Just to remind us why Cuba is maybe a particularly relevent place to talk about on the Mudcat, here is a site with links to some great Cuban music.

One thing that struck me during all that Elian TV coverage. Looking at the streets of Miami, and looking at the streets of Elian's home town back in Cuba, I thought how very much I wouldprefer to be bringing up a child in the Cuban town.

I'm sure there are lots of ways in which Cuba is a lot less than perfect. The same goes for most places, including the USA - but after the rough time Cuba has had from its big neighbour over the past 100 years or so, it's not really surprising. (I can't see that the same kind of excuses can be made for the richest country in the world, which ought to be the freest, happiest and fairest place in the world.)

It'd be easy enough to help Cuba to ease up its siege ecomomy, and turn into a more easygoing socialist/social democratic society. But that won't be allowed to happen, I predict, any more than it was allowed to happen in Russia. When Castro goes, the price for stopping sanctions and providing "aid" is going to be the imposition of mafia capitalism.

The priority isn't to help the Cuban people, any more than it was to help the Russian peiople. It is to make sure that there is is no alternative social/economic still extant on the planet.

In a few years time people in Cubva will talk about the not-so-bad old days, like they do today in Russia (where the not-so-bad old days were infinitely worse than they ever have been in Cuba).

In the meantime, listen to the music.