To truly understand President Obama's Cuba policy, it's imperative to read this disturbing New York Times profile of his Deputy National Security Adviser (and alter-ego), Ben Rhodes.
Rhodes is the architect of Obama's Cuba and Iran policy, which use the exact same playbook.
Both policies are literally a figment of Rhodes' imagination, who is a former fiction writer with no foreign policy experience. They are void of reality (repressive nature of these regimes), ignore key facts (totalitarian apparatus) and peddle false narratives (moderates vs. hardliners).
These dangerously deceptive policies -- full of campaign-style spin -- were peddled by Rhodes through manufactured "echo chambers" that sold hacks to inexperienced journalists as "experts".
These inexperienced journalists, who Rhodes (apparently disdains) and brags "literally know nothing", then proceed to "say things that validated what we had given them to say."
Rhodes also flippantly dismisses any opposing views.
It's no wonder that the crowning achievement of Obama's Cuba policy seems to be an upcoming episode of Keeping Up With Kardashians.
Meanwhile, in Cuba, political repression is at a historic high, a new emigration crisis has unfolded, religious persecution has intensified, nepotism is taking hold and military monopolies are enjoying a bonanza.
Because none of these consequences were thought through in advance -- and with their manipulation of the media, they figured no one would notice.
The sad part is that the victims -- both in Cuba and Iran -- are real people, not characters in a fiction novel.
Again, read this New York Times profile.