Quotable: "The embargo has been working all along"

I'd been wondering if there were anyone willing to mount a semi-coherent defense of the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Enter Gordon Chang on Commentary's blog:

An embargo helped kill communism in Europe, and it can also end it in the Caribbean. One day we will establish normal trading relations with Cuba, but that should not be before the people there govern themselves. “The post-Fidel era is clearly at hand, and the Bush administration has done almost nothing to prepare for it,” the New York Times said. Prepare for what? The embargo has been working all along, and it is up to the Cuban dictators to relax their grip, not us.

Fifty more years!

UPDATE: A commenter chez Yglesias fires off this gem:

Maybe the embargo's goal was to force Castro to grow old and ultimately retire after almost five decades in power. In which case: success! Just think how much younger he'd still be if we'd traded with him.