By Brigitte L. Nacos
When Russian president Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice met in the Kremlin the other day, they agreed to tone down the
recently hostile rhetoric. More important, Dr. Rice “dismissed talk of a new
Cold War despite unease in Washington about
Putin's criticism of U.S.foreign policy” according to
reports
from Moscow.
Relations between Moscow and Washington may be at a low point, but
certainly much warmer than the icy Cuban-American relationship. After all,
Americans can freely travel to and do business with Russia while the 45-year old travel ban as well as trade sanctions against
Cuba remain in
place. As provocative filmmaker Michael Moore learned recently, these
restrictions are enforced—certainly if the violator is relentless in his
attacks on President Bush and his supporters in big politics and big business.
Thus, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control notified Moore that he was the target of an investigation for
possibly violating the trade embargo against Cuba that also bans unauthorized travel
to the island. Why did Moore travel to Cuba? According
to one account, “to get treatment for ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers for a
segment in his upcoming health-care expose, "Sicko." Whatever one
thinks of Moore’s inflammatory work, the idea of showing movie-goers that the universal
health system in Castro’s communist Cuba works far better than the proponents
of the existing American system want us to believe, should be a wake up call
for many Americans—especially those millions without health insurance and
others who have increasingly trouble to pay for it.
There is no doubt that Moore’s
filming of some of the real heroes of 9/11 receiving treatment for the ailments
got under the skin of administration officials. After all, with the
exception of Rudy Giuliani, no other public official has exploited 9/11 more
than the president and his circle. Moreover, the health care industry, a
generous campaign contributor to candidates of both parties—but especially
Republicans dead set against universal health care, must hate a comparison of the
very different systems in Cuba and the
U.S. But as far as I can tell, the administration and the private health sector do
not have to worry: As long as the mindset of most Americans is still rooted in
Cold War propaganda, evoking the term “socialized medicine” to describe mandatory
health insurance and universal health care systems even in liberal democracies like Germany and Holland and many other European countries will assure enough
opposition against fundamental changes in the health system—also from those who
need such a reform most.
***
Speaking of communist threats, The Lede on-line column of the New York Times reports that the late revolutionary Che Guevara has found new fans in Iraq. One group “is using Che’s image in leaflets announcing a ‘movement of Iraqi Communists and Marxists experienced in armed struggle, leftist Iraqi nationalists, and their supporters’ according to Iraq Slogger.”
Let’s hope that a blog about communists and Marxists in Iraq will not be exploited as a new reason for staying in Iraq and increasing the surge. After all, the original justifications have gone one after the other—no evidence for Iraq’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks, no weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein.
Comments