues may cause some posturing by the US as Latin America liberalizes their stance on those policies. They are on polar opposite sides of that issue and some happy ground is expected to be found in the middle but is expected the US will refuse to give an inch - yet in the US exist some of the world's most lenient and liberal state laws regarding medical cannabis use, though still tabooed by the US federal government and we shouldn't expect them to merely stand by and let that sort of policy be adopted anywhere else in The Americas.

More than any other reason I expect that will be the most likely way to bring US armed conflict into this hemisphere. I do expect that potential conflict will be resolved and bought through corruption as taxpayers shell-out to those countries to increase their vigilance fighting the good war with US taxpayers spilling money as Latin Americans spills blood, the great vampire-nation doing nothing to curb its own appetites.

I see more of the same for a long time coming. I have doubts that the US can learn to be a good neighbor now that it is becoming "more equal" than ever before.

www.pressdisplay.com...

Many leaders here pushed for a new strategy to combat the illicit drug trade, fueled by U.S. demand. Some proposed legalization — for possession and by regulating the trade — but Obama made clear here that he does not believe it would prove more effective than the law enforcement approach funded by the United States.

“I think it is wholly appropriate for us to discuss this issue,” Obama said, adding that while Colombia is emerging from a “wrenching period,” several “smaller countries” in Central America are “starting to feel overwhelmed” by drug violence. “It wouldn’t make sense for us not to examine what works and what doesn’t.”

The good news is that is unprecedented progress, the willingness to even discuss the matter.

its sad that maybe he toes the line on decrim because there is so much potential for power management with the democratic party and continued criminalization. its really bad that hes the first black president that the south americans are pushing for it and black civil rights proponents have been claiming for years that "the war on drugs is a war on blacks and minorities" and that he takes a cold shoulder to a very important issue because of politics either blocking or not having the authority vested in him by the democratic party and those who serve under him.