Obama's Screw Up De Jour - Outing of A CIA Operative In The Field Now Announcing Our Afghanistan Withdrawal!

Yesterday's screw up de jour was The White House's outing of a CIA operative in the field. Obama no longer needs to wait to learn about his incompetence from CNN.  He now manufactures it  and announces it from  his own press room. Today's screw up is Obama's announcement telling our enemies when we will leave Afghanistan so he can claim he ended the wars, which were ongoing when he became president, by the time he leaves office Leaving  so few troops on the ground is now Obama's plan and it will accomplish nothing. Meanwhile, his premature pull out from Iraq has undone any gains we accomplished and has left that country in a continuing civil war with Iran puling some of the strings. So much for Obama's public relation approach to fighting wars. Can you guess what the next screw up will be?  Hard to tell because they are happening with such frequency! Most everything Obama does is basically nothing but posturing for political effect.  His policies are simply an extension of his political gaming.  Obama's basic incompetence and obvious disconnect from his responsibilities shows through constantly. It should be evident, for anyone capable of seeing, what a tragic mistake was made when Obama was elected and re-elected. One would think a nation as strong as America could not be unraveled in five years but he has basically accomplished his goal of disuniting and weakening  our nation and though he never intended for his administration to become  the laughing stock of the world, Obama even was able to accomplish that as well. The press and media have no rational basis for protecting him considering his many failures but they are compelled to do so because they created him and now are beholden to protect the monstrosity they suckered so many into buying. (See 1 below.) === A dear friend of mine just returned from Cuba.  I could not post his marvelous  pictures but here  is his recap. (See 2 below.) === Progress with Iran difficult and access to nuclear sites more so.  (See 3 below.) === Dick --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1)  Ron Hart: Capitalism's moral superiority to government “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” –Margaret Thatcher Inside Barack Obama’s rhetoric of “income inequality and attack the rich,” used mainly to sway envy-driven, simple minds, is a dangerous subtext: that capitalism and entrepreneurs are bad. If this mindset continues, and without the brightest business minds in the USA, our country is doomed. Obama presupposes the evils of capitalism and capitalists to sell his statist/socialist agenda. But the facts are clear: Free-market capitalism is a far more virtuous and moral system than government. We need to separate reality from political rhetoric. Capitalism did not require $17 trillion in national debt, borrowed from future generations, to advance destructive political agendas and buy votes. If we want to talk about what is “moral” and “just,” what our government has done to us with the deficit alone would make the case. But wait – there’s more. To see the abundance that our historically free-enterprise system has bestowed on us, compare the U.S. to the rest of the world. Travel to any Third World country with a strong central government and a stranglehold on business, and witness the poverty, crime and misery spawned in places like Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba. Businesses hire people, help provide health care and other benefits, pay taxes, advertise, support local charities and build the character of a community. Like most Little League teams, my team was sponsored by business. The field had signs from Tennessee Farm Bureau Insurance and Union Carbide, examples of those “evil villains” with their 4 percent profit margins that Obama criticizes. The evil oil companies bring the fuel out of the ground and to gas stations, where they make seven cents a gallon. Government takes about 50 cents a gallon for doing nothing – not counting the cost of regulations. Then, government taxes the oil companies’ seven cents profit at 35 percent. And government calls oil companies greedy? As to the morality of capitalism, I offer the recent example of what Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, has learned – and not just that duplicitous mistresses are not trusted confidantes (who knew?) – but that there are financial consequences to one’s actions. His team’s sponsors reacted quickly to his recorded rants, pulling sponsorships and sending him a clear financial message. Sterling most likely will have to sell his team. The lesson here is the ability of capitalism to enforce good behavior – quickly. Just ask Tiger Woods. His sponsor ATT pulled out on him, thus punishing him with the most expensive roaming charge in history. Compare this with the punishment that the government of Barack Obama, in his O-merica, meted out to Lois Lerner, his IRS official who targeted political opponents. He did not fire her; in fact, all the IRS folks involved got their pay. They were allowed to work or retire with full pensions and benefits. During an “investigation,” government workers get to sit at home with full pay and do nothing (kind of like the previous 20 years of their careers). It’s probably for the best; the economy operates more efficiently with fewer bureaucrats. Donald Sterling is being punished for saying something stupid, yet Joe Biden still has his job. Neither Lerner nor anyone else involved in the IRS scandal, Benghazi-gate, Secret Service hooker scandal, GSA, the VA mess or the NSA domestic spying revelations has paid any price. How, then, is government is more moral than business? Government takes by force money from people who are productive, and redistributes it to its allies. Government adds no value and produces no product. Capitalism rewards risk-taking, imagination, hard work, intellect and honesty; government does not. Under this president, government only rewards loyalty to him. As long as you do not throw Obama under the bus, you have a government job. Politicians speciously claim the moral high ground over American businesses, but we cannot cede that false argument. Businesses are more accountable and moral. They have to be, or they fail. In government, if you fail in your mission, you get more funding. Companies continue to leave the USA. Pfizer is the latest; it’s trying to relocate to another country. With an unfriendly business environment, the highest corporate tax rate in the world and Obamacare regulations looming, the U.S.’s biggest export will be visionary entrepreneurs who will start and grow new businesses elsewhere. Maybe Obama will vilify and harass them when they all move to Mexico, perhaps calling them the “Juan-percenters.” That will get his Democratic base energized. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2) " ...The speaker arrives and is Annie Betancourt, a Cuban and former State congresswoman. She gives an interesting talk, including numerous liberal comments such as negatives on Rubio. It is noted that there are 805,000 Cubans in Miami and most hate their country (leaders?) as much as the Gomez’ do as expressed last night. Dinner is second class in every way. Wednesday, May 7………………….. Up at 5:45 for our charter flight to Cuba and facing a box breakfast of no note other than ugh. Passage through Miami airport is easy as is through immigration in Cuba, after a walk over the tarmac to reach it. Our 23 passengers load the bus. We meet our Tour Guide Jose Luis Sande and he provides introductory comments as we are bussed to Plaza de la Revolution. The square was built by Castro to allow large crowds to hear him speak. There Susana has her picture taken with the background of the Ché Guevara office building. Next is a tour of the Colon Cemetery, a large 140 acre and old place which is well maintained containing not only the wealthy but paupers as well. The Guide for the cemetery is quite good and provides a window into that which Cuba considers its main industry - tourism. The cemetery houses the firefighters who died in a fire in 1890 and those Americans who died on the Maine in 1898, yet a year later they were disinterred and brought back to the United States. We have lunch at La Casa Española. At our table are the Davis family, Leonard and Norma, an attractive couple from Charleston, he a dentist and friend of Savannah and Ariel member Walter and Linda Evans. We then go to the JEA to watch a ballet dance by the independent MalPaso Danse Company, under the artistic leadership of Osnel Delgado. This group is but a couple of years old and preparing for an engagement in New York. They are all in late 20s early 30s and dance well. They are articulate in a Q & A session afterwards. The building in which they practice contains a small Holocaust museum. Our bus is from the government fleet “Transtur”, number 430, again part of the Cuban emphasis on tourism. The driver is named Manuel and he stays with us the entire trip. Now we can go to the Nacional Hotel as our rooms will be ready. Built in 1930 and a national treasure which has housed many famous Hollywood stars and many gangsters, who owned the Tropicana and much else leading to the Castro uprising in 1959. www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com with double rooms at $200, but probably discounted for us. There as usual we have a welcome Mojito and small talk on the hotel’s past. Our Landings fellow traveler is in the foreground - Mary Kistler. The hotel has a beautiful lobby with a dining room at one end and meeting rooms at the other. The extensive courtyard has wonderful outdoor furniture of rattan, band music, a bar, the occasional fashion show, peacocks and a restaurant for al fresco dining. In this al fresco setting at the Vista del Golfo I see entering a nice looking couple resembling some Woodberry friends from North Carolina but I decline to approach them. Later in the elevator to our room this possible North Carolinian is there and I ask if he is. Susana answers a question and he says, “You are from Uruguay”. She responds as does he in Spanish and it turns out he is Tom Dodd, Jr. of Connecticut (appointed by Clinton) and the former Ambassador to Uruguay. His wife is ill and he is returning to the mainland with her. What a world of coincidence. Our room is comfortable with twin queen beds. However, we have been warned that sewer facilities leave much to be desired in Cuba and we are instructed to put papers in the waste basket, not the toilet. Thursday, May 8……………………… Breakfast is a typical buffet with an interesting addition, a multi item drink machine where one can get water, coffee, café con leche, and cappuccino by button selection. We have a lecture by architect Professor Miguel Coyuela which is entitled Havana, Past, Present and Future. He informs us that Cuba had the first aqueduct built in the Americas. El Morro was built in 1565, but in building the walled fort, they neglected the far side of the bay into which in 1762 the British came and occupied the city. The sugar trade built the cobblestone streets as the stones came from Massachusetts as ballast, much as they had come from England. The 1750s sent children to European schools (not those in Spain), The Cuban Indians were not aggressive as in Uruguay and unlike Brasil. The train system in Cuba was the 5th in the world and used Irish and Chinese workers. In 1880 they were first in sugar worldwide and 1920-1960 was their ‘fat cow’ period. Money laundering abounded with the mob hotel/ club ownership. We had packed some “donation” items and now turn them over to the Tour Director. The day is a killer as we walk four squares - Cathedral, Armas, Vieja and San Francisco Assisi, and face other efforts. The first is Cathedral Square, which has undergone rehab. In this square are numerous families living in a room or so above the first level shops. Also are found the ubiquitous seekers of fortune, one of whom puts at Susana’s insistence a kiss on my cheek which requires several hours of scrubbing to remove. The importunate beggars are not obnoxious as in some countries, but just ask and then disappear. We stop at an artisan shop and watch individuals either creating the drawing or reproducing diverse approaches including coloration on that drawing or etching. The next walk and stop is in the Plaza de Armas. This is a nice and attractive plaza with book stalls set up as this is Sunday. Plaza de Armas with citizen’s living quarters above the official spaces, a piece of the city fort and a church turned museum. We eat lunch in the Plaza de Armas where a typical small band of drum, guitar, flute and singer are playing softly. The internationally known dancer, Susana Bourland, is asked to perform in dancing with the leader and she does, with her normal charm. With ever flagging strength we walk on to the Plaza Vieja, passing many attractive alleyways and eating places. The country is teeming with entrepreneurs from horse drawn carriages to pedicabs obviously hammered out of bicycle parts to person pulled wagons to street and flea market tables to this young man found in many places in the world - here, to earn a living any way you can. Plaza Vieja has undergone considerable rehabilitation as can be seen in the side-by-side pictures below that of the Plaza if one looks closely at the before and after notice on the left side of the building. Again a rather long walk to the final plaza, the Plaza de San Francisco Assisi. Here the church has a trompe l’oeil which is difficult to see but is said to contain numerous scenes in the life of Christ appropriate for a church alter. Street vendors are hawking cinnamon chiviricos in the plaza. They are delicious. We walk still farther in Old Havana to meet with four youngsters in their 20s who are working as a graphics group in what is called a People to People Connection. we break into four groups to meet with them and my group calls for Judi Rodriquez (ogrodriquez@intomed.slc.cu). She is married to one of the others but she is clearly the brightest of the group. While we have been told by many that the average salary for a Cuban is $30 a day, or 25 CUCs, or converted pesos, we learn an entrepreneur can do much better with luck and hard work. Judi has 3 employees who man 3 jewelry tables in a sort of flea market near the Nacional Hotel. She declares each makes 50 CUCs a day and she makes between 50-100. Her business problem is managing the suppliers who make the jewels and who often do not succeed in deliveries. She says she is stressed. She is married and they often put TV episodes like Friends on a thumb drive and take it to a friend’s house for entertainment on their computer. She has a computer but does not know Excel and carries the business in her head.There do not appear to be any business incubators in Cuba to help what I see as many, many entrepreneurs. No one hands out business cards until asked and then not everyone has one. In the bus back to the hotel we pass La Floridita or Hemingway’s old favorite restaurant in which I had a sandwich in 1954. After showers to erase a difficult but interesting day, we eat at El Aljibe. One can see the traditional Cuban fare which we had nearly every lunch and dinner except as later described - that is, chicken (or pork or beef pulled), rice and beans, a small and inadequate salad and a small dessert usually flan or ice cream, with a choice of water, coca or cerveza to drink. It wasn’t bad, but it was too consistently served. We yearned for variety on the menu. Friday, May 9…………………….. We attend breakfast and feast on an omelet and too-soft cinnamon buns, and yet great coffee as in cappuccino. Our lecture today is given by Professor and former Ambassador to Japan and Argentina Carlos Alzugaray Treto and is entitled U.S. and Cuban Relations. He observed John Adams referred to Cuba as ripe fruit meaning we don’t want it now but when it falls. The city of Havana was built between 1900 and 1960 and little done after. Most of the housing stock is private but they can not sell. From 1972 to 1990 was the Russian Period, in which most of the block housing was erected. The next 3 years are called the Special Period which was not pleasant as Russia pulled out of everything. Today there is considerable restoration underway with much concentrated on shops and restaurants. As to population, 20% are over 60; 28% have a college degree and there is a fear of a brain drain. Money from the U.S. is 5 to1 when the average salary is $25 daily. Sugar is down, tourism is up. (Humans are the only animal that stumbles over the same stone twice). Today we visit the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana, usually referred to as “La Cabana”. This fort protected the mouth of Havana harbor in its day and this weekend is offering a festival to celebrate tourism. There is a great deal of music, costumed gays and others, and many food stands. On the left the green trees in the background front the Hotel Nacional. On the right side and over Susana’s right shoulder are the Plazas we visited yesterday. We travel to Hemingway’s estate, The Lookout ….Finca La Vigia. He bought it for 80,000 pesos (old or new?) and we agree we could live there in a minute. It is a wonderfully comfortable home, perched on a hill, with a guest house and lush vegetation, a swimming pool and a boat dock with no visible means of reaching water. and the pool and boat ….. from Islands in the Stream We have lunch in an open air restaurant called Finca Alcona in Managua. I eat the appetizers of cold cuts, bread and pineapple and the dessert as I tire of the black beans etc etc. The restaurant is fun, however, as in an attached section there is another party and some go there to dance to their music, and wouldn’t you know the star is Susana. We ride to a hospice near the San Låzaro Church run by the Sisters of Charity to house and care for those afflicted with leprosy. We ride back to Managua where José Luis resides and visit a school conducted by his wife where English and music are taught. Our group is split up and each talks with a student to provide practice with their English…... ….and then we listened to a guitar serenade from the music group. DInner that night is in a “paladar”, or home based restaurant as an entrepreneurial effort where I expected a couple of bridge tables in a living room, but no, this is a fully furnished and decorated restaurant on the bottom floor(s) of a home. Susana has declined to go in order to rest for the late night and I am asked to join the Saunders, Rusty and Carol, who are celebrating their 40th. He is a lawyer and she a college Dean in Orlando who specializes in IT management training. That night we attend “Cubano Cubano”, a night club act in the Parisien Room of the Nacional Hotel. It is no Paris Moulin Rouge, nor a Cuba Tropicana which I saw in 1954, but a good two hours of non-stop music and dancing. Saturday, May 10……………………... We have our third professional lecturer, Maritza Corrales, who is a former Cultural Minister and her talk is on religion, she jewish, her husband catholic. It is not a particularly interesting talk and she fails to note the diminishing role of religion in the lives of the world’s people. We first go to a catholic church to hear a choir of very young people. In the audience are many proud mothers and a few holding their child’s instrument whether violin or sax. I am totally impressed with its 21 year old conductor as her enthusiasm radiates, her professionalism is pronounced. I tell her so with my hand and a couple of words and then have Susana tell her in Spanish. She seems pleased. Lunch for the day is at La California Bar and Restaurant, another paladar. Once again it is not a bridge table in a living room but a fully decorated restaurant established by an entrepreneur. Their pizza is terrific and their pasta eatable. Next we visit the Museo de Belles Artes de Havana. It requires much effort on a day when the air conditioner is taking a Cuban holiday, so I walk six or seven galleries and allow the rest of the group to go up another floor. I in the meantime return to the first piso and drink a coke. We visit a home of another guide of “a middle class family”, whose daughter has just passed the tests to become a Guide. She is 28, attractive, educated and speaks English well. It is interesting to note that many of the people we have met and groups we have visited appear to have connections to José Luis and I might guess receive from Road Scholar tips of some sort. I am told these do not get reported. The home in which we meet is let’s say middle class and better than its neighbors. The father is 40 and a auto mechanic who owns his own business. Since parts are a problem, he scavenges but also has the machinery to makes certain parts. He has four employees and pays taxes. One of his employees is his daughter’s former boyfriend. The current boyfriend is with us and he too is an entrepreneur. We are served coffee and have an interesting Q&A. Many Americans remark on the old cars still running in Cuba, see right in one case, and perhaps this is due to father’s shop. There are indeed many of these cars running about. We have the evening free and choose to dine in the Hotel’s restaurant. It is well decorated, has a piano player and serve an excellent filet and potato. It is the best meal we have in Cuba. It is early to bed as we have a bags-out at 7:45 for trip to Cienfuegos. Sunday, May 11…………………. We bus to Cienfuegos, but first stop at Playa Larga, which is a national park. A park ranger gives a talk which discloses there are some 50 such in the country. Here they have a crocodile which is a hybrid of an American and a Cuban. We go down to the beach where part of the Bay of Pigs invasion was executed. The water is warm and several of the group swim. We are at the Hostal Enrique, www.enrique-hostal.tuars.com, for lunch. Again this is a paladar B & B opened by an entrepreneur and they serve an excellent meal although similar to most others. There are many B & Bs in this small town and all painted in colorful pastels. The Giron Museo is next which houses the Cuban version of the Bay of Pigs, with their weaponry and heros properly pictured. As we continue on to Cienfuegos, we see a half-dozen men in the road. There is about a half-mile of white/yellow stuff laid out beyond them. It turns out to be a fascinating harvest methodology. Cubans harvest rice, then lay it out on a paved road and allow it to dry over three or four days. If it rains, unlikely, but see them run. Workers are then armed with brooms, shovels and plastic bags into which they load the rice. Trucks then take the bags to market. The workers are as fascinated with us as we with them. See below. As we drive into Cienfuegos, it is readily evident this town has withstood the ravages of time and revolution better than Havana. Arriving in Cienfuegos, founded in 1819, the first stop is Plaza de Jose Marti. The town was settled by the French coming from New Orleans, LA and has a distinct French feel. We visit an old theatre, the Tomas Terry Theatre. Next we visit another school where dance and music are the subjects of emphasis. The children in the 3-12 range perform numerous dances with both male and female performers. The highlight is she with the smile. On now to our hotel for the balance of the trip, The Hotel Jagua in the Punta Gorda section of town. It is a wonderful hotel from the ‘50s, light and open and with the best view in my travels or at home. www.grancaribe. com/english/hotel.asp?hotel_code=SCTGCJagua#rooms We take a picture on the malecon and the view continues outstanding. Fidel Castro stayed in room 614 - we in Room 609. Dinner is in the hotel and is unworthy of comment, both as to food and service. Monday, May 12 ………………….. The day starts with a visit to the Benny More Arts School and their faculty and students, some 250 in number. The school prefers young students with no experience but apparent talent. It is said 80% make it to the professional level. True, we have seen music groups everywhere we go and much art hangs nearby. We admire a dance group of 10-13 year olds and they are excellent. Then musicians play sax and flute, also excellent. The art teachers are next: We are all impressed with the administration, the teachers and the students in this fine school We will see many graduates later on the trip. The city of Trinidad is next and is a colonial city. First stop is for lunch at the Restaurant Plaza Mayor which has a very decent buffet in an open air building. There is music on the way to this eatery (as nearly everywhere we turn on the trip) ,,,,,,, ….and indeed within the restaurant. The flutist is pretty and causes me to buy a CD of their work. Trinidad was founded in 1514 and considered the crown jewel of the colonial cities. It is colorful and well preserved. We go to the 200 year old home of a wonderful couple the wife of which is the most enthusiastic person we have ever met. They are musicians who recently bought this home and have turned it into a B&B in which I would stay on return. As we walk the street of Trinidad to shop and sight-see, we pass the inheritance from Spain of a cochino on a spit and a guitar nearby. But we are not to partake until the last night in the country. The room in the Hotel Jagua is comfortable and reasonably appointed, and as remarked earlier with a view of consequence. The town is wonderful but there is not much to do other than take the sun on a beach and try out all the restaurants and listen to music. Shower before dinner and determine we have been turning the faucet in the wrong direction to get the cold water we so complained about. Embarrassing. Returning to Cienfuegos we eat at a paladar on the malecon entitled Villa Legarto. It is a nice hotel with a good restaurant in a covered veranda, well served and plentiful. We take a pedicab back to the hotel and banter with the driver and his competitors with Susana relinquishing some of her donations. Tuesday, May 15 ……………………….. First stop of the day is in a rations store. In their form of food stamps Cubans used to receive a month’s worth of food, restricted in nature but sufficient for life. In the interim the amount has been reduced to 1.5 weeks. They go to a ration store with their assigned book of record and there decide what they want based on price and the allotment is provided by the operator of the store. The former being a closed market, we next visit an open and public farmer’s market, which is similar to one in the U.S. Here one can purchase those rather few vegetables found in Cuba, meats, fruits and items desired by the household. The general landscape of Cuba which would have fertile soil is remarkably bereft of farms. Clearly they produce sufficient for their own needs, but there would be little for export. What an opportunity when and if the barricade is broken. We travel to Santa Clara and the first stop is a senior citizens home where we see a most lively group of seniors, some who have found mates and many who dance, sing and play sports. They have a game with a stick and a piece of wood and play ‘hit the wood’ and measure the distance to determine the winner. I get a chance to display my athleticism and ….. fail miserably. It is embarrassing. Santa Clara is the home of Ché Guevara and the memorial to and burial grounds of his remains. The town is well preserved and we tour a bit, locating a man sitting in the park who becomes the recipient of a shirt I have grown to dislike but he appears to love. The memorial is enormous. The enclosed portion is treated by all as holy and well respected. This concludes the visit to Santa Clara and we return to Cienfuegos for our final dinner together. Another view from the room in the hotel is of a lovely old mansion, which will provide our dinner for the evening under the trees in its courtyard. The dinner is spectacular as it is roasted pig instead of the pulled pork we have so far been provided. It is surely copied from the Botin restaurant in Madrid. Our compliments cause the management to ask Susana as our only Spanish speaker to sign the guest book with comments. The next day we fly out of Cienfuegos to Miami with a group picture in the airport. A map of our travel out of Havana follows: One major highlight of the trip was in seeing the Cantores de Cienfuegos. To this point we have seen many young performing arts children, but no adults. I wondered if these students had any professional opportunity as we had not seen them. This Cantores choral group of 20-30s years old have a magnificent future ahead of them. They are coming to the U.S. in the fall, sponsored by Road Scholar. Found at www.cantoresdecienfuegos@yahoo.com. Many had attended the Benny More School. Honey Moreira is their Directora. Comments on Cuba. They are a friendly nation, tired of their government, grateful for the $200k to 1,000K sent each year from relatives in the U.S. which permits some just to live and others to begin the entrepreneurial process. That process is very visible as we saw many casa particulars or paradars or home owner restaurants; many pedicabs fashioned out of who knows what parts; horse drawn transports; flea market sellers; small cabs about the size of ! a VW bug but new and costing I would guess $1,000. There were many others but it is clearly a flood waiting for better U.S. relations and a change in government. A humorous comment provided that the government pretends to pay, while the people pretend to work. Our guide disclosed the following which describes much. He is a well paid Cuban by their standards who has never been out of the country. He has a college degree which he got for free but in turn gave two years in ‘social assistance’. He speaks from college excellent English and translates perfectly with no alterations. He lives with his wife’s parents - this a choice based on a comparison to his own -and his two children, a divorced Aunt of his wife who has two children. So 9 in the small house. He is the major bread winner and accepts that he pays most bills. When he wanted to add a room, kitchen and bath addition to the house for his family’s privacy, a building inspector found out and made him stop. He found a friend who knew the inspector, who in turn invited all for a drink and “whatever”. The inspector never returned. The addition was completed. So there is a lot of petty bribery in order to live and under-reporting of income such as tips. Those not in want sell their food stamps at a reduced price, thus getting money for themselves and improved rations for the receiver. Much of 100 year old Havana is crumbling, yet it provides cheap housing for many. There is an active and thoughtful reclamation underway. In the better parts of Havana it appears much as it did in its hay day and much is truly beautiful. Trinidad and Santa Clara are still original and lovely. We saw no manufacturing and little agriculture. Old factories we passed were old sugar mills. The only identified manufacturing was sugar, cigars and an as yet untapped oil reserve off the western coast. Cuba to me was a warm, friendly, music oriented people and many with a great sense of humor." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Despite nuclear probe progress, IAEA access to key Iran site elusive  The U.N. nuclear watchdog appears no closer to finding out what happened at a military site at the centre of its investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Iran, despite signs Tehran is becoming more cooperative. A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran for the first time in years had begun engaging with a long-stymied IAEA inquiry into allegations that it may have worked on designing a nuclear weapon. But any hope that Iran may be ready to fully address concerns about its nuclear activities will be tempered as long as it refuses to give the U.N. agency access to a location at the Parchin base southeast of Tehran, and information about it. U.S. officials say it is vital for Iran to answer IAEA questions if Washington and five other powers are to reach a broader nuclear settlement with Iran by a self-imposed deadline of July 20. However, Tehran's repeated denials of any nuclear bomb aspirations will make it hard for it to admit to any wrongdoing in the past without losing face. The IAEA report issued to member states late on Friday said satellite images showed “ongoing construction activities” at Parchin, a finding that could add to Western suspicions that Iran has been trying to hide any incriminating evidence of illicit nuclear-related experiments there. “It seems clear that there is more sanitisation going on,” one Western envoy said, noting indications of major alteration work at Parchin since early 2012, such as soil removal and asphalting of the specific place the IAEA wants to see. “I can think of no other explanation for 28 months of cleanup and denied IAEA access at Parchin except an attempt to hide all traces of something from IAEA environmental sampling.” The IAEA, which has requested Parchin access for more than two years, says it has information that Iran built a large steel chamber there for explosives tests, possibly more than a decade ago. It said back in 2011 that “such experiments would be strong indicators of possible nuclear weapon development”. Iran denies Western suspicions that it has been seeking to develop the capability to assemble nuclear weapons. It says Parchin is a conventional military facility and has dismissed the cleansing allegations. “The activity at Parchin gives ample reason for continued concern that Iran may be trying to remove any remaining vestiges of nuclear-related experiments,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the non-proliferation program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank in London. But one should not leap to conclusions of guilt, he added. “The activity may also be for some entirely innocuous purpose.” IRANIAN COOPERATION “IMPROVING” The IAEA's suspicions about Parchin were part of a 2011 report that included a trove of intelligence information pointing to Iranian research in the past that could be relevant for nuclear weapons, some of which it said may be continuing. Iran says it was based on false and baseless information. But it has offered to work with the IAEA to clear up the case since pragmatist Hassan Rouhani won the presidency last year, pledging to end Tehran's international isolation. The IAEA-Iran talks are separate from those between Tehran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia. But they are complementary as both focus on fears that Iran may covertly be using a nuclear power and research programme as a cover for developing a weapons capability. Friday's IAEA report said Iran had started engaging on one issue in the investigation, by providing explanations about the development of detonators that can, among other things, be used to set of an atomic explosive device. It also agreed last week to provide the IAEA with information in two other areas of the inquiry, including allegations about the initiation of high explosives. “The engagement and cooperation (shown by Iran) has been improving all the time,” a senior diplomat said. But the IAEA report showed little progress so far regarding Parchin, saying the U.N. agency continues to seek answers to “detailed questions” submitted to Iran about it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It said the activities it had noticed “appear to show the removal/replacement or refurbishment of the external wall structures of the site’s two main buildings”. The alleged test chamber was believed to have been constructed in one of them.