For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling 
 Cuba an "international pariah."

We don’t hear that any more. Perhaps 
 one reason is the annual vote in the United Nations General Assembly 
 on the resolution which reads: "Necessity of ending the economic, 
 commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of 
 America against Cuba."

This is how the vote has gone (not including 
abstentions), this year being the strongest condemnation yet
 of Washington’s policy:



        Yes and No Votes    States Voting No


1992 59-2 US, Israel


1993 88-4 US, Israel, Albania, Paraguay


1994 101-2 US, Israel


1995 117-3 US, Israel, Uzbekistan


1996 138-3 US, Israel, Uzbekistan


1997 143-3 US, Israel, Uzbekistan


1998 157-2 US, Israel


1999 155-2 US, Israel


2000 167-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands


2001 167-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands


2002 173-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands


2003 179-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands


2004 179-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau


2005 182-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau


2006 183-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau


2007 184-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau


2008 185-3 US, Israel, Palau


2009 187-3 US, Israel, Palau


2010 187-2 US, Israel



Is the United States foreign policy establishment capable of being 
 embarrassed?



Each fall, however, the UN vote is a welcome reminder that the world 
 has not completely lost its senses and that the American empire does 
 not completely control the opinion of other governments.



How did it begin? On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant 
 Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, wrote in an internal 
 memorandum: "The majority of Cubans support Castro … The only 
 foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through 
 disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and 
 hardship. … every possible means should be undertaken promptly to 
 weaken the economic life of Cuba."

Mallory proposed "a line of  action which … makes the greatest inroads in denying money and 
 supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about 
 hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

Later that year,  the Eisenhower administration instituted the suffocating embargo 
 against its eternally-declared enemy.



November 2, 2010

The Anti-Empire Report www.killinghope.org

http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer87.html