Cuba embargo condemned in U.N.

Once again, we see Bush's disdain for the U.N, unless it is to pressure that body into cleaning up Bush's various messes. For example, faced with grim reports of collapsed Iraqi infrastructure, child mortality and malnutrition, lack of clean water, a medical system unable to deal with cholera outbreaks, etc. Bush has glibly suggested that the U.N. should be the one to solve those problems. Apparently we are in Iraq to do the ungrateful world a great favour by chasing terrorists from one province to another, so the least the world could do is to handle all of the complications springing from the occupation.

The U.N. also has failed to rally around Bush's extremely hazy 'plan' to wage an air war against Iran. The only thing that has prevented U.N. sanctions against Israel for several years now is the U.S. veto power on the Security Council. But when the U.N. made a heavily-qualified and conditional endorsement of military action against Saddam, the U.N. was praised by Bush and it was "the world against Saddam".

Now it is the world against Bush, however. The U.S. embargo against Cuba, which the U.S. has had no hesitation to bully other nations into complying with, has now been condemned by the U.N. in a 184-4 vote with one abstention. It's hard to get the world so unified, but Bush has set his mind to it with a bully approach and his "with us or against us" mindset. Those in the "with us" camp are expected to exhaust their militaries and treasuries and back whatever crazy scheme the Decider dreams up, and also mouth increasingly-bizzare defences of Israel's actions. Do those in the "with us" camp get preferential treatment or increased aid? No, but they get photo ops with the Decider and a pat on the head. It's no wonder that the "against us" camp is growing.

In fairness, the embargo against Cuba has been backed by Democrats as well in the past. However, it's only now that the world has seen fit to stand up against U.S. foreign policy so unanimously, and that is because of Bush. The idea that a tiny island could militarily threaten the giant U.S. has long produced ridicule from the rest of the planet, but these thoughts were expressed most often in private. Slowly, countries such as Canada moved away from involvement in the embargo. So Bush, devoid of any credibility and having no political capital in the global community, once again pushed for the world to follow our lead in Cuba. And the world apparently flipped him off.

Consider that the primary "moderate" plan to get us out of Iraq is for the "international community" to increase their presence there. With the vast majority of the globe increasingly aligning itself against Bush's foreign policies, what chance does that approach have?

Cuba celebrates diplomatic victory over U.S

Cuba Wednesday hailed a new appeal made by the United Nations, which urged Washington to lift an economic and trade embargo against the Caribbean country.

"Crushing victory," "historic record" and "overwhelming support to Cuba" are some of the most repeated phrases in the media that reported Cuba's diplomatic victory Tuesday, when the world body asked the United States to lift the blockade by 184 votes in favor, four against and one abstention.

The vote also implicated an implicit condemnation of Washington as the UN suggests that the embargo has infringed the UN Charter and international law, analysts said.

Tuesday's voting at the UN General Assembly demonstrated a unanimous rejection of the embargo throughout the five continents, including all Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, they said.

Washington's hostile policy toward Cuba has been rejected by an overwhelming majority of UN member countries, analysts added.

According to the Cuban government, the embargo, which was imposed in 1962 by former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, has caused an 89-billion-U.S. dollar economic loss to Cuba, as well as immeasurable damage and deaths to the country's inhabitants.

The UN has asked the United States in a number of resolutions to end the embargo, but Washington has refused to do so.

Source: Xinhua