The next President of the US SHOULD meet with Raul Castro- if he is elected President of Cuba

I see you've insisted on turning this debate into a history lesson. Either way, I have brought up points as to why the next President of the US SHOULD meet with the next President of Cuba. It was supposed to be your position that he shouldn't, but you never presented any arguments against it. Either way I will address the historical points you are trying to make... "You actually are attacking my age." -Attacking your age would be saying because you were 14 you couldn't understand. What I said was that because you are 14 you couldn't have possibly had this kind of diplomatic experience. That's no different than saying you can't possibly legally purchase alcohol in the US because you're 14. "The president has better things to do." -One of the greatest functions of a President is diplomacy. "It's because of history that Castro hates our guts." -Castro doesn't "hate our guts". Castro disagrees with US involvement in Cuban affairs, and in the affairs of other nations. It is his disagreement, and those of the US with his own policies that has created this animosity. "The U.S. never stopped supporting Batista, are you saying they wanted to prevent an uprising predicted by the C.I.A. and then in 1959 in the bay of pigs they incite one themselves?" -I posted historically accurate information and you are trying to rebutt it without addressing it. Are you saying what I posted is inaccurate? Did the US not impose an arms embargo on Batista? Did the US not ship weapons to Castro's forces? "Wow, you got it real messed up. America has no say in anything anymore..." -I don't know what newspapers you read, but you need to switch up. "America" may not have a say, but the US government not only has a say, but imposes it's will unilaterally. Need I point out Iraq??? "And even if we did, nobody listens to us." -So the UN isn't checking on Iran because the US wants them to? Pervez Musharraf didn't relinquish his post as General because the US advised him to? India and Pakistan aren't friends because the US wants them to be? China isn't investigating it's companies and rewriting manufacturing policies because the US placed bans on Chinese imports? I could go on, but you are either completely misinformed or just full of it... "Fidel Castro was gonna launch missiles at us if it wasn't for the Soviet Union's intervention." -Again, the missiles did not belong to Cuba, they were not under Cuban control, they were not handled by the Cuban millitary, and the Cubans had no say in when, where, or how the missiles would be used. The USSR was a superpower at the time, and completely subsidized Cuba (besides the tons of sugar they bought annually). "America isn't even a superpower anymore, America's weak." -The US is not only "a" superpower, it is THE superpower. There is no country with the budget, millitary, technology, and influence to do what the US government does on a daily basis- good or bad. "So you're saying the U.S. forced him to be the leader? This is absurd." -That's not what I said. The US created a power vaccuum and recognized him as the leader when his intentions were different. He never expected to beat Batista, rather he wanted him to concede to national elections. The US aided Castro, and assumed he would want command once his forces won, but they did not anticipate that he was so anti-foreign involvement. They have done it before- Hussein, The Shah of Iran, Suharto, Noriega, Mobutu... get my point? "Castro specifically said to Khrushchev that they should just launch the missiles, he was crazy and he didn't care what collateral damage he would take from such an attack." -Can you cite this request? Kruschev used Castro. Kruschev was in fear of losing the Cold War and was trying any drastic move. He knew moving the missiles to Cuba would be seen as a sign of agression and figured it would give him some leverage. What he failed to realize was the severity with which the US would react. "I'm sure you know more than I do, but some of your information is faulty while all the information I provide, I make sure is supported by true facts." -Unfortunately you haven't cited any facts- you have only cited opinions. You ignore the facts I cite and just blow them off with your personal opinion toward the facts but in doing so you don't even provide an alternative scenario that would support a different set of facts. "I think that if the president is going to waste his time on a trip to Cuba, he should have at least a goal." -Having a goal and having expectations are not the same thing. You can set goals, but you can't set expectations. It makes no sense because you can't predict how another person will react under any situation. If meeting for only the purpose of meeting goals and/or expectations were a predeterminant factor in whether or not to meet with leaders, then why do they still meet for Middle Eastern peace? Even if you don't meet expectations, you can fulfill some goals. "There's nothing to be discussed between Obama and Castro." -You are setting yourself up for the contradiction... "A good step would be to end the embargo, which was a terrible idea from the start, but Obama doesn't even want to do that." -Aaand there it is. Are you saying there is nothing a US President could want from Castro? Are you saying Castro would completely ignore the possibility of ending the embargo? If you were an indicator of what to expect from US Ambassadors, we would still be enemies with half the world. Nothing has ever been accomplished without diplomacy, and the only things that cannot be accomplished through diplomacy are those which are never discussed. "So I guess we should keep things the way they are until another Cuban stages a coup, which is not gonna happen because they are pretty much satisfied with what they've got (Fidel Castro)." -Fidel Castro is no longer the President of Cuba, and regime change does not have to be a goal of a meeting. That is ridiculous. You must take baby steps. The best thing to do is to discuss the easiest goals to accomplish. Remaining stagnant on either side does nothing for the Cuban people.