Jose Manuel Palli, El Nuevo Herald

The world seems about to spin out of its axis — without waiting for the Mayan calendar — and there is almost no indication, whether you look to Washington or Brussels, of anything sensible and daring being done to stop it, other than hitting the replay button. It is as if an epidemic had struck, a virus compelling us to “dance with the one that brung ya.” The one saving grace is that, at the rate American banks are losing their “leaders” to European politics, Wall Street may soon be depleted.

It feels like watching a “Jenga” game — where the loser is the player who pulls out the little wood piece that brings the wobbly tower down — where nobody wants to make a move.

But wait, there is one guy who is actually playing, and his name is Raúl. Yes, “that” Raúl. He may not be making the changes we would make. But Cuba’s Jenga tower — arguably as wobbly as they come — is being tinkered with by a player that seems willing to take risks few of his counterparts in the free world want to face.