WhatWouldKarlDo @ WhatWouldKarlDo @lemmygrad.ml

| Pronouns | She/Her |

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2 yr. ago

How so? The existence of trade does not disprove the US blockade. Your own selected quote even states that you risk US sanctions if you trade with Cuba. This is NOT referring to US companies.

The risk of US sanctions can create uncertainty and businesses, especially banks, sometimes find themselves caught between conflicting legal requirements. UK companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, have for example encountered problems in payments to/from Cuba being blocked by UK banks.

We recommend that companies with extensive US interests which are interested in doing business with Cuba seek independent legal advice. We advise potential investors to read the advisory notes regarding US regulations on the OFAC website.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm saying it's a chilling effect when the US can arbitrarily start blocking your financial transfers. International trade is typically done through USD. And trading with Cuba opens your company to US sanctions.

But honestly, just think about it for a second. which do you think is more likely? Cuba is completely incompetent and/or self isolating? Or the US blockade prevents Cuba from doing any significant amount of trade?

Here's what the UK government says about it:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-cuba/overseas-business-risk-cuba

That's not how blockades work. The US doesn't allow trade with Cuba.

Have you forgotten that the US is still actively blockading Cuba? It's not about the US' lack of empathy. It's the simple fact that they actively blocked them from obtaining life saving equipment.

I had a similar moment that convinced me to be openly red. I can't believe that they think decrying us for human rights violations is a good idea. It's a tactic that a child could see through.

I mean, even if all the FUD about communist countries were true, it still pales in comparison to the shit that the US actually did. It makes absolutely zero sense for them to complain about our support of human rights violations while giving American "patriots" a free pass.

It's just angering.

We don't claim that all Ukrainians are nazis. That's absurd. We say that it has a pretty bad nazi problem and the media are lying their asses off about pretty much everything in the war. Pointing out media contradictions about the war is fun. Here's some articles from just before the war. Nowadays these would be unprintable in the west.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cohen-ukraine-commentary/commentary-ukraines-neo-nazi-problem-idUSKBN1GV2TY

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-s-got-a-real-problem-with-far-right-violence-and-no-rt-didn-t-write-this-headline/

https://khanna.house.gov/media/in-the-news/congress-bans-arms-ukraine-militia-linked-neo-nazis

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ukraine-widespread-use-cluster-munitions

Isn't it funny how enemies of the US eat babies, and allies are always saints? Everyone else just gets ignored. There's virtually no coverage of the Sudan or Yemen wars, although Sudan is in much worse shape than Ukraine. The media is too busy drumming up hate for Russia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/communal-violence-and-civilian-deaths-in-sudan-fuel-fears-of-widening-conflict

Thank you. I signed up here just to write that.

The primary complaint about our existence is our support for China, the USSR, Cuba, and other evil authoritarian communist regimes. I think most liberals agree that the USSR under Stalin was the most evil country ever. Let's examine the USSR more closely then, assuming that it did all the human rights violations and atrocities it was accused of.

Googling for "Stalin's worst acts", led me to this website with his 7 worst atrocities:

https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/joseph-stalin.htm

Now, assuming all this is true and unbiased, I would like to compare the list to the USA. I think it's hypocritical to accuse us of supporting human rights violations, EVEN IF THESE WERE ALL TRUE. How is it wrong to support the USSR if the USA were to provably commit even worse human rights violations? I don't see the liberals banning American "patriots" anytime soon.

1. GULAGS. Stalin created the GULAG system for political prisoners, and worked 3.7 million people to death. The USA had a chattel slave population of 3.9 million in 1860. It currently has a prison population of 2 million, who are legally slaves.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716878/

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2023.html

2. Collectivisation. Stalin siezed the land of wealthy landowners and sent them to the gulag. The USA quite famously did that exact thing to the native peoples.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

3. The Great Famine. Stalin killed millions of people by amplifying the effects of a famine, and pushing the worst of it onto groups he disliked. The US had this to say about the Buffalo: "Kill Every Buffalo You Can! Every Buffalo Dead Is an Indian Gone". The USA brought the buffalo to the edge of extinction, just to try to starve the natives. Fun fact: This was one of the primary inspirations for Hitler's final solution.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-buffalo-killers/482349/

https://thecirclenews.org/cover-story/u-s-treatment-of-indians-inspired-hitlers-hunger-policies/

4. The Great Purge. Stalin rounded up thousands of communists and executed them to secure power. I'm honestly confused by this one, as I thought that liberals loved purging communists. But regardless, the USA famously purged communists as well during "The Red Scare". Mention should also be made to high profile communists such as Malcom X and Martin Luther King who were killed under suspicious circumstances.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare

5. Order 277. Stalin gave orders to shoot any soldier who retreated. I would argue that rounding up millions of your people to go fight "communism" in a country that did nothing to you would qualify as just as bad. You decide.

https://www.vva310.org/vietnam-war-statistics

6. Punishing Prisoners of War. Stalin sent captured soldiers to the gulag upon liberation. The USA condems this, but said nothing of reimprisoning concentration camp survivors. Odd.

https://time.com/5953047/lgbtq-holocaust-stories/

7. Giving a Pass to War Crimes. Stalin ignored war crimes from his soldiers. I really hate this one. The USA quite famously snatched up every nazi rocket scientist and spy that they could. They lived out their lives in positions of power in the USA, and even wrote some of the drivel I'm talking about today. The US has also famously refused any oversight from the International Criminal Court, even going so far as threatening invasion if a US soldier was ever tried. The list of US war crimes is huge, and the punishments are brief. A book could be written about how hypocritical this one is, but I'll just leave it at this link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes

So here's where we are. Of all of Stalin's atrocities, I think I've shown that the US has done something equivalent but worse in the majority of cases. But it's still acceptable to liberals to wave an American flag, but not a Soviet one? Why do you suppose this is? It gets even worse if you start questioning the veracity of these claims of course, but even if they were at face value, I would still support the Soviet state. They were the first Socialist state and should be respected for that alone. I don't agree with everything that they did, and I don't think anyone does. We don't hate the American people for loving their country. Why should we be hated for loving the USSR?

https://ips-dc.org/the_cias_worst-kept_secret_newly_declassified_files_confirm_united_states_collaboration_with_nazis/