In the most altrui$tic $en$e, of course:
"Ag-giants such as Cargill want Congress and the Obama administration to completely lift the trade embargo, so they can export many more US farm goods to Cuba and import meat and produce from the Caribbean nation."
Will Cuba take our GMO garbage?
"Agriculture giants bid to lift Cuba curbs" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff February 06, 2015
WASHINGTON — Large agriculture companies in the United States are rapidly mounting lobbying campaigns to capitalize on loosening trade restrictions with Cuba, sparking worry that as more barriers fall Cuba’s culture of small organic farms could be overrun by outsiders.
Huh?
I mean, I knew about the free health care and education, but.... ???
Ag-giants such as Cargill want Congress and the Obama administration to completely lift the trade embargo, so they can export many more US farm goods to Cuba and import meat and produce from the Caribbean nation.
And DESTROY an ORGANIC FARMING MODEL in the PROCESS!!
“Agriculture is front and center,” said Matthew Aho , whose law firm, Akerman LLP, represents several US companies already approved to sell to Cuba, as well others “looking to engage in newly licensed activities under the new framework.”
But their push to do more business in Cuba is sparking concern about the potential impact on the island’s fragile ecosystem. Some are especially concerned about potential damage to the network of small organic farms, the “organopanico” movement that sprouted up several decades ago to address the poor nation’s acute shortages of food and fuel.
“I think those large industrial agriculture conglomerates are interested in going back to the ‘50s, where Cuban farmers have to lease seeds from Monsanto, just like many farmers around the United States have to,” said Jared Carter, the Cuba program director at Burlington College in Vermont.
And that just about rounds things up.
Related:
Potential effects of agrochemicals in Argentina
Andres Carrasco, 67; shined light on health concerns over weed killer
What a coincidence, huh?
He was referring to the period before the 1959 communist revolution, when US companies operated much of Cuba’s economy.
“I don’t think they are particularly interested in Cubans deciding the way that their future goes,” Carter added.
We call it bringing democracy and freedom. WTF?
The small Vermont college has sent hundreds of students to Cuba in recent years to study and share knowledge from a US state that consumes more locally grown food per capita than any other state and boasts many economically viable organic farms and cooperatives. Its specialists are urging US and Cuban policy makers to consider ways to build on the island’s current approach to agriculture.
I'm sure they are learning things from the Cubans, too.
Cuba’s network of organic farms, like its broader economy, is overseen by the government.
I would not want that here.
But as food shortages have grown more acute the government has allowed citizens more independence to grow their own food. The organic farm movement was among Cuba’s first limited experiments with the free market.
Still, Cuba needs food.
That bothers me. No one in this world should go hungry despite the claims of depopulationists.
And if they or you feel that strongly about it, then help us all out and step off.
The United States alone exported to Cuba nearly $400 million worth of agricultural products — nearly half of it chicken — under exemptions to the trade embargo approved by Congress in 2000, when the Cuban economy was in deep distress after losing its chief benefactor, the Soviet Union.
They waited 10 years to start sending the chicken. That tells me it was the chicken lobby that flew the coop on the embargo.
Of course, the other component of the rapprochement with Cuba is because they are starting to get chummy with Russia again.
The new rules no longer require US agriculture companies licensed to sell to Cuba to route transactions through banks based in other countries or to get paid in cash upfront.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak said that US companies are better positioned than those in other countries to serve Cuba’s $1.7 billion market for food and other commodities.
“Ninety miles offshore, it is very close to several major ports where agricultural commodities — bulk and processed — are shipped, so we would be extremely competitive on a wide range of products: rice, beef, poultry, pork, corn, soy, wheat.”
Vilsak rejected assertions Cuba’s organic production would be displaced by industrial agricultural practices from the United States.
“I honestly don’t think folks should be worried or concerned about compromising organic production,” Vilsak said, “because it remains a very high value-added opportunity which the Cubans will want to maintain.”
The industry’s lobbying effort geared up rapidly after Obama’s announcement: Companies organized a new trade group, the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, which boasts some 30 members and is cochaired by an executive from Cargill, one of the largest US food and agricultural conglomerates.
I'm sure they were waiting.
The group’s goal is to persuade Congress to build on Obama’s new policy and lift the US trade embargo, thus permitting US banks to extend credit to Cuba and US companies to invest there.
As always, the bankers are to be $erved at bottom.
“We need to allow for economic development,” said Paul Johnson, the coalition’s vice chairman, who runs Chicago Foods International LLC, a food exporter. “The current agricultural system in Cuba has a lot of merits but it is not sufficient to feed the nation. It doesn’t have the reach, the distribution, the capital, the equipment, the seeds. It should be improved upon.”
So eat this here chemically-treated, genetically-modified piece of crap.
Others say increasing exports to Cuba is just the beginning.
“My guess is if the embargo were lifted, there will certainly be investment in Cuba to try to advance its agriculture sector,” said Randy Russell, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant for agriculture companies. “It imports about 80 percent of its food right now. That wasn’t the case before. I think there would be investment . . . to rebuild.”
If the US embargo is lifted, however, it remains unclear how much US investment Cuba’s communist government would permit.
“Even after post-embargo, the Cuban government could have — and many countries have — strict limits on foreign direct investment,” said former ambassador Islam Siddiqui, who stepped down last year as the US trade representative for agriculture.
The government of Cuba, which last year enacted a foreign investment law, declined to comment about its plans to manage economic ties with the United States.
Industry representatives and US officials reject the claim that American business wants to take over Cuba’s agriculture or replace its current processes.
“I don’t think DuPont or Cargill or Monsanto are necessarily interested in owning farms or even operating farms,” Vilsak added.
“But they may very well be interested in selling seed and other products to those who do farm in Cuba. That is a significantly different approach than what was occurring in the ’40s and ’50s down there.”
Johnson, of the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, said the country needs big agricultural operations to help feed its people.
“Whatever organic system they have now in Cuba, it is not enough. People do not eat three meals a day in Cuba,” he said.
They don't eat them here in Amerika, either -- unless you are part of the elite political cla$$ and its crust slaves.
For the record, folks, I eat ONE MEAL A DAY! It's all I can afford. Coffee for breakfast, nothing at night.
“To use Cuba as a social experiment is unfair to Cubans. It doesn’t allow them access to the global market.”
That's what we are looking at, yeah.
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I'd say pour on the pesticides, but that could be costly.
It might be harder getting into Cuba than out of it:
"Cuba slows US lawmakers’ plans to visit" by Bradley Klapper, Associated Press February 06, 2015
WASHINGTON— A series of trips to Cuba by US lawmakers is in doubt amid questions about the Communist government’s eagerness or ability to accommodate a surge of new interest and possible investment from the United States.
American officials said the Cuban government has pushed off all congressional visits, including one by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, until at least mid-April. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington said some will go forward in the coming days, but others were postponed.
Several members of Congress had planned to go to the island country this month. They included Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, who has proposed ending the US travel embargo of Cuba.
President Raul Castro’s government has been scrambling to adjust to the possibility of new US travel and investment since he and President Obama revealed in December that the two countries would repair ties after a half-century of enmity.
Obama administration officials said they were informed by their Cuban counterparts earlier this week that no congressional visits would be allowed to travel to Cuba until April 15. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
The Cuban Interests Section, however, rejected that account, saying some delegations would be arriving in the next days.
A spokesman, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly, said Cuba is receiving a large number of requests for visits. As a result, he said, the government is ‘‘arranging for the best possible dates for their visits so they get the attention they deserve in the middle of the many tasks we are facing at this moment in Cuba.’’
However, Senators Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, and Flake confirmed they wanted to visit at the end of the month but the Cubans denied the request.
Moran said the delegation was made up of GOP senators who are ‘‘open-minded about changing the relationship with Cuba’’ and wanted to get a better understanding of issues on the island.
‘‘At this point the indication is that they’re not ready for our visit,’’ said Moran, who still hoped to reschedule the trip. ‘‘We don’t know the reason. My staff has been told that the Cubans are not able to put together the necessary meetings that they would want to have for us. It could be just scheduling, but I don’t know.’’
Many of the trips aim to explore new business opportunities as part of the thaw in US-Cuban tensions. The administration last month significantly eased the 54-year economic embargo of Cuba, allowing US telecommunications exports for the first time and ending a restriction on US credit and debit card transactions on the island.
Now the NSA can also track Cubans.
Cubans are still trying to gauge the potential effects of the changes. US companies also are still trying to make sense of the new regulations and much remains unclear.
Only Congress has the power to fully lift the embargo, a step Obama is calling for but GOP leaders in the House and Senate oppose.
The most immediate objective of US-Cuban diplomacy right now is reestablishing embassies.
So they can have a place to run sabotage and spy operations while housing the CIA.
The United States had been seeking to clinch an agreement before the Summit of the Americas in Panama. The meeting of Western Hemisphere nations takes place April 10-11 and could bring Obama and Castro together for a face-to-face meeting.
But the United States says Cuba must first end limits on US diplomats and on shipments to the current US Interests Section in Havana.
Cuba’s most pressing demand is an end to banking restrictions, many of which are linked to its US designation as a ‘‘state sponsor of terrorism.’’
Little hypocritical of the U.S., donchathink, especially since Cuba is innocent of that charge?
The Obama administration probably will lift Cuba from that list in the next months.
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As for getting out:
"White House lambastes Guantanamo bill" by Deb Reichmann, Associated Press February 06, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday criticized a bill that would place new restrictions on the president’s ability to transfer terror suspects out of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said the bill proposed by four powerful GOP senators would effectively ban most transfers from Guantanamo for two years.
‘‘Because this legislation, if enacted, would effectively block progress toward the goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the administration opposes it,’’ McKeon told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
McKeon also said that despite recent reports, none of the five Taliban detainees released in exchange for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive by the Taliban since June 2009, have ‘‘returned to the battlefield.’’ There had been news reports that one tried to reengage in the fight, but McKeon said all five continue to be monitored in Qatar.
The senators are Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John McCain of Arizona, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They have introduced legislation to reinstate a ban on Yemeni transfers, among other restrictions on Guantanamo transfers, during Obama’s remaining two years in office.
They cited the recent shooting at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and other attacks linked to Al Qaeda.
Related: French False Flag Coverage Ends
Nearly a dozen protesters, dressed in orange jumpsuits and T-shirts that read, ‘‘Shut down GITMO,’’ attended the hearing. One had a black ‘‘Cleared For Release’’ poster pinned to her back. Two were escorted out after outbursts.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas expressed his opposition to closing the facility, saying the detainees could ‘‘rot in GITMO.’’
Rot in Obama’s GITMO.
McCain, committee chairman, said the administration has not provided what he called a ‘‘responsible’’ plan to shutter the facility and deal with the dozens of detainees who have been deemed too dangerous for release.
He posed several rhetorical questions, including where charges would be brought against detainees who can be tried for their alleged crimes and what is to be done with detainees who could be transferred out but who come from countries like Yemen that are engulfed in turmoil.
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While I support the sentiment, Code Pink means controlled opposition and the charade of AmeriKan freedom. Sorry.
And those that helped with the torture:
"Poland OK’s edict on domestic violence" Associated Press February 07, 2015
WARSAW — Poland’s lawmakers approved a European convention against domestic violence Friday after a stormy parliamentary debate in which many said the convention threatens traditional family structures.
The lawmakers voted 254 to 175 to empower President Bronislaw Komorowski to sign into law the 2011 Council of Europe’s convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence. It obliges governments and organizations to penalize such violence, help victims, and teach about tolerance.
In between torture sessions?
In the debate, many right-wing and Catholic lawmakers said some of the regulations undermined Poland’s traditional roles of mothers and fathers in the family. Some said its article about education would promote confused notions about gender.
Oh, this is a push for the perverted agenda aimed at kids couched in protection of women, okay.
The article says children should be taught about equal rights for men and women and about nonstereotypical roles in society and culture, which critics interpret as challenging traditional roles of men and women in predominantly Roman Catholic Poland.
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What do they do with negligent parents in Poland?
