The memorandum of understanding between Bermuda and Cuba has finally been released.

On the face of it, it does not commit Bermuda to very much. It allows for Bermuda and Cuba to cross-promote different events and it gives Bermuda the opportunity to work with a Cuban professional services agency, for whatever that?s worth.

If this agreement was being made with almost any government other than Cuba, then it would seem inconsequential.

It would be fair to ask why it was necessary at all; much of what is proposed happens between private entities already, or between the Government and other governments. Just look at Bermuda?s involvement in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and so on.

And as has been pointed out, there cultural exchanges between Bermuda and Cuba are already occurring.

The distinction is that this is an agreement between governments and that begs two questions. The first is why is this being done with Cuba when it is not being done with others and the second is what does this say about the relationship between the Bermuda Government and Cuba?s.

What is it that is so special about Cuba that Bermuda needs to have a formal agreement? Is it that Bermuda has so much in common with Cuban culture? No. Or is that the cultures are so different that there is a need for a special agreement? The answer again is no. Cuba?s culture is neither radically different nor radically similar.

That?s not to say that Cuba does not have a vibrant culture. It does, although many of the people who are the most daring in cultural terms are in prison, sometimes for having the gall to read books that are considered to be a menace to Fidel Castro?s regime.

But in signing this memorandum, Bermuda does go some way to legitimising that very regime and the way it dictates what Cuba?s intellectual climate should be.

The truth is that Bermuda, in time-honoured tradition, wants to have it both ways.

It has been argued ? and the British Government has essentially taken this position ? that engagement is the best way to end Castro?s regime or at least to usher in democracy and free markets when Castro dies.

In the same way that exposure to Western art and culture and selling blue jeans on Red Square helped to bring about the demise of the Eastern Bloc, so exposing Cubans to western ways through travel, business and cultural exchanges will bring down the Cuban dictatorship.

There is merit in this argument, and it is also clear that the US embargo is failing. As Sarah Titterton reported in recently, the embargo may actually help Castro to retain power.

So Bermuda could actively pursue this form of engagement in the hopes that it would stop the human rights abuses and Police state traditions that are prevalent in Cuba.

It would have to do so at the same time that it condemned the actions of the Cuban government.

But it has done neither. It has signed an agreement with the Cuban government which is insists is inconsequential. But it has not condemned the activities of Cuba, even though Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler said he raised them in his meetings.

So Bermuda is caught in the worst of all worlds. It has signed an agreement that will not help Bermuda with its largest trading partner and traditional ally, the United States.

And Bermuda has also failed to elucidate just what it hopes to gain from the agreement and what its purpose is.

Bermuda has revealed itself to be a hypocrite and has seemingly done so for no reason at all.