This article is more of a “rectal thermometer” than an op-ed, taking the temperature of the readership out there, more than assigning readers a cure. So, with that note out of the way, let’s plunge in. Much has already been written about Michelle Obama’s spending spree and aristocratic vacation in Spain. The icing on the cake [...]

James Joyce’s lament, that “history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken”, may now be appropriately echoed. With US and Israeli war ships amassing in the Persian Gulf, an elderly Fidel Castro has crawled out of bed to ask, “What are the Israeli warships doing for the first time in the Persian [...]

Amnesty International released a damning report yesterday, “Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in Cuba”. The report found that, in the realm of human rights issues, matters have failed to improve in Cuba since February 2008, when the Cuban government signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Amnesty’s report roundly condemned the Cuban government’s [...]

Things change, slowly but surely. Under the leadership of Raul Castro, official policies have changed slightly in Cuba. Early in his tenure, Raul Castro hinted at experimenting with an expansion of independently-owned small businesses, alongside the creation of worker-cooperatives, in an attempt to revive the island’s collapsed economy. Since then,  small business experiments with Cuba’s [...]

While recovering from a stint in the hospital (epilepsy-related), a news story came across my desk. The headline read, “First Iranian company sets foot in Cuba”. And the brief article opened with the following lines: HAVANA, CUBA—Irrigation systems maker Tad.Co has become the first Iranian company to open an office in Cuba, the weekly Opciones [...]