CUBA

This is May 20, with a dozen more postings left this month, and the number of readers for the month has already passed one million.  Today will break the daily record of 180,000.  These numbers only include the original version of this blog.  I can add readers from the new site, which is the same as the old, but looks different.  So, for those new visitors, welcome to SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY.  The title of this blog came from two of my books, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth and SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity.

Cuba is back in the news today.  Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche today announced the indictment of former Cuban President Raul Castro and five others, an action that a Florida jury took last month on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.  Will the U.S. kidnap Castro like we did to Venezulela President Nicolas Madura?

Incidentally, running Venezuala is former vice-president Delcy Rodriguez, who President Donald Trump describes as a "terrific person."  Trump also met with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, and she gained Trump's favor by giving him her Nobel Peace Prize medal.  The whole point is that Trump now essentially has control over Venezuela, and has taken control of the country's oil sales and how this money is spent.  What is also desired is Venezuela's mineral wealth.

So, will Raul Castro also be "kidnapped?"  Nah.  He is 94 years old, and his family is on the short list of becoming the new leader.  He is a former president of Cuba and younger brother of Fidel Castro.  Miguel Diaz-Canal (66) now rules Cuba, the first at the top without the last name of Castro since 1959.  The U.S. wants major administrative changes, with scions like Raul Castro's only son, General Alejandro Castro Espin (60), or even grandson Colonel Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, (41, that's his photo to the right), known as El Cangrejo, or The Crab, (because he has an extra finger on one hand), and who is his grandfather's primary bodyguard, as potential heads.

White House policy is one of a friendly takeover and regime change.  

• A maximum pressure campaign is involved to link American  and Cuban American companies into Cuba's economy.  
• I can still remember how close we came to the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union when in October of 1962, we found out that Soviet missile sites were being secretly built on the island.  This 13-day missile crisis saw President John F. Kennedy demanding removal of those missiles in a televised national address, the shooting down of an American U-2 plane over Cuba, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (did you know there are 3 h's in his name?) backing off and agreeing to remove any offensive weapons from Cuba.  JFK in kind promised never to invade Cuba and agreed to dismantle American nuclear missiles in Turkey.  This is the closest the world has ever come to nuclear Armageddon.
• I will tomorrow indicate how I almost got involved in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

This leads to the matter of the USA using eminent domain and expropriation to gain new territory.

• Eminent domain is the power of a government to seize private property for public use, providing the owner just compensation.
• When European countries just taking over territories around the world is termed colonialism and imperialism.  Google AI says:

Colonialism: The practical, physical process of taking over a territory, establishing settlements, and exploiting its resources and people for the home country's economic benefit.  This was the scramble for Africa.

Imperialism: The broader idea, policy, or state practice of creating an empire and extending power and dominion over other nations through military, economic, or diplomatic control. [1, 2, 3, 4].  

• The current White House administration is securing a historical legacy for Trump to place him among the most successful national expansion presidents.  In addition to the above, wants the Panama Canal, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and the Gaza Strip.

• 
  James Polk is considered the most aggressive president in U.S. history regarding the seizure of foreign territory.
• He was driven by something similar to the above, Manifest Destiny, which held that the U.S. was divinely ordained to expand across the North American continent.

• 
  Polk instigated the Mexican American War (1846-48) by annexing Texas.  After the war, Mexico was forced to cede what now make up California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

• 
  Used the aggressive campaign slogan, "54 40 or fight" to pressure Great Britain into giving the Pacific Northwest to the U.S., ultimately securing the Oregon Territory, comprised of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming.  The northern portion remains part of the Canadian province of British Columbia.

• 
  Polk added a million square miles to the USA, expanding the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  President Thomas  Jefferson purchased in 1803 828,000 square miles of Louisiana Territory, doubling the size of the country.  Price of $15 million, or around 3 cents/acre.

• 
  President Andrew Johnson bought Alaska (586,412 square miles) from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, or 2 cents/acre.
• Theodore Roosevelt is another president who expanded American global power, utilizing his Big Stick, the U.S. naval strength.  While he did acquire the Panama Canal Zone, his focus was on expanding federal land preserves, setting aside 230 million acres of public land.
• President William McKinley got Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.

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