Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

October 12, 2017 By Fausta

Will NAFTA expire in 5 years?

A woman can dream.

Read my post, Will NAFTA expire in 5 years?



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Filed Under: Canada, Fausta's blog, Mexico, USA Tagged With: Da Tech Guy Blog, Donald Trump, NAFTA

May 19, 2017 By Fausta

Colombia: Santos-Trump White House press conference

Remarks by President Trump and President Santos of Colombia in Joint Press Conference

Video,

Alvaro Uribe writes for The Hill (h/t Babalu) Ongoing political persecution will turn Colombia into Venezuela.

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Filed Under: Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, Fausta's blog, USA Tagged With: Donald Trump, Juan Manuel Santos

January 8, 2016 By Fausta

U.S. ships Hellfire missile to Cuba

In a display of mind-boggling incompetence (at best), the United States government shipped a Hellfire missile via commercial carrier, and the missile ended up in Cuba, maybe, because they’re not sure of exactly where it is right now (emphasis added)

The missile was sent from Orlando International Airport in early 2014 to be used in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization military exercise, said the people familiar with the case. As with other sensitive military gear, the shipping crate was clearly marked as containing material subject to rigorous export controls, and that shipping information would have made clear to anyone handling it that it wasn’t regular cargo, these people said.

The missile was sent by its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp., after the company got permission from the State Department, which oversees the sharing of sensitive military technology with allies.

A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter, referring queries to U.S. government officials.

State Dept. spokesman John Kirby said the agency “is restricted under federal law and regulations from commenting on defense trade licensing and compliance issues.”

The people familiar with the case said the missile was sent to Spain and used in the military exercise. But for reasons that are still unclear, after it was packed up, it began a roundabout trip through Europe, was loaded onto a truck and eventually sent to Germany.

The missile was packaged in Rota, Spain, a U.S. official said, where it was put into the truck belonging to another freight-shipping firm, known by officials who track such cargo as a “freight forwarder.” That trucking company released the missile to yet another shipping firm that was supposed to put the missile on a flight originating in Madrid. That flight was headed to Frankfurt, Germany, before it was to be placed on another flight bound for Florida.

Like so:

But,

At some point, officials loading the first flight realized the missile it expected to be loading onto the aircraft wasn’t among the cargo, the government official said. After tracing the cargo, officials realized that the missile had been loaded onto a truck operated by Air France, which took the missile to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. There, it was loaded onto a “mixed pallet” of cargo and placed on an Air France flight. By the time the freight-forwarding firm in Madrid tracked down the missile, it was on the Air France flight, headed to Havana.Attempts to reach Air France were unsuccessful.

When the plane landed in Havana, a local official spotted the labeling on the shipping crate and seized it, people familiar with the case said. Around June 2014, Lockheed Martin officials realized the missile was missing, was likely in Cuba, and notified the State Department, said those familiar with the matter.

“Was likely in Cuba.” Think about that for a moment. Send them a Tile!

Again,

  • a Hellfire missile
  • shipped via commercial carrier to Europe
  • in early 2014
  • goes missing
  • and months later, in June, “Lockheed Martin officials realized the missile was missing”
  • but is likely in Cuba
  • while the Obama administration is finalizing its easement of relations with the Communist dictatorship
  • and the White House carried on with the negotiations.

I’ll leave it to the military analysts to clarify the importance and magnitude of such security breach, but, hey! the Wall Street Journal assures us the missile is “inert,” since “This particular missile didn’t contain explosives.”

Parting question: Just how many Hellfires are there, and where are they?

UPDATE – FOLLOW-UP POST:
Members of Congress knew about the #Hellfire sent to Cuba

At the blogs:
Raul to Obama: “El perro se comio el cohete”!

Negligence or Malpractice: U.S. Hellfire Missile Ends Up in Cuba

If the U.S. knew about Castro having the missing Hellfire missile since June 2014 — why didn’t it make its return a condition for the normalization of relations, which it announced in December 2014?

Moreover, if Castro won’t return this missile, the Obama Administration didn’t know how it got to Cuba and U.S. intelligence agencies are concerned that the technology being shared with other rogue actors — why did it proceed to remove Cuba from state-sponsors of terrorism list in May 2015?

Inert US Hellfire Missile Ends Up in Cuba

From a legal perspective, and I’d need a lot more facts to confirm, there appear to be multiple violations of the Arms Export Control Act, as well as other laws. And since the Obama Administration has been reforming the export control regulatory system, Congress may want to probe whether recent changes to the licensing system created the conditions, or a lax enforcement environment, that resulted in one of the most advance U.S. missile system ending up in the hands of a rogue regime.

The timing of #Hellfiregate, and the loss of US tech, alone, should drive #Congress to act https://t.co/Hpa2rE1mwZ https://t.co/GsSvJWrtdc

— Jason Poblete (@JasonPoblete) January 8, 2016

U.S. Missile Mysteriously Turns Up in Cuba and No One Knows How It Got There

Les aventures d’un missile: Les aventures d’un missile américain disparu en Europe

Obama admin’s Keystone Cops legacy sealed: Hellfire missile US sent to Europe somehow got shipped to Cuba

How Did an American Hellfire Missile End Up in Cuba?

Trending at Bad Blue

Linked to by Instapundit‘s Ed Driscoll. Thank you!

Linked to by Granite Grok. Thank you!

Linked to by Proof Positive. Thank you!

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, USA Tagged With: defense, Fausta' blog, Hellfire missile, State Department, US State Department

October 30, 2015 By Fausta

Fatca: Discrimination with no representation

A regulation directly affecting 8 million Americans that is yet another instance, as the WSJ put it, of “U.S. tax and regulatory policies that hamper the entire U.S. economy.”

Read my post, Fatca: Discrimination with no representation

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, business, USA Tagged With: employment, Fausta's blog

October 29, 2015 By Fausta

“Put him on a flight to Venezuela!”

Well, maybe not:
Plane Catches Fire At Fort Lauderdale Int’l Airport

According to the FAA, Dynamic International Airways 405 apparently caught fire on Taxiway B while taxiing for departure from Runway 28 Right at about 12:45 p.m. An aircraft taxiing behind the Boeing 767 reported that fuel was leaking from the aircraft before the fire started. Passengers evacuated via slides onto the taxiway. The flight was headed to Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela.

Yikes,

Plane caught on fire at #FLL! pic.twitter.com/61o6jvrEAY

— Mike Dupuy (@mikejdupuy) October 29, 2015

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Filed Under: news, USA, veterans Tagged With: Fausta's blog

July 21, 2015 By Fausta

Cuba: “Mojito diplomacy”

What’s your poison?

Just what we needed:
‘Mojito diplomacy’ as Cuba reboots US relations in reopened embassy

Guests toast inauguration of island’s new Washington mission inside its ‘Hemingway’ bar

Just like Hemingway’s favorite Havana hangout, a small but attractive bar had been set up nearly four years ago in one of the rooms at the Cuban embassy to liven up breaks between the many closed-door meetings held with political scientists and activists there.

Is “political scientists and activists” the current euphemism for operatives of the Communist regime?

But back to mojitos, here are the ingredients:

Depending on who you believe, the mojito either came from the Spanish word ‘mojar’, which means to wet, or the African word ‘mojo’, which means to cast a spell. Anybody who’s ever tasted one will agree that it’s thirst quenching and spellbinding in equal measures.
INGREDIENT
2 parts BACARDÍ Superior rum
4 lime wedges
12 fresh mint leaves
2 heaped tsp of caster sugar
1 part soda water/club soda
Sprig of fresh mint to garnish
METHOD
Gently press together the limes & sugar. Bruise the mint leaves by clapping them between your palms, rub them on the rim of the glass and drop them in. Next, half fill the glass with crushed ice, add the BACARDÍ Superior rum & stir. Top up with crushed ice, a splash of soda and a sprig of mint.

To recap: the new “mojito diplomacy” is all wet, cast under the spell of Communism, aims to stupefy, and is served in a room named after a drunk misanthrope who blew his brains out.

It taxes the brain to think of one good thing about the current embassy openings.

Dissidents in the island-prison could not be reached for comment.

Related:
At Stratfor, Why the U.S. Should Be Wary of Cuba (registration required)

UPDATED
Linked to by Babalu. Thank you!

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, USA Tagged With: Fausta's blog, smart diplomacy

July 20, 2015 By Fausta

Cuban embassy now open in DC

After 54 years, Cuba reopens embassy in Washington on Monday

Over at State, it’s between Croatia and Cyprus.

But As Embassies Open, a Further Thaw in Cuban-U. S. ties Faces Hurdles in CongressObama administration has made little progress in swaying lawmakers to lift embargo

The new regulations took effect in January, but Congress will have to act to fully lift the trade and travel embargoes. Most U.S. companies are currently prohibited from doing business in Cuba and traveling there from the U.S. as a tourist remains illegal.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that the Obama administration hadn’t made progress in encouraging Congress to lift the embargo but that Mr. Obama could still take steps on his own that couldn’t be blocked by opponents in Congress.

Capitol Hill Cubans has a Statement on the Opening of U.S. and Cuban Embassies

Finally, it serves as a reminder of the coercive tactics that culminated in this process. As Gerardo Hernandez, the Cuban spy who was sentenced to life in prison by a U.S. federal court for the murder conspiracy of Americans, and thereafter commuted by President Obama as part of his deal for the release of an American hostage held by Raul Castro, boasted this weekend:

“We are going to have diplomatic relations with the United States without having ceded one iota.”

Meanwhile, the United States has ceded plenty.

Re-establishing of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties has been no good for the Cuban people. Marc Masferrer has the specifics.

Bottom line? Nothing New under the Cuban SunEmbassies Paint Over Old, Tired Communism

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, USA Tagged With: Fausta's blog

July 4, 2015 By Fausta

Happy Independence Day!

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Filed Under: USA Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Independence Day

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