President Bush on the virtues of free trade:
Along with economic progress, open trade also helps build democracies and spreads freedom as it reinforces the spirit of liberty by spurring economic and legal reforms. When we promote open trade, we promote both economic and political freedom. Societies that open to commerce will one day open to liberty.
And on the added imperative to have free trade with poor nations:
You know, I am — I can’t wait to make the case, along with Tony Blair, about the need for the world trade in freedom. And for those who want to shut down trade, I say this to them as clearly as I can: You’re hurting poor countries. For those who kind of use this opportunity to say the world should become isolationist, they’re condemning those who are poor to poverty. And we don’t accept it. We don’t accept it.
Which, of course, explains our new trade-promoting policy with that rich industrial giant Cuba:
The new measures announced include:
- Strictly enforcing an existing US law forbidding Americans from travelling to Cuba for pleasure
- Cracking down on illegal money transfers
- Imposing controls of shipments to the island
- Aggressive campaign to inform Cubans of safer routes to reach the United States
- Increasing the number of Cuban immigrants in the U.S.
- More US radio, television, satellite and internet broadcasts to break the “information embargo” Mr Castro had imposed on his people
Be that as it may, work on some of these measures is already well underway. Resonance has learned that U.S. officials are in the final stages of drafting a flier to be air dropped over Cuba entitled: “Eighteen Simple Safety Checks to Prepare Your Amphibious Vehicle for International Travel.”
Stay tuned for more updates.
Yeah, how dare those Cubans who are victims of a regime condemed by Amnesty Internation, try to escape.
The primary thrust of my criticism was at the trade policy. But our refugee asylum policy is also convulted. We’re implicitly incouraging people to try to escape, then sending many of them back.
For those who do get to stay, all the encouragement we offered them to leave was warranted. One case of success justifies a few failures in the search for freedom.