Articles by Julio M. Shiling

Can Joe Manchin and Blue Dog Democrats Stop Biden’s Dangerous Agenda?

Barack Obama’s Democratic Party has two seminal problems that impede their ability to make America socialist. President Joe Biden’s visibly depleting cognition capabilities are frustrating their scheme of using the cosmetically choreographed “moderate” disguise that the veteran politician has brought into this administration. First, serving to the 44^th president as his VP, and now covering for, who for some is the de facto head of the Executive branch, Kamala Harris. The second serious problem is Senator Joseph Manchin III, and a small group of centrist Democrats.

This functionally compact, but powerful, coalition of authentic moderates within the party founded by Andrew Jackson, are upending the socialist scheme of federalizing mail-in, fraud-baiting voting, adding states and Justices to bulk up the control of the Senate and the Supreme Court, defending the time-honored filibuster rule, and challenging the Marxist indoctrination of key institutions within the American body politic. Headed by the West Virginia senior senator, these Blue Dogs (conservative Democrats) embrace much of the worldview sustained by the party founded by Abraham Lincoln. 

European‌ ‌Parliament‌ Issues ‌Resolution‌ ‌on‌ ‌Cuba, but ‌Does‌ ‌it‌ ‌Matter?‌

The European Parliament approved on Thursday, June 10, the Resolution on the Human Rights and Political Situation in Cuba (Resolution). The vote–decided mostly along ideological lines, with 386 in favor (conservatives and liberals), 236 against (socialists and communists), and 59 abstentions–reprimanded the Cuban communist regime for not complying with the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA), a 2016 agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Marxist dictatorship in Havana regulating the relationship between both parties. Additionally, the Resolution specified a list of grievances and philosophical objections levied against the Island’s totalitarian government and system. But does any of this matter?

The Resolution makes a strong moral systemic condemnation of Cuban communism by citing the following documents: United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Declaration (UNDHR), UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Labor Organization (ILO) covenants, EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, Country Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and other international instruments which abstractly seek to codify acceptable political power conduct. 

Victims of ‘Havana Syndrome’ to Receive Financial Relief.

American diplomats and foreign service officials anguishing from the “Havana Syndrome” will soon have broader financial resources available to them. The U.S. Senate passed on Monday the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act, more commonly known as the Havana Act, with the rarity of a unanimous vote.

According to The New York Times, over one hundred and thirty federal personnel have been impacted while serving the United States in Cuba, China, and Russia. Additional potential cases exhibiting the same symptoms have been exhibited in parts of Western Europe, Asia, and even domestically. 

What is the ‘Havana Syndrome’? 

 

‘Dictatorships Only Respond to Pressure’: Interview with Cuban Activist Michael Lima.

Democratic Spaces is a freedom-supporting grass roots project based in Canada and directed by Michael Lima. The idea surged in social media. Its focus is providing awareness to Canadians of the realities of captive nations, particularly Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. For the human rights activist, researcher, and director of the organization, who has lived exiled in Canada since the 1990’s, fighting the false perception of communist regimes among his adopted country’s citizens remains a challenge.

In this interview for El American, Lima emphasized the difficulties of challenging the false perceptions that many Canadians have of communist regimes, particularly, the case of Cuba. Canada never severed relations with the Cuban Marxist dictatorship and consistently has remained one of the Island’s most active trading partners among the Western democracies, as well as a key investment partner and source of tourist dollars for the regime. The current Canadian Prime Minister’s father, Pierre Trudeau, a former prime minister (1968-1979, 1980-1984) was a friend of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and an avowed admirer.