This doesn't have anything to do with either Vancouver or Oakland, but damn it all if this doesn't pick my ass.
I agree entirely with "Hollywood Oz". I'm no fan of the government of Cuba. I used to be involved with an organization called PEN, which puts pressure on the Cuban government to release dissident writers from jail. As "Hollywood Oz" correctly points out, Bush, Paul Martin, and Gordon Campbell deliberately encourage increasing trade with China, which has a far more unsavory government than Cuba's.
And once again, Bush has handed Castro a propaganda victory. Castro can tell the Cuban people that this is just another example of an unsuccessful attempt by the nasty capitalists to keep Cuba down. If, instead, Bush had done nothing (treating the WBC in the same way as the Olympics and other major international competitions), every baseball fan in Cuba knows that most of Cuba's top players have either fled the country to play in the major leagues (Jose Contreras, Livan Hernandez, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez) or have been kept off the national team because they might flee (Kendry Morales, Barbaro Canizares). Plus, defections are a big embarassment for the Castro regime, and international events of this nature provide opportunities for defections; Contreras, for example, jumped ship during the Americas Cup in 2002, and Rolando Arrojo defected during the 1996 Olympics.
Update on January 22: The U.S. government has relented, and Cuba will be allowed to compete. Story from the Los Angeles Times: Cuba Is Back in the Game
