Brookings Institution
Senior fellow and Deputy Director for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution; former Latin America Policy Advisor in the Clinton Administration
PROFILE
Ted Piccone
Guest
FROM Ted Piccone
To the Point
Washington Opens Ties with Havana President Obama says isolation and punishment have not forced Communist Cuba to change, so he’s reversing 50 years of diplomatic policy. He said the US will end its isolation of Cuba and begin establishing normal relations by opening an embassy in Havana. Critics call normalizing relations an "undeserved bailout" of the Castro regime, based on the "illusion" that renewed ties will translate into political freedom. But supporters say it puts the onus on Cuba itself to further liberalize its economy, allow more dissenting voices and, ultimately, to establish democracy. Will it produce a historic transition or more of the same?
Which Way, L.A.?
Cuba: A Country for Old Men In 2008, Raul Castro took the Presidency of Cuba from his ailing brother Fidel. Prior to last week's first Communist Party Central Committee meeting in 14 years, Raul promised economic reforms and what he called "systematic rejuvenation" of Party leadership. But, "We're not seeing new blood—this is the oldest blood Cuba has." That's according to Anne Louise Bardach, writer for Newsweek and the Daily Beast and author of, Without Fidel : A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington.
To the Point
Cuba: A Country for Old Men Like other dictatorships, the leaders of Cuba face a new generation impatient for less repression and economic freedom. But computers, cell phones, Facebook and Twitter are in short supply in Cuba, as is information about what's happening elsewhere in the world. In 2008, Raul Castro took the Presidency of Cuba from his ailing brother, Fidel. Prior to last week's first Communist Party Central Committee meeting in 14 years, Raul promised economic reforms and what he called csystematic rejuvenation" of Party leadership. But Fidel Castro's chosen successors are as old as he is. What do they mean by economic "modernization?" Is democracy on their radar screen? What's President Obama's view of the US embargo?
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To the Point
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Left, Right & Center
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To the Point
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To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?