A lot of the same people who are now claiming that the normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba means that the Castros are "winning" are the people who were saying last year that Vladamir Putin was "winning" over Obama.
There are rarely, if ever, clear wins or losses in international affairs. Instead, I think we should look at any proposed policy in terms of which interests are advanced by that decision, weighed against the costs of those moves.
Too many commentators approach international issues by treating international leaders as if they are Hollywood celebrities. That is, they evaluate their performance exclusively based the image they project (who looks strong? who looks weak? etc.) rather than looking at how their action serves or sets back their countries' interests. In my opinion, the people take that approach that rarely know what they are talking about. They are the ones who tend to get sucked into cult of personality bubbles.
There are rarely, if ever, clear wins or losses in international affairs. Instead, I think we should look at any proposed policy in terms of which interests are advanced by that decision, weighed against the costs of those moves.
Too many commentators approach international issues by treating international leaders as if they are Hollywood celebrities. That is, they evaluate their performance exclusively based the image they project (who looks strong? who looks weak? etc.) rather than looking at how their action serves or sets back their countries' interests. In my opinion, the people take that approach that rarely know what they are talking about. They are the ones who tend to get sucked into cult of personality bubbles.
