perspectives
J.K. Murphy, Vice President, SCNI jk.murphy@gwinnettdailypost.com
Todd Cline, Editor
gwinnettdailypost.com
todd.cline@gwinnettdailypost.com
PAGE 7 A • SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2015
A one-way deal in Cuba WASHINGTON — There’s an old Cold War joke — pre-pantyhose — that to defeat communism we should empty our B-52 bombers of nuclear weapons and instead drop nylons over the Soviet Union. Flood the Russians with the soft consumer culture of capitalism, seduce them with Western contact and commerce, love bomb them into freedom. We did win the Cold War, but differently. We contained, constrained, squeezed and eventually exhausted the Soviets into giving up. The dissidents inside Charles subsequently told us Krauthammer how much they were sustained by our support for them and our implacable pressure on their oppressors. The logic behind President Obama’s Cuba normalization, assuming there is one, is the nylon strategy. We tried 50 years of containment and that didn’t bring democracy. So let’s try inundating them with American goods, visitors, culture, contact, commerce. It’s not a crazy argument. But it does have its weaknesses. Normalization has not advanced democracy in China or Vietnam. Indeed, it hasn’t done so in Cuba. Except for the U.S., Cuba has had normal relations with the rest of the world for decades. Tourists, trade, investment from Canada, France, Britain, Spain, everywhere. An avalanche of nylons — and not an inch of movement in Cuba toward freedom. In fact, one could argue that this influx of Western money has helped preserve the dictatorship, as just about all the financial transactions go through the government, which takes for itself before any trickle-down crumbs are allowed to reach the regime-indentured masses. My view is that police-state control of every aspect of Cuban life is so thoroughly perfected that outside influences, whether confrontational or cooperative, only minimally affect the country’s domestic trajectory. So why not just lift the embargo? After all, the unassailable strategic rationale for isolating Cuba — in the Soviets’ mortal global struggle with us, Cuba enlisted as a highly committed enemy beachhead 90 miles from American shores — evaporated with the collapse of the Soviet empire. A small island with no significant independent military capacities, Cuba became geopolitically irrelevant. That’s been partially reversed in the last few years as Vladimir Putin has repositioned Russia as America’s leading geopolitical adversary and the Castros signed up for that coalition too. Cuba has reportedly agreed to reopen the Soviet-era Lourdes espionage facility, a massive listening post for intercepting communications. Havana and Moscow have also discussed the use of Cuban airfields for Russia’s nuclearcapable long-range bombers. This in addition to Cuba’s usual hemispheric mischief, such as training and equipping the security and repression apparatus in Venezuela. No mortal threat, I grant you. And not enough to justify forever cutting off Cuba. But it does raise the question: With the U.S. embargo already in place and the Castros hungry to have it lifted, why give them trade, investment, hard currency, prestige and worldwide legitimacy — for nothing in return? Obama brought back nothing on democratization, a staggering betrayal of Cuba’s human rights crusaders. No free speech. No free assembly. No independent political parties. No hint of free elections. Not even the kind of 1975 Helsinki Final Act that we got from the Soviets as part of detente, granting structure and review to human rights promises. These provided us with significant leverage in supporting the dissident movements in Eastern Europe that eventually brought down communist rule. If Obama insisted on giving away the store, why not at least do it item by item? We relax part of the embargo in return for, say, Internet access. And tie further normalization to serial relaxations of police-state repression. Oh, what hypocrisy, say the Obama acolytes. Did we not normalize relations with China and get no human rights quid pro quo? True. But that was never a prospect. The entire purpose was geopolitical and the payoff was monumental: We walked away with the most significant anti-Soviet strategic realignment of the entire Cold War, formally breaking up the communist bloc and gaining China’s neutrality, and occasional support, in our half-century struggle to dismantle the Soviet empire. From Cuba, Obama didn’t even get a token gesture. Not even a fig leaf such as, say, withdrawal of secret police support in Venezuela. Or extradition of American criminals now fugitive in Cuba, including a notorious cop killer. Did we even ask? Obama seems to believe that the one-way deal was win-win. A famous victory — the Cuba issue is now behind us. A breakthrough. Indeed it is. You know how to achieve a breakthrough in tough negotiations? Give everything away. Try it. You’ll have a deal by noon. Every time.
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Potato Bowl may be high mark for 2015 I had just returned from the local toxic waste site where I had disposed of my holiday fruit cakes and was busy cramming my Christmas tree down the garbage disposal (don’t ask), when I heard a knock at the door. I figured it was the Environmental Protection Agency coming to talk to me about polluting the toxic waste site with fruit cakes. Imagine my surprise to see a little guy in a diaper and a sash across his tummy with “2015” emblazoned on it. It was the New Year. As I gaped in amazement, he said, “May I come in, or would you prefer that I stand outside and freeze my tush off?” Obviously, this was not a good way to greet the New Year. “I am honored to have you visit,” I said, “but aren’t you a little early? You were not supposed to arrive until later in the week.” “Yeah, I know,” he said, “but people can’t wait to get rid of 2014. He has turned out to be a real disappointment.” I agreed that 2014 had come in last year with a lot of promises that hadn’t panned out but neither had a lot of years before him. “You really think you could have gotten him to leave early?” I asked.
done his homework. “Let’s cut to the chase,” he said. “Tell me what I will be facing over the next 12 months.” “Well, the good news is you won’t have to worry about elections on your watch. Those occurred while 2014 was Dick here,” I said. “The bad news Yarbrough is what you will be experiencing is that now that everybody “In retrospect, no,” 2015 has gotten elected, there is a admitted. “He had his heart set very high probability they will on being at the Famous Idaho forget their campaign promises Potato Bowl last week. He and will do pretty much as they considered that the highlight please.” of his time here. The poor “I was afraid of that,” 2015 shmuck.” said. “This is why I specifically How do we know that you requested to come in between are going to be a better year, election years. I hate politics. I I asked the urchin. He said, had just as soon eat a fruit cake “That’s the reason I dropped as to have to deal with politiby to see you before I got too cians.” I didn’t say anything far along into my reign. I have but even I wouldn’t go that far. come for advice. I have it on The talk turned quickly to good authority that you are one sports. “Any suggestions on of the wisest people I will have how I could handle college the privilege to meet and that football perhaps better than everybody from The New York 2014 did?” he asked. I told Times to whoever handles him I was in too much mental tourism for Pakistan has benanguish to discuss the subject efitted from your counsel.” in detail at this time but if he Clearly embarrassed at could see his way clear to such laudatory praise, I asked prevent squib-kicking with 18 2015 where he had heard these seconds left in a game, I would remarkable things. appreciate it. He said that made “I read them in your selfno sense to him. I told him it serving columns,” he said. made no sense to me, either. “Where else?” The kid had I got the feeling we were on
two different wavelengths so I changed the subject. I asked 2015 about his plans to promote peace on earth and goodwill to all people. “Oh, piffle. I have got about as much chance of accomplishing that as you do becoming team chaplain of the ACLU,” he scoffed. That didn’t sound very encouraging. I don’t think the ACLU has a team chaplain and even if they did, they wouldn’t want me because I have been known to pray in public places. I assume peace on earth and goodwill to all people isn’t in the cards for 2015. I asked him to please excuse me, but I saw a squad of EPA agents coming up the walkway loaded down with fruit cakes. They didn’t look happy. 2015 sighed as he hitched up his diaper, adjusted his sash and prepared to make his exit. “I haven’t even uncorked the champagne,” he said, “and after just one conversation with you, I’m already looking forward to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.” So am I. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb2400@bellsouth.net; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139; online at dickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook. com/dickyarb.
Progress not all it’s cracked up to be I was minding my own business, trying to watch a little college football on TV, when the house phone rang. How many of you still have house phones? A lot of folks don’t, you know. I was really focused on the game because Les Miles was coaching and you never know what the Mad Hatter will do, so I let the answering machine get it. I never would have thought when I was a kid growing up in Porterdale, in the days of rotary phones and party lines, that I would one day own a machine that would answer my phone for me. I was receiving a robo-call, but it wasn’t from a local church inviting me to Sunday services or from the school system informing me of a snow day or even from a politician getting an early jump on the 2016 campaign. It was a call warning me that two black males had robbed the MetroPCS store on Eastside Drive in Conyers. The call was very informative and let me know that one of the perpetrators was wearing jeans and a gray hoodie and the other was wearing gray sweats and that both were armed and on foot. When I was a kid growing up in Porterdale I never dreamed that I would be living in a community where I got calls on the phone warning me about armed and dangerous criminals prowling the area, either. I really didn’t do any-
murdering their mother in 2010. I knew all about that because I had watched their story unfold on one of those Friday night television news shows that sensationalizes everything they report. The second story surprised me, though. There was apparently a Darrell crackdown on prostitution in Huckaby Conyers this year. It seems that Atlanta has moved into thing in response to the call, our midst and prostitutes were other than lock the doors, turn taking up in area hotels and on my alarm system, wake up advertising their services on the dog and check my ammo. social media. The Conyers poWho would have thought we’d lice conducted a series of sting be living in an armed camp in operations in an attempt to ferRockdale County? ret them out. I know I already When I woke up the next said this once, but wow. day I logged into this newspaThe third story was munper’s website to see if the two dane it comparison — about a culprits had been caught. They judge who won’t follow court hadn’t even made the lead orders and pay a former emstory. In addition to searching ployee. That’s just a fluff piece for the MetroPCS robbers the compared to the other stuff goConyers Police were looking ing on in the community. Then for a suspect in the murder of there was a pretty positive a 24-year-old man on Millcrest story about Rockdale Medical Walk. There was also a story Center forming a partnership about two guys firing several with Piedmont Hospital. That shots into a home off Salem story quoted Deborah ArmRoad because they were look- strong a lot. I like Deborah ing for a guy named Trent and Armstrong. I taught both her couldn’t find him. Where in kids and her son, Trevor, was the world do we live, y’all? once the bravest kid in the While I was on the webninth grade at Heritage High page I decided to peruse the School. The final story was pages of the paper — like the about the complete Demoalliteration? J.T. McKay taught cratic takeover of the Rockdale me about it in the eighth grade County government, which some will say is unrelated to — and ran across an article all the bad news that is being about the top five stories of reported and others will say is 2014. Wow! indicative of same. The first was about twin I’m not saying either way. girls who pleaded guilty to
I am simply bemoaning the fact that we have become what we have become. It’s funny. I remember when automobile tags carried a number for each county, depending on the population of the issuing county. Fulton was 1, DeKalb was 2, Chatham was 3, etc. When I was in high school I know that we were very proud of the fact that Newton County was 38 while our neighbors — and rivals — Rockdale County was only 89. We didn’t take into consideration the area of the county in square miles. We just knew that we were 38 and Rockdale wasn’t. Things hadn’t changed much when I moved to Conyers in 1983. We all wanted “progress.” We wanted to be bigger so we would have more “stuff” here. We wanted all the chain restaurants and stores. I remember when the greatest ambition for most Rockdale County residents was to have a Red Lobster move into the area so we wouldn’t have to drive to Memorial Drive on Friday night. Congratulations, y’all. Now we have everything — including robo-calls about armed and dangerous men on the loose, prostitutes and people firing into homes while looking for Trent. Be careful what you wish for in the future. I’d much rather have Chianti’s and City Slickers still open than an Olive Garden and a chain steakhouse at the mall.