Just how significant are the new rules announced by the Obama administration to expand purposeful travel and economic assistance to Cuba? Do they signal a renewed "thaw" in bilateral relations, coming as they did just after diplomatic reports that an American USAID subcontractor detained in Cuba more than a year ago may soon get to go home? Are they a "response" from the Obama administration to the Raul Castro government's recent economic reforms and release of dozens of political prisoners? Are they a far and weakened cry from what should have been a full and confident overhaul of the poster child for dumb U.S. policies that cost us far more in treasure and credibility than they've ever achieved? Or are they this administration's return to its pledge early on to move Cuba policy out of the past and into the future? The correct answer may be in the eye of the beholder.
In comparison with the Clinton administration's initiatives of more than a decade ago, these new rules don't break a lot of new ground. But they do break some, in giving general licenses to religious and credit-earning academic travel, and in authorizing other U.S. airports to host licensed flights to Cuba. What's so frustrating is this administration could have come in and swept away much of the deadwood Cuba policy it inherited - and earned valuable points abroad - but instead it dragged its feet and allowed itself to be bullied for two years.
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