UPDATE: Drudge Report reporting that several Members of Congress have penned a note to the USG.
For those of us that follow events in a a little island 90 miles from our shores, the news of the week was the Cuba trip of Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z. Judging solely from the news [...]
There is more reporting today on Cuba people-to-people travel enforcement by the U.S. Government. The reality is that genuine people-to-people travel is licensable, but it has been abused by some as a back door for tourism travel that is currently not authorized under the regulations.
Technically, I do not even need to apply for license. I [...]
Political voyeurs (n) – people who enjoy seeing the political pain or distress of others.
If you’re planning a trip to Cuba, you may just be a political voyeur. My family fled that forsaken, some would say cursed island, many years ago because communism and oppression was not their thing. Nothing has really changed since [...]
If you follow the export controls reform process, two areas rarely discussed in the public arena are the reform of economic sanctions and nuclear export controls. So when someone takes the time to pen a thoughtful piece on either one, I like to pass it along. A hat tip to Ms. Andrea Viski at the [...]
In today’s Washington Times, Bill Gertz penned an interesting item missing from the public debate on reforms to the export control system being implemented by the Obama Administration:
According to congressional aides, the administration has prevented U.S. intelligence agencies from conducting comprehensive assessments of the security impact of the export decontrol plan.
Prevented? In the [...]
Senior U.S. government officials announced yesterday another sanctions volley against the Iranian regime’s Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). The Justice Department announced a 317 count indictment against IRISL for violating U.S. sanctions laws, while the Treasury Department announced the addition of ten Iranian businesses and three executives as specially designated nationals or SDNs.
If [...]
The New U.S. Cuba Travel Regulations Not a License to Party
Opponents of current U.S. policy to Cuba are constantly looking for legal wiggle room to exploit the travel restrictions to the island. As I advise our clients, and potential clients, while the Obama Administration has significantly relaxed the travel rules, it is not a [...]
Every year over at the Export Law Blog, they post a humorous item how the U.S. Government “stole” Christmas from the people of Cuba. It is good anti-embargo spin, but, as readers of this site know first-hand, U.S.-Cuba sanctions are really Sanctions In Name Only (SINO – it is funnier in Spanish). We [...]
Earlier this week the Obama Administration provided an update on export control reform efforts. The re-designed Export.gov website is worth a visit. The U.S. government is soliciting public comments on export control reform issues. Over at the Export Law Blog, an interesting item about an Microsoft engineer caught in an export [...]
Republicans won control this week of 1/3 control of the federal political branches. The new Congress is months from being sworn in, but opinionsalreadyaplenty what all this will mean in the foreign affairs and national security law and public policy arena. Word around town is that State Department/DDTC [...]
Iran continues to carefully expand its network in Latin America; what are we doing about it? Publicly, very little. A region rich with strategic natural resources, poverty, and anti-American governments, the Iranian mullahs see opportunities to exploit and they have wasted no time in doing so. Working closely with countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for [...]
Transparency International released its 2010 corruption index. It ranks Communist Cuba – the most corrupt government in the entire Western Hemisphere – in the same bucket with Colombia and less corrupt than democratic Honduras or Mexico. This is not the first time TI investigators do this. They seem to have a soft spot for [...]
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