Hopefully he'll learn in that time not to be a mug.

...a country which expressly outlaws USAID operations and which has been a target of the U.S. government since it threw out the heinous U.S.-backed dictator more than half a century ago?

It's a "normal mission" of the USAID to carry out operations in a country that has been the victim of U.S. economic sanctions, that has suffered airline and hotel bombings and invasion by the CIA and whose leader was the target of so many CIA assassination attempts that he couldn't safely leave the country?

Well, if that's "normal," then the reputation of the USAID as just another arm of the CIA is confirmed--if anybody had any doubt.

We're talking about YET ANOTHER CIA operation against Cuba!

And the details bear this out: "...a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track."

Could that be any clearer?

If this "aid" had been merely for social/religious networking among Jewish groups, why the need for that level of security?

And that's another thing--the Jewish groups. It's my understanding, from other news reports, that Cuban Jewish groups have denied requesting this equipment and have not been accused of collaborating with Gross. I believe that I also read that Gross had only very minimal contact with them (if any). True, they may be lying to protect themselves. But I think this murky area needs more investigation. If they are not CIA operatives--or were only innocent targets of a CIA operation, or were being used as a ruse--then WHO was this equipment really FOR and what was its REAL purpose?

Well, I imagine that the Cuban government would like to have answers to those questions and I imagine that they've asked them. Maybe they know the answers--but, interestingly, if they do, I would expect a lot more openness by the Cuban government about them, than I would ever expect from the U.S. government.

Ain't that an irony!

Further, if the CIA is endangering Jewish groups in Cuba or anywhere else--using them as ruses for spying and covert ops, penetrating them with agents--like they have done to so many innocent groups--or is setting up Jewish front groups, WHO is authorizing them to do this at the risk of other peoples' lives, freedom and welfare, and at the risk other peoples' reputations or the reputations of political causes or religions that they are using in this way? Will we never be rid of this shit--this SECRET U.S. government shit that does so much harm?

Finally, if the Jewish groups in Cuba ARE acting as spies for the CIA and/or engaging in covert ops in Cuba--which the Cuban government has NOT accused them of, but if it turns out to be true--then my concern would be any linkups with the Miami mafia here, which I think is one of the worst, most fascist and most destructive influences on our own government. That would be a very bad alliance. The Miami mafia is spoiling for war in Latin America. They have stated it openly. I would hate to see Jewish groups supporting such a policy. Again, there is NO evidence that they are. On the contrary, it appears that this was a CIA set-up of the Jewish groups in Cuba--trying to drag them into a potential conflict and perhaps even intentionally trying to goad the Cuban government to take action against them, in order to rally Jewish support here for various purposes including an oil war in Latin America.*

I may have just put my finger on the whole Alan Gross plot, which has never made a lot of sense. The CIA was actually trying to get these Jewish groups in trouble with the Cuban government to further a war plan. The plot's aim was to get the Jewish leaders blamed for the infiltration and arrested. But the plot failed--the Jewish groups perhaps themselves figured out what was going on and swiftly derailed it. But if Gross had succeeded in setting them up, and they had gotten arrested and tried for espionage, think how that would have played here in the midst of stoked up war fever against Venezuela and its allies.*

Interesting thought, huh?

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*(Oil war in Latin America: Such a conflict's main target would be Venezuela and its huge oil reserves; its general aim would be to smash the Latin American Left, especially in Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua, and also to break up very important Leftist alliances such as between Venezuela and Brazil; Cuba might be subdued prior to a move against Venezuela's coastal oil region in the Caribbean but its main value might be as described above, as a propaganda tool to silence progressive and peace-minded Jews here, if they thought that Jews were being persecuted in Cuba or in its ally, Venezuela. There have already been some incidents regarding Venezuela where the Corporate Press has tried to paint the Chavez government as anti-semitic (which it very decidedly is not). The parallels are interesting as to the use of contrived incidents. The Venezuelan incidents were combined with the trumpeting of false information by the Corporate Press.

(I have no doubt at all that such an oil war plan exists in the Pentagon. Wars need lies. Wars need triggers. Wars need support on the home front, even in our blasted and battered democracy. How do you turn Jews against the progressive social policies in Cuba, Venezuela and other countries with leftist governments? How do you divide the Left here (such as it is)? How do you divide the strong Left in LatAm (which has won so many electoral victories)? How do you get the peace movement here to stand down for an oil war in this hemisphere? Wearing them out with grand theft by the rich and induced poverty might not be enough. They need to be confused and divided with bullshit propaganda, and how better to do that than to accuse the war targets of repressing such a vulnerable minority as Jews? Interesting questions with regard to Alan Gross. Maybe the equipment was not intended to be used by anybody for covert ops or spying--but was just a ruse to get the Cuban government to appear to be repressive against Jews. THAT may be why the equipment was so specialized, to convince Cuban authorities that the Jewish groups who were the targeted recipients of it did not want it for any innocent activity--but for spying and subversion. And that is also obviously why Alan Gross lied to them--failed to inform them that he was a USAID operative. He wanted to worm his way in and get them in trouble.)

He should be hearing plenty of that for a while.

Then again the US could make a spy exchange. They've done it before.