Julian E. Barnes

And that would be a real win.

It would not be regime change.

It would not be a total change in communist rule, but it would be a meaningful step forward.

That is a very important point and one that we can't lose sight of.

Inside the United States, there is a big constituency, an important constituency, an influential constituency for regime change in Cuba.

Cuban Americans have wanted for years and years to end communist control of Cuba.

Anything that is short of that is going to feel inadequate.

On the other hand,

The Trump administration knows that sometimes when they reach for the big goal, they fall short.

And when they reach for the smaller, they can be more successful.

Yes.

If you remember, on the night of the Iran war this year, President Trump delivered a video address to the nation and he talked expansively about war goals.

He talked about regime change.

He called on the Iranian people to rise up.

And pushing for regime change is not a narrow mission.

It is not something that is easy to achieve.

It's something that the U.S.

has struggled with in war after war.

They can do it, but it usually requires a very big ground force and unleashes forces that are out of anyone's control.

Iran is a mess.