President George Bush wants to "help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty." He wants them to embrace democracy much more immediately than he wants pals like Saudi Arabia to do so. And yet he doesn't want Cuba to be the wrong sort of democracy, like Venezuela. He has plans to achieve this by force, and tries to grasp at any feeble excuse to justify his plan.

The Bush administration's 2006 "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba" report makes out that it's up to Cubans themselves to decide their own future. There are pages of recommendations including: establishing free trade agreements with the US; returning property to rich landowners who fled to the US; reorganizing the economy and the health and education systems to please the US government; and the holding of US style multiparty elections. It's not really about "freedom" or "democracy" but purely about power, just as the "war on terror" is all about power.

Before the 1959 revolution in Cuba, in which Castro became leader (he declared the nation "socialist" two years later as he started to ally with the USSR) Cuba was known as "America's Brothel." It was a mafia casino land, full of truly detestable people. This is the kind of "freedom" that Cuba's enemies would like to see a return to. Gangsters and other parasites are poised to buy up property on the cheap, hoping to make a fortune. Given Cuba's mixed population and their national character, Castro has done a remarkable, if not miraculous, job. Cuba even has a stable birth rate. If only the rest of Latin America would follow suit. This is exactly what the US government fears, yet wouldn't Americans be happy to see Mexico with a birth rate lower than that of the US? The people of these nations genuinely admire Cuba. But Bush is not concerned with what people want or what improves their lives.

Castro's alliance with the USSR made strategic sense, allowing him protection against US aggression and providing economic benefits. When the Soviet Union ended, Cuba had a lot of problems, but there were effective reformations resulting in wholescale organic agriculture and other changes including allowing limited private ownership in some areas of the economy. China has now been welcomed as a major trade partner and investor. China's involvement may make the US less likely to invade, as well as helping Cuban infrastructure - railways have already benefited.

Cuba's crime is to stand up to US/globalist hegemony. America has an infamous military base on Cuba, Guantanamo Bay. Quite why any Cuban should be shocked by the regime's reputed human rights abuses, while people are being tortured in obscene ways by the US at such close proximity, is a source of incredulity.

Cuba has very little environmental pollution; their agriculture is organic and they have possibly the world's best health care system, which is free and also trains medical staff without leaving them saddled with debts. This claim is disputed by America and by organizations that say they represent Cuban's, denied freedom of speech. However, true or not, the Cuban life expectancy is equal to that of any First World Country and the British government has sent experts over to Cuba to see what can be learnt to benefit the UK health service. Their biotech industry, recognized by the WHO, leads the field in cancer research and other areas. People in the US are dying because the embargo means they are unable to import the latest medicines. Embargos aren't supposed to disadvantage the nation imposing them!

America has an obesity epidemic alongside severe malnutrition amongst the very poorest, with half a million Californians struggling to feed themselves. Many middle class Americans have lost their homes in the recent recession and survive on charity handouts. A sign of things that look set to get worse. Neither of these scourges exist in Cuba.

Cuba's free education has achieved high literacy rates - something internationally recognized and undisputed. People pay nothing, or very little, for their accommodation. Home ownership is common. They are guaranteed work. Again, the down side of this is that the quality of the accommodation is often poor and pay is low. A recent news story tells of how Raul Castro is struggling to encourage people even to bother to work, since life's basics are freely provided and average wages are around $15 a month. These low wages mean people can't buy many of the things we take for granted, such as cars, and ensure an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. The idea horrifies corporations and the many who take it for granted that there should be a right to spend huge sums buying things we neither need nor even end up using. The American Dream. Bush insists that the lack of such freedoms is evil!

In a US style democracy, instead of a party's time being spent on running the country for the people, they are forced to compete with other parties in expensive populist contests. Funds come from lobbies, corporations and other interested investors, hoping to buy influence. Once in power, the winning party returns the favors to its financial backers. It also tries to keep sweet with the privately owned media, which makes sure they are pleasing the owners of the newspapers, etc. Public opinion is manipulated, which can sink the party and is designed to facilitate the media owners' agenda. Democracy is therefore nothing to do with governing on the people's behalf, and is a deception that can never allow any socialism to flourish. Cuba would be finished should it become such a democracy.

When it comes down to the point, what is the greatest concern in life for any human? We fear: ill health; starvation; lack of shelter; slavery; and the destruction of our environment. Cuba appears to be run to eliminate those fears; fears which are increasing for everyone else in the world, fears that free market capitalism thrives upon. Cuba is no utopia, but its people enjoy a level of freedom and liberty that is denied to millions of the poorest Americans. President Bush threatens to take all that away.