LET'S FIGHT BACK

LET'S FIGHT BACK
GOD BLESS AMERICA

Monday, July 31, 2017

FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

“We kill them because Allah told us to, and not because they attack us”

UK Bedfordshire Police: “Do you think you could spot the signs of right wing extremism?”

UK Bedfordshire Police: “Do you think you could spot the signs of right wing extremism?”

Break out the champagne: State Department officials quitting over “complete and utter disdain for our expertise”

Break out the champagne: State Department officials quitting over “complete and utter disdain for our expertise”

Nigeria: Muslims ambush oil exploration team, murder at least 69

Nigeria: Muslims ambush oil exploration team, murder at least 69

UK: Muslim rape gang leader to be freed from prison 17 years early

UK: Muslim rape gang leader to be freed from prison 17 years early

Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo 7/30/2017 Fox News July 30...

Your World With Neil Cavuto 7 31 17 Fox News July 31, 2017

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace 7/30/17 - Fox News Sunday July 30, 2017

MEDIA BUZZ 7/30/17 ( Full Show MEDIA BUZZ ) Fox NEWS July 30,2017

Fox & Friends 7/30/17 | 8AM | Fox News | July 30, 2017

Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo 7/30/17 - Fox News Sunday Ju...

Alex Jones (FULL SHOW Commercial Free) Sunday 7/30/17: Today's News, Ana...

Sunday, July 30, 2017

FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

Germany: Islamic State recruiter tells undercover reporter “Go to a hospital and calmly kill them”

Wasserman Schultz seemingly planned to pay Muslim IT suspect even while he lived in Pakistan

Wasserman Schultz seemingly planned to pay Muslim IT suspect even while he lived in Pakistan

Google’s new “hate speech” algorithm is anti-Semitic and pro-jihad

Google’s new “hate speech” algorithm is anti-Semitic and pro-jihad

Merkel has handed Germany over to Isis in a silver plate...

Germany: Muslim “known to police” opens fire in nightclub, murdering two, cops say “no indications” of terrorism

Merkel has handed Germany over to Isis in a silver plate...

Germany: Muslim “known to police” opens fire in nightclub, murdering two, cops say “no indications” of terrorism

Germany: Islamic State recruiter tells undercover reporter “Go to a hospital and calmly kill them”

Germany: Islamic State recruiter tells undercover reporter “Go to a hospital and calmly kill them”

Justice with Judge Jeanine Pirro 7/29/17 - Judge Jeanine Fox News Today ...

Breaking tonight ,Watters’ World 7/29/17 | Fox News July 29,2017

GREG GUTFELD show 7/29/17 ( Full Show GREG GUTFELD ) Fox NEWS July 29...

Your World With Neil Cavuto 7/28/2017 Fox News July 28 2017

The STORY With Martha Maccallum 7/28/17 | Fox News July 28, 2017 Breakin...

SPECIAL REPORT with Bret Baier 7/28/17 | SPECIAL REPORT Fox News July 28...

FOX & Friends First 7/28/17 | Fox News | July 28, 2017

The Five 7/28/2017 Fox News July 28 2017

Laura Ingraham Show [Full Podcast] - July 28, 2017 | 7/28/2017

Lou Dobbs Tonight 7/28/2017 Fox News July 28 2017

Tucker Carlson Tonight 7/28/17 - Tucker Carlson Fox News July 28, 2017 R...

Hannity 7/28/17 ( Full Show Sean HANNITY HD ) Fox News July 28, 2017

Sean Hannity Podcast [Full Show] - July 28, 2017 | 7/28/2017

The Savage Nation July 28,2017 Podcast - Michael Savage Nation 7/28/17 F...

Alex Jones (FULL SHOW Commercial Free) Friday 7/28/17: Breaking News, Ro...

Rush Limbaugh Friday - July 28,2017

Levin 7/28/17 - Mark Levin Show July 28,2017 Full Podcast

Friday, July 28, 2017

FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

Minnesota: Muslim threatens people with knife, says “I will kill whoever calls the police”

Germany: Mayor tells citizens angry about Muslim migrant rapes “Don’t provoke them”

Germany: Mayor tells citizens angry about Muslim migrant rapes “Don’t provoke them”

Muslims riot, attack Israeli police at Temple Mount, at least 56 wounded

Muslims riot, attack Israeli police at Temple Mount, at least 56 wounded

South Dakota: Muslim pleads guilty to firearms charge after brandishing guns outside Christian event

South Dakota: Muslim pleads guilty to firearms charge after brandishing guns outside Christian event

Minneapolis: After Muslim cop shoots unarmed woman, investigators search her home

Minneapolis: After Muslim cop shoots unarmed woman, investigators search her home

India: Muslim mob attacks Hindus with bricks and stones for passing through “their area,” 24 injured

India: Muslim mob attacks Hindus with bricks and stones for passing through “their area,” 24 injured

Special Report w Bret Baier 7/27/2017 Fox News July 27 2017

The Story with Martha MacCallum 7/27/2017 Fox News July 27 2017

FOX & Friends First 7/27/17 | Fox News | July 27, 2017

The Five 7/27/2017 Fox News July 27 2017

Laura Ingraham Show [Full Podcast] - July 27, 2017 | 7/27/2017

Lou Dobbs Tonight 7/27/2017 Fox News July 27 2017

Tucker Carlson Tonight 7/27/2017 Fox News July 27 2017

Sean Hannity 7/27/17 - Hannity Fox News Today July 27, 2017 White House ...

Sean Hannity Podcast [Full Show] - July 27, 2017 | 7/27/2017

The Savage Nation July 27,2017 Podcast - Michael Savage Nation 7/27/17 F...

Alex Jones (FULL SHOW Commercial Free) Thursday 7/27/17: Heidi Montag & ...

Alex Jones (FULL SHOW Commercial Free) Thursday 7/27/17: Heidi Montag & ...

Rush Limbaugh Thursday - July 27,2017

Levin 7/27/17 - Mark Levin Show July 27,2017 Full Podcast

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Another imam in California prays for Allah to destroy the Jews

Another imam in California prays for Allah to destroy the Jews

Jihad terrorism works: Israel removes all security apparatus from al-Aqsa Mosque after violent protests

Jihad terrorism works: Israel removes all security apparatus from al-Aqsa Mosque after violent protests

Lawyer for Muslim Dem House IT staffer who tried to flee US blames charges on “anti-Muslim bigotry”

Lawyer for Muslim Dem House IT staffer who tried to flee US blames charges on “anti-Muslim bigotry”

Two Muslims UK government deemed “not at risk of being drawn into terror-related activities” killed waging jihad

Two Muslims UK government deemed “not at risk of being drawn into terror-related activities” killed waging jihad

Cuban Weapons and North Korea

Focus on

Cuba


Issue 342
July 26, 2017 


 

by Jaime Suchlicki*

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Four years ago this month, Panamanian authorities captured a North Korean vessel en route from Cuba carrying hidden weapons for the North Korean regime. This event happened at the same time as the U.S. and Cuban governments negotiated a normalization of relations.
 
The North Korean vessel carried 240 tons of weapons from Cuba, including rockets, missile systems and two MIG 21s hidden among sacks of Cuban sugar. It raised numerous questions and provided few answers.
  • If the weapons were being sent from Cuba to be repaired in North Korea as the Cuban government insisted, why were they hidden in the hold of the ship under thousands of Cuban sugar bags?
  • Why did the North Korean crew resist the Panamanian boarding of their ship in Panamanian waters? And why did the ship’s captain try to commit suicide?


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Four years ago this month, Panamanian authorities captured a North Korean vessel en route from Cuba carrying hidden weapons for the North Korean regime. This event happened at the same time as the U.S. and Cuban governments negotiated a normalization of relations.

  • If Cuba needed to repair these weapons, why didn’t Gen. Raul Castro send them to Russia? After all, these were Russian weapons. 
  • Better yet, wouldn’t it have been less expensive and more efficient to bring North Korean or Russian technicians to Cuba to repair these weapons?
  • Why would Cuba make this major effort to repair “obsolete” weapons, as the Cuban government described the missile systems and the two MIG 21s?
  • Wouldn’t it have been easier or cheaper for Cuba to ask Venezuela to send to the island military equipment from their Russian purchases and include it in the Venezuelan package of aid to Cuba? 
  • Or, couldn’t the Cubans have used the credits provided by Russia to purchase modern military equipment?

This leads to the conclusion that Cuba and North Korea were not forthcoming with answers that could clarify this event. An obvious answer are that those were not “obsolete” weapons but functional, although old, equipment being shipped to another country.

For the past 50 years, Cuba has been an ally and supporter of numerous anti-American regimes and revolutionary and terrorist groups, some still struggling to attain and consolidate power and impose Marxist ideologies on their population. One of these is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese army has failed to quell a growing insurgency which has dragged the country’s eastern region back to war. The rebellion increased the possibility of conflict with neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, which allegedly were supporting the rebels. The Marxist Congolese government led by Joseph Kabila, a close friend of Cuba, had been struggling to retain power and crush the rebellion.

Congo is a major source of Uranium, which North Korea needs for its nuclear program. Shipments of North Korean weapons bound for the Congo have been intercepted in the past. Were the Cubans and North Koreans gambling to support their comrades in the Congo? The Director of the Sub-Saharan Department of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry and former Ambassador to the Congo, Hector Igarza, led a high level, little publicized, delegation to Congo in 2013, offering Cuban support for the beleaguered Congo regime. In September 2011, Kabila visited Gen. Raul Castro in Havana.

To date, the mystery of the Cuban weapons in a North Korean vessel has not been solved. The implications are clear:
  • It represented a serious violation of U.N. Resolutions.
  • It showed Gen. Raul Castro’s continuous commitment to internationalism and his willingness to violate international laws to support an ally.
  • It showed that the Cubans are more interested in playing an international role and support their old allies, than work with the U.S. toward a possible normalization of relations.
It showed, one more time, that in Cuba economic decisions are dictated by political considerations. Relations with the U.S. were not a priority for Gen. Raul Castro. Supporting anti-American regimes and playing an international role remain Cuba’s priorities. 



*Jaime Suchlicki is Emilio Bacardi Moreau Distinguished Professor and Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition; Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA, now in its second edition and the recently published Breve Historia de Cuba.

This message is sent in compliance with e-mail Bill HR 1910. If you no longer wish to receive emails from the CTP, please email ctp.iccas@miami.edu.

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Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, 
University of Miami.


ICCAS is a non-profit, non-partisan institution established in 1999. 

Since, ICCAS has been the foremost resource for Cuba’s educational programs, cultural activities, research, outreach, and much more at the University of Miami.

Casa Bacardi is our cultural center where events, classes and presentations are held. If you wish to rent Casa Bacardi please call (305) 284-2822. 

ICCAS also offers a Certificate Program in Cuban Studies taught by world-recognized experts, a DVD about Cuba narrated by Andy Garcia, and several books on Cuba. 

We depend on support from the community; any contribution is welcomed and appreciated.







Books available at ICCAS 

Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond, by Jaime Suchlicki, provides a detailed and sophisticated understanding of the Cuba of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

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Mañana in Cuba, by Jose Azel, is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future.

Death of a Dream: History of Cuba Elusive Quest for Freedom, the twenty one chapters are explicitly historical, strongly analytical, concisely written and closely argued; the result is a brilliant narrative that spanned over five centuries of Cuba's history.

For a list of more books available and to purchase them call ICCAS (305) 284-2822.
 


Mailing address
1531 Brescia Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33146
(305) 284-2822
iccas@miami.edu 

D'Souza shocks audience: Nazis learned eugenics from American progressives

FOX & Friends 7/27/17 | FOX & Friends Fox News Today July 27, 2017

THE FIVE 7/26/17 ( Full Show THE FIVE ) FOX NEWS July 26,2017

Your World With Neil Cavuto 7/26/2017 Fox News July 26 2017

Special Report With Bret Baier 7/26/17 - Special Report Fox News Today J...

Laura Ingraham Show [Full Podcast] - July 26, 2017 | 7/26/2017

Lou Dobbs Tonight 7/26/2017 Fox News July 26 2017

Tucker Carlson Tonight 7/26/2017 Fox News July 26 2017

Hannity 7/26/17 ( Full Show Sean HANNITY HD ) Fox News July 26,2017

Sean Hannity Podcast [Full Show] - July 26, 2017 | 7/26/2017

The Savage Nation July 26,2017 Podcast - Michael Savage Nation 7/26/17 F...

Alex Jones �� FULL SHOW Commercial Free ► Wed. 7/26/17: Pastor Rodney How...

Rush Limbaugh Wednesday - July 26,2017

Levin 7/26/17 - Mark Levin Show July 26,2017 Full Podcast

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

Palestinian Authority endorses riots: “Allah, liberate our mosque from the occupation’s filth” — “Jerusalem is ours”

UK: Police vow “You can’t hide from us if your spewing abuse from behind a computer screen”

UK: Police vow “You can’t hide from us if your spewing abuse from behind a computer screen”

US Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian ship in Persian Gulf

US Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian ship in Persian Gulf

Israel removes metal detectors, “Palestinians” demand removal of security cameras

Israel removes metal detectors, “Palestinians” demand removal of security cameras

Thank You, Linda Sarsour

Thank You, Linda Sarsour

FOX & Friends 7/25/17 | 7AM | Fox News Today July 25, 2017

The Fox NEWS Specialists 7/25/17 | The FOX NEWS July 25,2017

The Five 7/25/2017 Fox News July 25 2017

Laura Ingraham Show 7/25/17 - Why Youngstown voters still support Trump?

Lou Dobbs Tonight 7/25/2017 Fox News July 25 2017

Your World With Neil Cavuto 7/25/2017 Fox News July 25 2017

Hannity 7/25/2017 Fox News July 25 2017

Sean Hannity Podcast [Full Show] - July 25, 2017 | 7/25/2017

The Savage Nation - Michael Savage - July 25, 2017 FULL LIVE SHOW

Alex Jones ⚫ FULL SHOW Commercial Free ⚫ Tuesday 7/25/17: Lee Stranahan,...

Rush Limbaugh Tuesday - July 25,2017

Levin 7/25/17 - Mark Levin Show July 25,2017 Full Podcast

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

California: Imam calls on Muslims to kill and “annihilate” Jews

Village Voice: Concern over policies that led to Muslim cop shooting unarmed woman just “racism”

Village Voice: Concern over policies that led to Muslim cop shooting unarmed woman just “racism”

FBI seized smashed hard drives from Wasserman Schultz’s Muslim IT aide’s home

FBI seized smashed hard drives from Wasserman Schultz’s Muslim IT aide’s home

Video: Knife-wielding Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” wounds Spanish cop at Melilla border

Video: Knife-wielding Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” wounds Spanish cop at Melilla border

Robert Spencer in PJ Media: The Islamophobia Industry Killed Justine Damond

Robert Spencer in PJ Media: The Islamophobia Industry Killed Justine Damond

Does Economic Development Lead To Democracy?

the AZEL

PERSPECTIVE

Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 84
 


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For decades the proposition that: “The more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy” has been conventional wisdom, and a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. The quote is from the seminal 1959 work of political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Development.”
Lipset was the first to offer, on empirical grounds, a correlation between development and democracy. His thesis continues to guide our foreign policy and is often cited by policymakers when discussing how to promote transitions to democracy.

In what has become known as the Lipset hypothesis, the professor theorized that economic development helps to consolidate democracy by expanding levels of literacy, information and media access, expanding the middle class, enabling independent civic organizations, fostering legitimacy and other sociopolitical values. Unfortunately, Lipset is one of those authors that is cited or miscited more frequently than he is read.
 
In fact, Lipset argued that the political correlate of democracy is a broad list of factors that change social conditions allowing the fostering of a democratic culture. These factors, among them industrialization, urbanization, wealth, and education, constitute the conditions, not the causes for democracy. As the title of his article suggests, the relationship between economic development and political democracy is correlational, not causal.

U.S. foreign policy goes array when policymakers ignore the contingent nature of history, and relegate the complex structural and societal conditions conducive to democracy into a simplistic economic variable. The error is compounded when correlation is mistaken for causality. As shown by Lipset, economic prosperity is often found together with personal freedoms, but that does not mean that economic growth causes the advent of political reforms.

The fact that two events are frequently observed together does not mean that one causes the other as in: The rooster crows every morning, therefore the rooster causes the sun to come up.  In logic, the principle that correlation does not imply causation is known as the cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy; Latin for “with this, therefore because of this.”
 
The important public policy implications of the Lipset hypothesis have made it one of the most researched topics in the social sciences. Recent scholarship does not support the claim that economic development brings about democracy. The most that can be drawn from the empirical evidence is that development facilitates the endurance of democracy but it does not make democracy more likely. In our current understanding, the emergence of democracy is not brought about by economic development. And yet, U.S. foreign policy continues to rely on the false causality of the ‘development first, democracy later’ approach.

The outlier evidence flows in both directions with affluent autocracies such as Saudi Arabia and poor democracies such as Costa Rica. In the case of totalitarian regimes, it is clear that economic development does not lead to political reforms as demonstrated by China and Vietnam. In totalitarian societies, elites have too much to lose and the choice is for oppression.

Even in the case of authoritarian regimes the evidence is mixed. The divergent cases of South Korea and Singapore illustrate the limitations of the claim that development fosters democracy. The economies of both countries have prospered to the top layers in the world economy. South Korea seems to exemplify circumstances where increased wealth worked to the later consolidation of democracy. Singapore, on the other hand, turns the thesis on its head as the country remains authoritarian and has turned more repressive with the increase in prosperity.

Our understanding of the relationship between regime type and economic development remains, at best, probabilistic. But we have learned that in former communist societies, it was not economics that led the movement for democracy. In those countries, the essential struggle between people and the elites was about political rights and civil liberties.

Thus, for the promotion of democracy, our foreign policy should  come of age and be informed by a better understanding of how citizens adopt democratic values and push for democratic reforms.

Please let us know if you Like Issue 84 - Does Economic Development Lead To Democracy? on Facebook this article.
We welcome your feedback.
Abrazos,
 
Lily & José
 
(click on the name to email Lily or Jose)
This article was originally published in English in the Miami Herald and in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald.
 
José Azel, Ph.D.
José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.  

He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies as a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami and has published extensively on Cuba related topics.

In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami.

José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp.

They cycled St. James Way (
El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast. 

Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them. 
Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro.

Books by Dr. José Azel
In Reflections on FreedomJosé Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles.
Buy Now
En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico.
Compre Aqui
Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future.
Buy now

 
Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish.
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