July 12, 2021

"We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime."

"The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves."

That is, in full, the Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Protests in Cuba."

6 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Washington Blogger writes:

"Am I too cynical in thinking that Biden is going to be walking back his support for the Cuban protesters because it is bad optics for the radical left (and maybe because it puts him in common cause with Trump?)"

Ann Althouse said...

Tacitus writes: "Wait....the FIRST thing Biden feels it necessary to mention is the pandemic?"

Ann Althouse said...

Danny writes:

"I don’t really understand, the democrats have been telling the world for months that Ashli Babbitt deserved to be murdered by the police. What is the difference here? Per the new terms of service they are pushing, these people should be mowed down and the shooters protected."

Ann Althouse said...

"What is the difference here?"

I presume the argument is that the Cubans don't have democracy and are protesting to demand it, while the January 6th people were defying the outcome of a democratic election and attempting to prevent the completion of the democratic process.

Ann Althouse said...

Quaestor writes:

"Does that quote sound like an off-the-cuff, spontaneous, characteristic, and undoubtedly Joe Biden remark? Where are all the washed-up hipster catchphrases? The ex-lifeguard jive talk? Come on, man... is that good old Joe talking? Don't sound like it to these ears.

"Even in his far-distant prime spontaneity was never something one could expect from the Resident of the United States. From the very start of his presidential aspirations, no one with a lick of sense could expect unstudied rhetorical lissomness from Joe Biden. Hell, he couldn't even manage a convincing job delivering a well-rehearsed plagiarism. But now? Listening to his struggles to connect his fading self to reality moves me to pity, and I am one who has always loathed and despised that hair-plugged mountebank.

"So who is operating the Resident? Is he wired like a marionette, or is the Bidenoid Mk I equipped with a WiFi interface? Doesn't matter. Whoever has the controller is the common enemy of every American who loves liberty and respects our Constitutional institutions.

"And what is this "authoritarian regime" spoken of? Authoritarianism is an unfortunately popular weasle word that misleads people into believing there are "regimes" which are not authoritarian and therefore admirable and praiseworthy. Every government since the first Neolithic farmer planted a seed he expected to harvest has been authoritarian to some degree. At first, it was the authority of brute strength coupled with remorseless action -- the guy with the sharpest flint-tipped spear made the rules, later it was the authority of the gods, and later still the authority of charters and constitutions. Even your local city hall is the nexus of a pervasive authoritarian regime, at least as far as the city limits sign. Doubt me? Try contesting with a feckless municipal bureaucrat in the same terms as one might use on a careless housepainter who has painted your car in the process of painting your garage door -- you're liable to contemplate your folly while in police custody.

"Could it be the mysterious controller, the person or persons pulling the strings, has pointedly avoided the correct qualifying adjective, Marxist-Leninist? And why? These questions answer themselves, do they not?"

Ann Althouse said...

Curious George writes:

"“Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected.”

"If I remember correctly we abandoned the “peaceful protest” route."