Guantanamo

No, this blog is not about torture or detention centers. (Are we not clear yet that those are very bad things?)

No, here's the thing that gets me about Guantanamo. Why in the heck does it even exist? How is it that we get to have a military base on a tiny island that belongs to the one country in the world that we have pro-actively not been speaking to for over 50 years?

Can you imagine us allowing that? Can you imagine most countries allowing that? "Sure, we know you'd rather we didn't even exist, and you'll probably at some point try to assassinate our leaders, and you love to lure our citizens away, but here -- have some land to house an outpost of your army!"

That's crazy-talk! It is so weird. I know very little about the Cuban revolution, but I can only assume that the military base was there before the revolution, and it just never got conquered. But most other countries, dealing with most other countries, would have annexed it post-haste. By force, if necessary, but probably just by treaty. The Cubans did win that revolution, after all.

This is the sort of example of American exceptionalism that just makes it seem so crazy that I don't get how people don't find it inappropriate. (Unless it's also an example of Cuban exceptionalism?) I would love to know how many other countries around the world have military bases in so many different countries, and especially in countries they have had no trade or travel or conversation with.

So weird.