I meant to mention Bush's announcement that the US would allow people to send cell phones to Cuba earlier this week: it's a tiny step, but a step in the right direction. This alone probably won't have any appreciable impact on American-Cuban relations, nor on the quality of life of those living in Cuba, but if Bush is inching toward a more open dialogue with Cuba's leadership about the nation's future, then this might wind up being something more than a footnote to a footnote to a trivia question.
Something else stood out: Bush called the Cuban leader "Raúl" rather than "General Castro" or just plain "Castro," which is in keeping with his pattern of personalizing all relations with foreign leaders, whether he is acquainted with them or not. (A brief list: saying he loathed Kim Jong-Il, giving Angela Merkel a massage, expressing toothpaste preferences with Tony Blair, famously seeing Vladimir Putin's soul through his eyes.) It's a silly practice, and not just because it's mildly undignified: expressing a personal dislike hardens the intransigence of the adversary (as was the case with Kim Jong-Il), while going to far in admiration allows a potential ally to take advantage (which was what Putin's did, after the soul examination).
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