Cuba Bans Dissidents and Independent Journalists from Travel

So Cuba is engaged in the Soviet-era tactics of preventing dissidents and independent journalists from traveling abroad.

Possible reasons may include fear of defections, as well as possible truthtelling about the evils of the Castro regimes.

Just a guess, but if Cuba were the idyllic place of wonderful free healthcare, top notch medicine, and free education unparalleled in quality, the regime would have had nothing to worry about.

And for those of you who still think that normalization with Cuba have somehow improved the conditions inside the country or will lead to liberalization, get your heads out of the sand.

The only people who have benefited are the people directly connected to the regime.

Everyone else continues to suffer deprivation and a worse human rights crackdown than before the normalization.

Refighting the Cold War in Afghanistan

The current US Afghanistan strategy is to destroy ISIS and to force Taliban to the negotiating table.

Russia's strategy is to arm Taliban and to give it free stuff, like fuel, in order to strengthen it vis-a-vis ISIS (at least, that's what it says).

By arming the very terrorist organization, NATO forces are fighting, Russia is engaging in a proxy war with the US.

Wait a second, haven't we done this before? And haven't we learned anything?

Only now we have American boots on the ground. Why is the new strategy not addressing this macro issue of having to contend with Russia?