On both Cuba and Israel, I have come to a major volte-face

[Tooting Carmen]

On two of the most controversial countries/issues of our time, I have come to a major volte face. Namely, Cuba and Israel. I used to defend them (albeit with major caveats and qualifications), but no longer.

In the case of Cuba, the Communist regime has become at the very least equally brutal and repressive as the undoubtedly awful Batista regime it overthrew. Having met so many Cuban exiles in Miami made me start this journey of reflection. If the country were so wonderful, why do so many flee it? Furthermore, whatever the regime's social achievements, both in relative and possibly real terms Cuba is declining relative to the rest of the Americas. (In the latest UN Human Development Index, even Dominican Republic has overtaken Cuba).

In the case of Israel, a country founded by people fleeing ethnic persecution and terror in Europe has, for all intents and purposes, become an ethnic supremacist state of its own. After all, only Jews have the automatic right to migrate to Israel and obtain citizenship, and they have created a crisis of refugees and displacement not much different to that of which they themselves were originally victims. And no, it is not anti-Semitic to criticise Israel's constant bombings, land grabs, assassinations and house demolitions, as well as its substantial number of extremists.

[Tooting Carmen]

In fact, both countries are good examples, in different but not entirely unrelated ways, of Orwell's notion of "the pigs turning into the humans".

[axel.aleman]

On two of the most controversial countries/issues of our time, I have come to a major volte face. Namely, Cuba and Israel. I used to defend them (albeit with major caveats and qualifications), but no longer.

In the case of Cuba, the Communist regime has become at the very least equally brutal and repressive as the undoubtedly awful Batista regime it overthrew. Having met so many Cuban exiles in Miami made me start this journey of reflection. If the country were so wonderful, why do so many flee it? Furthermore, whatever the regime's social achievements, both in relative and possibly real terms Cuba is declining relative to the rest of the Americas. (In the latest UN Human Development Index, even Dominican Republic has overtaken Cuba).

In the case of Israel, a country founded by people fleeing ethnic persecution and terror in Europe has, for all intents and purposes, become an ethnic supremacist state of its own. After all, only Jews have the automatic right to migrate to Israel and obtain citizenship, and they have created a crisis of refugees and displacement not much different to that of which they themselves were originally victims. And no, it is not anti-Semitic to criticise Israel's constant bombings, land grabs, assassinations and house demolitions, as well as its substantial number of extremists.

Dominican Republic is the Switzerland of Hispanic Caribbean
The extreme poverty of Cuba and Puerto Rican dependency of US
And you know it

[axel.aleman]

Even Balaguer is an improved version of General Torrijos, have the good thing of Torrijos without bad thing(socialism)
But populism, authoritarianism, nationalism, pragmatic relationship with US, social conservativism yes
Then Dominican Republic is even better than Panama