Kaboom! They’re still at it, and won’t give up.
What is this recent Cuba fixation at 242 West 41st Street all about? It’s not out of character –the NYT has been shilling for the Castros since the 1950’s– but it’s definitely a bit over the top. Day after day for the past two weeks, this newspaper has been spewing editorials and news stories that mirror the propaganda of the Castro government.
The latest salvo is an editorial that calls for a “prisoner swap”: exchanging the three remaining spies of the “Cuban Five” for Alan Gross.
What is most remarkable about this editorial is that its language is eerily reminiscent of Granma and of all of the Castro-generated publicity concerning Gross and the spies. It tries to portray Gross as guilty of violating Cuban “sovereignty” and the spies as heroes who were simply trying to keep an eye on those evil exiles in South Florida. In addition, it also suggests that the spies were unfairly tried and that their prison sentences were unjustified.
What’s the point of this essay? Is it about freeing Alan Gross? No. Is it about his unjust imprisonment? No, of course not. It’s about “normalizing” relations between the U.S. and Castrogonia. This is the most offensive aspect of this latest pro-Castro editorial: when all is said and done, this is not about freeing a victim of the criminal Castro regime, but about turning him into a criminal and about blame-shifting that makes the Castro regime and its spies seem like the “real” victims.
Absolutely shameless. Despicable. And depressing as hell, for just about every self-professed “intellectual” in the United States holds this monstrous newspaper in the highest esteem and allows it to shape their thinking on every issue.
Alan Gross deserves to be freed unconditionally. And he and his family deserve financial reparations from the Castro regime. In many ways, his case resembles that of the three young Cleveland women who were kidnapped and held prisoners for years by another Castro. Imagine an editorial that blamed the women for being too attractive and called for negotiations or a “prisoner swap” with that monster Angel Castro, or for improved relations with him or any other sexual predator. How would that editorial be viewed?
Ah, but there is always a double standard at work when Castrogonia is involved.
A Prisoner Swap With Cuba
Nearly five years ago, authorities in Cuba arrested an American government subcontractor, Alan Gross, who was working on a secretive program to expand Internet access on the island. At a time when a growing number of officials in Washington and Havana are eager to start normalizing relations, Mr. Gross’s continued imprisonment has become the chief obstacle to a diplomatic breakthrough.
There is only one plausible way to remove Mr. Gross from an already complicated equation. The Obama administration should swap him for three convicted Cuban spies who have served more than 16 years in federal prison.
Fidel Castro may no longer be president, but his influence endures. His portrait was displayed at a march in Havana last month.Editorial Observer: Still Pondering U.S.-Cuba Relations, Fidel Castro RespondsOCT. 14, 2014
An anti-Castro protester in Miami in 2008.Editorial: The Shifting Politics of Cuba Policy OCT. 25, 2014Cuban-Americans, off the coast of Key West, Fla., in March 1996, on their way to drop flowers where the plane went down.
Officials at the White House are understandably anxious about the political fallout of a deal with Havana, given the criticism they faced in May after five Taliban prisoners were exchanged for an American soldier kidnapped in Afghanistan. The American government, sensibly, is averse to negotiating with terrorists or governments that hold United States citizens for ransom or political leverage. But in exceptional circumstances, it makes sense to do so. The Alan Gross case meets that criteria….
…a prisoner exchange could pave the way toward re-establishing formal diplomatic ties, positioning the United States to encourage positive change in Cuba through expanded trade, travel opportunities and greater contact between Americans and Cubans. Failing to act would maintain a 50-year cycle of mistrust and acts of sabotage by both sides.
Whole disgusting thing HERE. (Yes, there is much more. Warning: Immensely disturbing prose. Only for the stout-hearted).
Something is rotten in Denmark, far more rotten than the rot that we have grown used to over the years. This propaganda blitzkrieg by the New York Times is excessive even by their standards. I wonder if the November 4th elections has something to do with this. We’ve all heard that after the elections, Obama is going to make relations with the tyranny. Perhaps the NYTs is trying to pave the way for that. Or can Saladrigas and his new found allies, the Fanjuls et al. be behind this? Or is something genuinely tottering in the tyranny and the NYTs is trying to desperately throw a lifeline at a crucial moment????
The NYT, like the scorpion in the story, can’t help itself, and the Gross matter is too tempting, almost as tempting as the Elián matter. There is, of course, no real disincentive to purveying blatantly bad faith when it comes to anything Cuba-related, not even for relative nobodies or outright poseurs like the Hollywood cretins, so the NYT is perfectly safe in its long-practiced perversity. The unusually frantic, not to say hysterical current “outbreak” is probably related to what is seen as both a greater probability of unilaterally ending the embargo as well as a greater urgency to accomplish that to protect Castro, Inc., especially in view of the Venezuelan situation. The Castro regime MUST have sufficient outside support to survive, as it is inherently parasitic and always has been. At this point, not even China or Russia is likely to pick up the tab entirely, since Cuba cannot offer enough in return and is a VERY well-known deadbeat. If the Venezuelan subsidy fails, the regime will have to risk another “special period” with an increasingly disaffected and cynical population unless it finds a new sugar daddy, and the obvious candidate is the US. The math is not especially hard to do.
Asombra your theory sounds very plausible and your take on the situation and analysis is right-on-the-dime. I’m certain that you are correct.