Those Who Forget Never Knew the Past…

/in /by

I wonder how Dana "Pig Missile" Perino is going to keep this story…

A top U.S. Air Force officer warned on Tuesday that Russia would be crossing "a red line" if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

Gen. Norton Schwartz, whose nomination to become the Air Force’s top military officer is being considered by the Senate, was asked at his confirmation hearing how he would advise U.S. policymakers if Russia were to proceed with such a plan.

Russia’s Izvestia newspaper this week quoted a "highly placed source" as saying Russia could land Tu-160 supersonic bombers nicknamed "White Swans" in Cuba as a response to a planned U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, which Moscow opposes. [my emphasis]

…straight from this story tomorrow?

In a memo sent Friday to various members of Congress, Stephen Driesler, AID’s deputy assistant administrator for legislative and public affairs, said the agency recently implemented stricter financial reviews. That new review turned up irregularities at the Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia (Group in Support of Democracy), a Miami group criticized in the past for using federal funds to send Nintendo games to Cuba.

The executive director of Grupo de Apoyo admitted that an employee used the organization’s credit card for thousands of dollars in personal items and then billed them to the grant aimed at bringing democracy to Cuba, Driesler’s memo said.

[snip]

A report by the Cuban-American National Foundation released in May showed that less than 17 percent of $65 million in federal Cuba aid funds spent during the past 10 years went to ”direct, on-island assistance.” The bulk of the money, the report said, went to academic studies and expenses of exile organizations, mostly in Miami and Washington.

The report echoed findings by The Miami Herald in 2006 and a congressional Government Accountability Office audit that found lax oversight of the programs and came as the Bush administration prepares to dole out a record $45.7 million in Cuba. [my emphasis]

But I can assure you it’s one of those days when I wish I had a White House Press Pass and a cheap plane ticket to DC.

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  1. GregB says:

    Seems that Russia decided they could play the ‘putting high-tech weapons on your old Cold War adversaries doorstep’ game too.

    In light of Chimpy pushing to place missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic this is quite the turn about is fair play matter on Russia’s part.

    -G

  2. bobschacht says:

    EW,
    I admit I’m a bit fuzzy-headed today, but I need some help connecting the dots on this one. What connects them, other than both stories have something to do with Cuba?

    Maybe I never knew [this] past.

    Bob in HI

    • DefendOurConstitution says:

      Just like nothing connect the SS Maine and Castro Revolution (I know those will be a reach for Dana “PIG Missiles”, but well read emptywheelers should be able to connect the dots).

      If someone really needs help just look up Cuban history after Spanish-American War leading up to the corrupt dictatorships democracies that culminated with Fulgencio Batista.

  4. SparklestheIguana says:

    Act out a pantomime underneath the lectern using a stuffed white swan and a Nintendo game?

  5. SparklestheIguana says:

    Btw has any member of the media asked her about Britain’s conclusion that it “can no longer rely on assurances from a U.S. administration” that America doesn’t torture?

  6. JimWhite says:

    I’d like to see us save some money and drama this time and avoid blockading Cuba again/further. Let’s just set up a card table, buy a game of Battleship, and let Bush and Putin have at it.

    • josiahbartlette says:

      They don’t need no steenkin card table to play battleship. The world is their card table.

      Actually when bush* plays tic tak toe, the chicken beats him and Putin is playing chess.

        • skdadl says:

          Did you know that you can watch the whole of Dr Strangelove on YouTube? Well, you can.

          That was less than two years after the missile crisis, when we really were afeard. And yet we sat watching that movie, laughing ourselves silly, and it seemed for a bit as though something had lifted, as though the worst was over.

          Brilliant thing. Terry Southern wrote the screenplay. My second favourite movie, after The Third Man.

  8. bell says:

    us military is aimed at protecting its own interests and those are being in a position to make war at the drop of a hat with the least provacation.. they will use whatever excuse they can to maintain this position in spite of the fact in flies in the face of most americans.. meanwhile usa foreign policy towards cuba is very backwoods and very immature.. too bad those calling the shots can’t grow up when it comes to cuba…