*It’s that time again. Earlier this week the Cuban embargo came up for debate and vote at the United Nations’ General Assembly. The formal resolution: “The
necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” And once again–for the 20th
time–the U.S. was made to look like a geopolitical bully and hypocrite. Every previous vote has been overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution. Last year it was 187-2 with 3 abstentions. For the record, Israel voted with the U.S. The abstainers were those three Pacific Island heavyweights: Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Virtually the same score this time with a vote of 186-2-3.
The rest of the world sees the U.S. embargo for what it is. A political grandstand to appease the Cuban-exile base that still wields a vendetta veto over a certain segment of American foreign policy.
It’s a cop-out for the Obama Administration to claim it inherited this counterproductive policy. It knows better. The embargo damages American standing in Latin America, harms our image across the globe, is humanely indefensible and even costs American jobs. The Obama Administration should be ashamed.
*So John McCain thinks Iran ally Syria should be next up for military intervention in the Middle East, even though the Obama Administration has made clear Syria is not Libya. For openers, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pointed out, the Syrian opposition hasn’t even called for such action against the Assad regime. She also could have pointed out that McCain still believes Vietnam was a good idea.
*A recent headline proclaimed: “Libya Declared a Liberated State.” “Liberated,” however, is a relative term. With militias still in control, with regime change
punctuated by the grisly, lynch mob-like execution of the previous leader and the imposition of Islamic law looming, perhaps that headline should have read: “Libya Declared a Gadhafi-Free State.” That’s the less-than-idealized reality on the ground.
*It’s not totally clear what’s behind Iran’s vociferous denial of accusations that it had orchestrated a recent plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador inside the U.S. The plot ostensibly involved a hit man from a Mexican narco-terror group who turned out to be a U.S. informant. Is Iran outraged that the U.S. would fabricate such an insidious charge or embarrassed that they have been outted for such a rank-amateur, murder-for-hire plot?