>> Though in this case the reason why it is impolitic is of profound
>> significance. It's not as if we are being respectful to an embarrassing
>> relative, it's rather that we shouldn't be joining the chorus demanding that
>> the madman go on another rampage.
>>
>> Thiago
>
> That's not what Leo and Nathan are doing. And I think you're smart
> enough to know that that's not what Leo and Nathan are doing...
>
>
> Brad DeLong
I didn't say that they were hoping for humanitarian intervention in Cuba. I said that the reason their comments are impolitic are more substantial than the embarrassment caused to the left by throwing pies at Uncle Fidel's face since though they reject intervention in Cuba, their murmurs, however dissonant, still add to the chorus of people who do so call for such action. ie. Rather than criticising Leo and Nathan, my response was to your characterisation of the reasons people make politic decisions for what they write, which seemed to me to underplay the gravity of the situation we are in.
I more or less agree with Leo and Nathan's criticisms of Cuba, and yours up to a point; I just don't believe the expression of such sentiments on your part is very admirable or even very sensible, since you have no responsibility for what Fidel is doing and so such criticism is entirely cheap. You, however, have a strong responsibility for what your government does to Cuba, which is in my opinion far more serious than what Fidel does to it, and also a very large part of the reason why he takes such terrible measures. The criticism, then, seems to me rather hypocritical - and I am sure I can say this without mounting a defence of Fidel. Ultimately this is your call: If you think you can make the US behave in a civilized fashion by voicing your criticisms with a pretence to even-handedness, so be it, but I rather suspect that such comments will be seized by the more barbarous elements in your country as a carte blanche.
Thiago