Cuba’s Unrest Frames World’s Big Struggle: Dictators vs. Democracies
By Gerald Seib, 7/12/21, Wall St. Journal

The world was treated on Sunday to an amazing sight:
thousands of Cubans taking to the streets in a wave of
demonstrations demanding, among other things, an end to a
62-year-old dictatorship.

Beyond serving as a milestone moment for the island nation,
the demo's in at least 15 cities marked the latest install-
ment in the greatest struggle of our times: the contest
between democrats & authoritarians. In recent years, authori-
tarians often have seemed to hold the upper hand. Yet the
Cuban unrest serves to frame the key question: whether
authoritarian regimes will prevail in the long term, or
are sowing the seeds of their own demise.

The Cubans who took to the streets appeared to have some
more immediate concerns on their minds. They were protesting
a lack of food & a shortage of Covid vaccines. But their
willingness to take their protests to the actual doorstep
of Cuba’s Communist Party HQ showed a deeper dissatisfaction.

It’s hard to say whether Cubans on the streets, like citizens
of Hong Kong pushing back against Chinese central govt
repression there, represent the beginnings of a new anti-
authoritarian tide or mere footnotes in a generally bad time
for those who cheer for democracy.

Certainly authoritarian regimes appear to be having a good
run right now. Freedom House, a nonpartisan org dedicated
to promoting freedom and democracy, reports that freedom
across the globe has declined for 15 straight years, a
trend that accelerated last year. “The long democratic
recession is deepening,” Freedom House says.

Across a swath of central Europe & central Asia in parti-
cular, a total of 18 countries suffered declines in demo-
cratic trends last year, while only six in those regions
saw improvement.

Those trend lines, and the staying power of authoritarian
rulers, are apparent among the world leaders who pose the
greatest challenges to the U.S. and the Biden admin. In
Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the country’s supreme
leader for 32 years, triple the time that Iran’s revolu-
tionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, held the post.
This year, he stage-managed an election that put his chosen
candidate into the presidency, and who is likely on track
to become the next supreme leader when Khamenei dies.

In Russia, Putin has been in power, as president or PM, for
22 years, longer than the seemingly immovable Brezhnev ran
the Soviet Union. Putin is moving up on Stalin, who ruled
for 29 years, & is well positioned to pass him in longevity,
considering that he has rearranged Russian law so that he
can stay in power for over another decade.

In China, Xi Jinping has been running the show for a mere
9 years, yet he has developed a cult of personality and
engineered a removal of term limits, thereby allowing him
to become ruler for life. Turkey’s pres, Recep Erdogan, &
Venezuelan Pres Maduro seem no less intent on squelching
any threats to their personal power.

So this seems a boom time for autocrats. Yet the seething
unhappiness in Cuba, Venezuela, Iran & Hong Kong, & the
need for Putin to poison & jail his opponents, raises the
question of how long the authoritarian run can last. Is it
possible that embedded autocracies create the conditions
for their own eventual downfall?

Democracy is messy, but in an authoritarian system the
problem is the lack of messiness. Cults of personality
develop, opposing voices with potentially good ideas are
squelched, healthy debates and innovative thoughts are
blocked. In a new piece in Foreign Affairs mag, China
expert Jude Blanchette notes this risk for Xi in China:
“Paeans to the greatness of ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ may strike
outsiders as merely curious or even comical, but they have
a genuinely deleterious effect on the quality of decision-
making & info flows within the (Communist) party.”

At least China has done a good job of managing its
economy. Elsewhere, authoritarian systems have produced
a plundering of national resources, corruption and a
general mismanagement of the economy.

“In the long term, you would expect autocrats to pay the
price,” says Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom
House. “The problem is, the long run can be a very long time.”

He notes that today’s autocrats are more politically savvy
and attuned to meeting material needs when necessary to
blunt calls for civil liberties. And, of course, authori-
tarians can operate in a more closed info environment.

So, yes, maybe autocrats lay the groundwork for their own
demise. But they also may be getting better at being auto-
crats. Meanwhile, democracy’s best offense—especially in
the U.S., leader of the free world—is simply to make demo-
cracy work better so it is more easily seen as the superior
alternative.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubas-unrest-frames-worlds-big-struggle-dictators-vs-democracies-11626096393

"David P." <imbibe@mindspring.com> wrote:
> Cuba’s Unrest Frames World’s Big Struggle: Dictators vs. Democracies
> By Gerald Seib, 7/12/21, Wall St. Journal
>
> The world was treated on Sunday to an amazing sight:
> thousands of Cubans taking to the streets in a wave of
> demonstrations demanding, among other things, an end to a
> 62-year-old dictatorship.
> […]
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubas-unrest-frames-worlds-big-struggle-dictators-vs-democracies-11626096393

You fail to notice dictators supported by US, don't you?
IMHO Cuba deserves more "freedom and democracy" than US readily accepts
in Saudi Kingdom. *MUCH* more.

Communist Cuba is a byproduct of US support of pre-communist dictator.
US accepted military coup in Egypt to "correct" democratic choices of
Egyptians.

Believing in WSJ *oversimplified* bullshit is plain stupid
even if changing Cuba is wise IMHO.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/FDR
> "He's a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch."
> Remark on Anastasio Somoza García, president [dictator] of
> Nicaragua, first attributed to Roosevelt in Time magazine (15
> November 1948), three years following Roosevelt's death […]

--
A. Filip : Big Tech Brother is watching you.
| Every why hath a wherefore.
| (William Shakespeare, "A Comedy of Errors")

On Monday, July 19, 2021 at 5:23:23 PM UTC-4, A. Filip wrote:
> "David P." <imb...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> > Cuba’s Unrest Frames World’s Big Struggle: Dictators vs.. Democracies
> > By Gerald Seib, 7/12/21, Wall St. Journal
> >
> > The world was treated on Sunday to an amazing sight:
> > thousands of Cubans taking to the streets in a wave of
> > demonstrations demanding, among other things, an end to a
> > 62-year-old dictatorship.
> > […]
> > https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubas-unrest-frames-worlds-big-struggle-dictators-vs-democracies-11626096393
>
> You fail to notice dictators supported by US, don't you?
> IMHO Cuba deserves more "freedom and democracy" than US readily accepts
> in Saudi Kingdom. *MUCH* more.
>
> Communist Cuba is a byproduct of US support of pre-communist dictator.
> US accepted military coup in Egypt to "correct" democratic choices of
> Egyptians.
>
> Believing in WSJ *oversimplified* bullshit is plain stupid
> even if changing Cuba is wise IMHO.
>
> https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/FDR
> > "He's a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch."
> > Remark on Anastasio Somoza García, president [dictator] of
> > Nicaragua, first attributed to Roosevelt in Time magazine (15
> > November 1948), three years following Roosevelt's death […]
>
> --
> A. Filip : Big Tech Brother is watching you.
> | Every why hath a wherefore.
> | (William Shakespeare, "A Comedy of Errors")

You are right.
Cubans are victims of American led "Us vs Them Liberal Internationalism."
The question is whether the US is really better off with Cuban suffering. If not, this kind of world order is producing negative sum when the US and Cuba are taken together.
Well, Cuba is a small country and the US could easily brush off the tiny lose to itself. But then it is now pushing China from the "Us" column to the "Them" column. China will lose. So are the US and its allies.

On Monday, July 19, 2021 at 4:24:50 PM UTC-4, David P. wrote:
> Cuba’s Unrest Frames World’s Big Struggle: Dictators vs. Democracies
> By Gerald Seib, 7/12/21, Wall St. Journal
>
> The world was treated on Sunday to an amazing sight:
> thousands of Cubans taking to the streets in a wave of
> demonstrations demanding, among other things, an end to a
> 62-year-old dictatorship.
>
> Beyond serving as a milestone moment for the island nation,
> the demo's in at least 15 cities marked the latest install-
> ment in the greatest struggle of our times: the contest
> between democrats & authoritarians. In recent years, authori-
> tarians often have seemed to hold the upper hand. Yet the
> Cuban unrest serves to frame the key question: whether
> authoritarian regimes will prevail in the long term, or
> are sowing the seeds of their own demise.
>
> The Cubans who took to the streets appeared to have some
> more immediate concerns on their minds. They were protesting
> a lack of food & a shortage of Covid vaccines. But their
> willingness to take their protests to the actual doorstep
> of Cuba’s Communist Party HQ showed a deeper dissatisfaction.
>
> It’s hard to say whether Cubans on the streets, like citizens
> of Hong Kong pushing back against Chinese central govt
> repression there, represent the beginnings of a new anti-
> authoritarian tide or mere footnotes in a generally bad time
> for those who cheer for democracy.
>
> Certainly authoritarian regimes appear to be having a good
> run right now. Freedom House, a nonpartisan org dedicated
> to promoting freedom and democracy, reports that freedom
> across the globe has declined for 15 straight years, a
> trend that accelerated last year. “The long democratic
> recession is deepening,” Freedom House says.
>
> Across a swath of central Europe & central Asia in parti-
> cular, a total of 18 countries suffered declines in demo-
> cratic trends last year, while only six in those regions
> saw improvement.
>
> Those trend lines, and the staying power of authoritarian
> rulers, are apparent among the world leaders who pose the
> greatest challenges to the U.S. and the Biden admin. In
> Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the country’s supreme
> leader for 32 years, triple the time that Iran’s revolu-
> tionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, held the post.
> This year, he stage-managed an election that put his chosen
> candidate into the presidency, and who is likely on track
> to become the next supreme leader when Khamenei dies.
>
> In Russia, Putin has been in power, as president or PM, for
> 22 years, longer than the seemingly immovable Brezhnev ran
> the Soviet Union. Putin is moving up on Stalin, who ruled
> for 29 years, & is well positioned to pass him in longevity,
> considering that he has rearranged Russian law so that he
> can stay in power for over another decade.
>
> In China, Xi Jinping has been running the show for a mere
> 9 years, yet he has developed a cult of personality and
> engineered a removal of term limits, thereby allowing him
> to become ruler for life. Turkey’s pres, Recep Erdogan, &
> Venezuelan Pres Maduro seem no less intent on squelching
> any threats to their personal power.
>
> So this seems a boom time for autocrats. Yet the seething
> unhappiness in Cuba, Venezuela, Iran & Hong Kong, & the
> need for Putin to poison & jail his opponents, raises the
> question of how long the authoritarian run can last. Is it
> possible that embedded autocracies create the conditions
> for their own eventual downfall?
>
> Democracy is messy, but in an authoritarian system the
> problem is the lack of messiness. Cults of personality
> develop, opposing voices with potentially good ideas are
> squelched, healthy debates and innovative thoughts are
> blocked. In a new piece in Foreign Affairs mag, China
> expert Jude Blanchette notes this risk for Xi in China:
> “Paeans to the greatness of ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ may strike
> outsiders as merely curious or even comical, but they have
> a genuinely deleterious effect on the quality of decision-
> making & info flows within the (Communist) party.”
>
> At least China has done a good job of managing its
> economy. Elsewhere, authoritarian systems have produced
> a plundering of national resources, corruption and a
> general mismanagement of the economy.
>
> “In the long term, you would expect autocrats to pay the
> price,” says Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom
> House. “The problem is, the long run can be a very long time.”
>
> He notes that today’s autocrats are more politically savvy
> and attuned to meeting material needs when necessary to
> blunt calls for civil liberties. And, of course, authori-
> tarians can operate in a more closed info environment.
>
> So, yes, maybe autocrats lay the groundwork for their own
> demise. But they also may be getting better at being auto-
> crats. Meanwhile, democracy’s best offense—especially in
> the U.S., leader of the free world—is simply to make demo-
> cracy work better so it is more easily seen as the superior
> alternative.
>
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubas-unrest-frames-worlds-big-struggle-dictators-vs-democracies-11626096393

In the US, Communism and Liberal Democracy are portrayed as two totally different systems. Some of those who had lived under both systems for decades concluded differently.

"The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies" as presented by Amazon.com

"Ryszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades—and he fought with the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. Having lived for two decades under a liberal democracy, however, he has discovered that these two political systems have a lot more in common than one might think. They both stem from the same historical roots in early modernity, and accept similar presuppositions about history, society, religion, politics, culture, and human nature. In The Demon in Democracy, Legutko explores the shared objectives between these two political systems, and explains how liberal democracy has over time lurched towards the same goals as communism, albeit without Soviet style brutality. Both systems, says Legutko, reduce human nature to that of the common man, who is led to believe himself liberated from the obligations of the past. Both the communist man and the liberal democratic man refuse to admit that there exists anything of value outside the political systems to which they pledged their loyalty. And both systems refuse to undertake any critical examination of their ideological prejudices."

On Tuesday, July 20, 2021 at 4:24:50 AM UTC+8, David P. wrote:
> Cuba’s Unrest Frames World’s Big Struggle: Dictators vs. Democracies
> By Gerald Seib, 7/12/21, Wall St. Journal
>
> The world was treated on Sunday to an amazing sight:
> thousands of Cubans taking to the streets in a wave of
> demonstrations demanding, among other things, an end to a
> 62-year-old dictatorship.
>
> Beyond serving as a milestone moment for the island nation,
> the demo's in at least 15 cities marked the latest install-
> ment in the greatest struggle of our times: the contest
> between democrats & authoritarians. In recent years, authori-
> tarians often have seemed to hold the upper hand. Yet the
> Cuban unrest serves to frame the key question: whether
> authoritarian regimes will prevail in the long term, or
> are sowing the seeds of their own demise.
>
> The Cubans who took to the streets appeared to have some
> more immediate concerns on their minds. They were protesting
> a lack of food & a shortage of Covid vaccines. But their
> willingness to take their protests to the actual doorstep
> of Cuba’s Communist Party HQ showed a deeper dissatisfaction.
>
> It’s hard to say whether Cubans on the streets, like citizens
> of Hong Kong pushing back against Chinese central govt
> repression there, represent the beginnings of a new anti-
> authoritarian tide or mere footnotes in a generally bad time
> for those who cheer for democracy.
>
> Certainly authoritarian regimes appear to be having a good
> run right now. Freedom House, a nonpartisan org dedicated
> to promoting freedom and democracy, reports that freedom
> across the globe has declined for 15 straight years, a
> trend that accelerated last year. “The long democratic
> recession is deepening,” Freedom House says.
>
> Across a swath of central Europe & central Asia in parti-
> cular, a total of 18 countries suffered declines in demo-
> cratic trends last year, while only six in those regions
> saw improvement.
>
> Those trend lines, and the staying power of authoritarian
> rulers, are apparent among the world leaders who pose the
> greatest challenges to the U.S. and the Biden admin. In
> Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the country’s supreme
> leader for 32 years, triple the time that Iran’s revolu-
> tionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, held the post.
> This year, he stage-managed an election that put his chosen
> candidate into the presidency, and who is likely on track
> to become the next supreme leader when Khamenei dies.
>
> In Russia, Putin has been in power, as president or PM, for
> 22 years, longer than the seemingly immovable Brezhnev ran
> the Soviet Union. Putin is moving up on Stalin, who ruled
> for 29 years, & is well positioned to pass him in longevity,
> considering that he has rearranged Russian law so that he
> can stay in power for over another decade.
>
> In China, Xi Jinping has been running the show for a mere
> 9 years, yet he has developed a cult of personality and
> engineered a removal of term limits, thereby allowing him
> to become ruler for life. Turkey’s pres, Recep Erdogan, &
> Venezuelan Pres Maduro seem no less intent on squelching
> any threats to their personal power.
>
> So this seems a boom time for autocrats. Yet the seething
> unhappiness in Cuba, Venezuela, Iran & Hong Kong, & the
> need for Putin to poison & jail his opponents, raises the
> question of how long the authoritarian run can last. Is it
> possible that embedded autocracies create the conditions
> for their own eventual downfall?
>
> Democracy is messy, but in an authoritarian system the
> problem is the lack of messiness. Cults of personality
> develop, opposing voices with potentially good ideas are
> squelched, healthy debates and innovative thoughts are
> blocked. In a new piece in Foreign Affairs mag, China
> expert Jude Blanchette notes this risk for Xi in China:
> “Paeans to the greatness of ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ may strike
> outsiders as merely curious or even comical, but they have
> a genuinely deleterious effect on the quality of decision-
> making & info flows within the (Communist) party.”
>
> At least China has done a good job of managing its
> economy. Elsewhere, authoritarian systems have produced
> a plundering of national resources, corruption and a
> general mismanagement of the economy.
>
> “In the long term, you would expect autocrats to pay the
> price,” says Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom
> House. “The problem is, the long run can be a very long time.”
>
> He notes that today’s autocrats are more politically savvy
> and attuned to meeting material needs when necessary to
> blunt calls for civil liberties. And, of course, authori-
> tarians can operate in a more closed info environment.
>
> So, yes, maybe autocrats lay the groundwork for their own
> demise. But they also may be getting better at being auto-
> crats. Meanwhile, democracy’s best offense—especially in
> the U.S., leader of the free world—is simply to make demo-
> cracy work better so it is more easily seen as the superior
> alternative.
>
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/cubas-unrest-frames-worlds-big-struggle-dictators-vs-democracies-11626096393
---------

Each year, for almost 30 years, UN members have voted to require the US to lift its illegal embargo on Cuba. This year is the same. Only the US itself and its attack dog Israel voted against the world. The US embargo on Cuba to strangle an entire nation to death is a crime against humanity. Yet, tens of millions of Americans are proud of this crime that their country is committing. They even think that Cubans in Miami (who are no longer Cuban citizens) have the decisive say over how Cuba should be governed.

Wakalukong