Hola Habana!

Ah good. It seems like George Bush is going to take the opportunity tomorrow to offer a nice, middle of the week fuck you to Fidel Castro and Cuba. It's a move that has even less inherent logic to it than his equally oddly timed fuck yous to the Iranians, but also seems less likely to result in a bombing campaign. The thinking?

The administration official gave no reason for the timing of Mr. Bush’s speech. However, he did say that another important constituency was the international community, particularly those countries whose trade with Cuba undermined the impact of the United States embargo. In recent months, Raúl Castro has made an open play for more business, suggesting his government is prepared to carry out reforms aimed at opening Cuba’s economy to further foreign investment.

Mr. Bush will urge countries to stand with the United States and stop trade with Cuba.

I guess this is all better viewed as yet another example of Bush's patented diplomatic process--of offending allies by threatening enemies without any strategic goals outside of Republican electoral supremacy. Or maybe it's a way to make things harder for a Democratic president in 2009. Whatever the underlying intent, this sort of thing shouldn't just be seen as blog fodder for outraged liberal writers, but as an opportunity for Democratic politicians to explain concisely why their foreign policy is actually stronger and better than is the GOP's