Step One: Realistic Empathy

I will address the specifics on US/Cuba negotiations soon, but first say that I belong to the idea proposed by James Blight and Philip Brenner, from their excellent book "Sad and Luminous Days".

Blight, researcher from the Watson Institute for International Studies and with a background in psychology, and Brenner, a foreign policy professor from American University and advisory board member of the National Security Archives, propose the idea of "realistic empathy".

I will finish posting for today with this excerpt from their book explaining "realistic empathy".

"Our analysis of US-Cuba relations is rooted in an approach we call realistic empathy, which interprets a conflict by putting oneself in the shoes of each side. From the Cuban perspective, what is central to the struggle with the United States is the asymmetry between the two countries. Cuba is a small country, and the United States is the most powerful country that has ever existed. This approach makes clear why it is necessary for the United States to take the first steps in ending the hostility between the two countries." (p.xxvii)

"... the problem with US policy lies not so much in the real threat it poses to the Cuban revolution - those days are long past - but in how it appears to threaten Cuba."(p.160)


Source: Blight, James G. and Philip Brenner. (2002). Sad and luminous days: Cuba's struggle with the superpowers after the missile crisis. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishing