Welcome to Beg to

Differ. The Bullworks Weekly Roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation

across the political spectrum from center left to center right.

I'm Mona Charon, syndicated columnist and policy editor at the Bullwork and I'm joined by our regulars

Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution in the Wall Street Journal,

Damon Linker of the Week, and Linda Chavez of the Niskanin Center.

Our special guest this week is Elliot Abrams, Senior

Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a veteran of the State Department

under Presidents Reagan, George W Bush, and Trump.

Welcome, one and all.

Our first topic that Elliot is joining us to discuss

is what is happening in Cuba.

Thousands upon thousands of people poured into the streets a couple of weeks ago chanting

freedom, freedom, we are not afraid.

They have transformed the old castro white slogan of Patria O'Morte and changed it to

Patria I Vida, which is instead of Fatherland or death, it's now Fatherland and life.

And one of the lines of the song that they have been singing is,

May no more blood flow for desiring to think differently. So the regime has

responded with a crackdown and of course it has ignited debate in this country about our policies

toward Cuba. So Elliot I want to start with you. What do you make of the argument that this is the result of the US embargo and that the obvious

answer as a full page ad in the New York Times, signed by some of the usual suspects like Oliver Stone and

Nome Chomsky and Jane Fonda argued that that's the answer is to end the embargo and Cuba will you know that

...