<\/strong>Despite its illegal nature, the economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba has been the centerpiece of US policy toward the island since the victory of the revolution in 1959. This policy is what Noam Chomsky<\/a> describes as \u201cWashington\u2019s hysterical obsession with crushing Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several reasons for this obsession. At the end of the 19th century, Cuba was incorporated into the United States as a neocolony. From then on, the US controlled significant parts of the Cuban economy and did not want to lose that control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above all, it was unacceptable for a country located barely 180 km from the United States to take a progressive course, as this could encourage other countries to follow suit. Therefore, this revolution had to be nipped in the bud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a 1960 US Foreign Ministry memorandum<\/a>, \u201cevery possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba.\u201d The objective was to \u201cto decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly thereafter, the Eisenhower administration imposed an embargo that would later become an economic blockade (in addition to pressuring other countries to end economic relations with Cuba). The first objective of the economic sanctions was to put an end to the revolution and, if that failed, to damage the country as much as possible so that Cuban socialism would not be an example for other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n That example applies not only to Latin America but also to the United States itself. A quarter of US citizens say that they or a family member postpones treatment for a serious illness because of the cost<\/a>. Studying is reserved only for the very wealthy or for students willing to take on substantial debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Cuba, such situations are unthinkable. There, being sick or studying is not a luxury. Purchasing power is much lower than in the United States, but health care and education are free. A black resident in the United States dies on average six years earlier than a Cuban<\/a>, and infant mortality<\/a> in Cuba is lower than in the \u201cland of the free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By trial and error, Cuba has managed to build a different kind of society that does not focus on profit, but on the social, intellectual, and cultural development of its people. Despite severe economic sanctions, Cuba ranks around the average of the OECD, a club of rich countries, in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, education levels, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cuba achieves this high social score with a per capita income eight times<\/a> lower than that of the United States. If Cuba is capable of achieving so much with so few resources and despite the blockade, what would the United States not be capable of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, 30,000 Cuban healthcare workers<\/a> are working in 66 countries, including Italy<\/a>. In the last 60 years, Cuban doctors have treated two billion people<\/a> around the world. If the United States and Europe made the same effort as Cuba, together they would send more than two million doctors to the world and the shortage of health personnel in the South would be solved overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The longest and most extensive economic blockade in history Under Trump, the isolation intensified to unprecedented levels with 243 new tough sanctions and the inclusion of Cuba on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT), which excludes Cuba from international banking transactions and makes it increasingly difficult to purchase basic necessities such as fuel, food, medicine, and hygiene products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden has kept these tightened sanctions fairly intact, with disastrous consequences. As a result, there are now shortages of food, medicine, and fuel in Cuba. During the pandemic, the US even prevented respirators from being supplied to Cuba at a time when the country urgently needed them, resulting in many deaths. According to the UN convention (Article II, b and c), the blockade can be qualified as genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The extraterritorial nature of the blockade makes it impossible or risky for European companies and financial institutions to establish economic relations with Cuba. This is a flagrant violation of international law and an attack on European sovereignty<\/a>. But the European Union submits to this slavery and, thus, becomes an accomplice to the US sanctions regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November last year, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned the US blockade against Cuba for the 30th consecutive year. The only country apart from the United States that refused to condemn the blockade was Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is, therefore, interesting to examine that country and its relationship with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most destructive military campaigns in history According to experts<\/a>, the military campaign in Gaza is \u201cone of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history.\u201d Civilians are being killed, and entire neighborhoods are being leveled to the ground on a scale that could be described as industrial, and it is being done with the help of cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In little more than four months, more children<\/a> have died<\/a> in Gaza than in four years of wars around the world. Similar figures have been recorded for the number of journalists killed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to these destructive carpet bombings, Israel is deliberately starving the Palestinian civilian population, according to a senior UN expert<\/a>. Officially, Israel\u2019s goal is to eliminate Hamas. However, the ferocity and cruelty of the operation show that it is an excuse to make Gaza uninhabitable and completely deport the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without Egyptian resistance and international pressure<\/a>, the population of the Gaza Strip could have been expelled to the Sinai desert<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled that, in any case, there is sufficient evidence<\/a> to investigate Israel on charges of genocide. For Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, \u201cthe threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide has been crossed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Racism and militarism Israel has rightly been described<\/a> as \u201cthe most racist state in the world.\u201d The creation of the Jewish state in 1948 was accompanied by a mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing of about half of the Palestinian population. Thereafter, the Israeli state strove to have as few Palestinian people as possible in as much annexed territory as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel quadrupled its territory and thereafter began the active colonization of the West Bank, where the Palestinian population suffers humiliation and deprivation. Thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been abducted and held for years without trial in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that is nothing compared to Gaza. Its population has been under a total blockade since 2007. The Gaza Strip has become nothing less than a concentration camp. It is not for nothing that Amnesty International called Israel an\u00a0apartheid state<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel is also probably the most militaristic state<\/a> in the world. After Qatar, Israel is the country that spends the most per capita on the military<\/a>. Civil society is completely permeated by soldiers and military installations. With mandatory military service for all men and women and reserve service for the entire Jewish population until they turn 40, Israeli Jews constantly alternate between the role of civilian and soldier, and the line between the two is blurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Israeli military industry is one of the most advanced in the world. Its success is based on two things. Firstly, it is based on compulsory military service, which selects<\/a> the best scientific and technological minds for defense research and development units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, it is based on the policy of colonization and regular military wars against Gaza. The Palestinian population is an excellent training target<\/a> for the security industry. The latest security gadgets or attack techniques are tested on them. In other words, it is \u201cbattle-tested\u201d weaponry. The wars in Gaza are excellent \u201cpractical exercises\u201d for the Israeli military-industrial complex\u2019s latest weapons and drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel currently has some\u00a0600 companies<\/a>\u00a0exporting security technologies and services. Annually, they export over\u00a0$12 billion<\/a>\u00a0worth of weapons (equivalent to 2.6% of its GDP). The track record of these\u00a0arms\u00a0deliveries<\/a>\u00a0makes one\u2019s blood run cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel sold arms to the South African apartheid government in 1975 and even agreed to supply nuclear warheads. Napalm and other weapons were supplied to El Salvador during the 1980-1992 counterinsurgency wars, which killed more than 75,000 civilians (out of a population of five million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli bullets, rifles, and grenades were used in the Rwandan genocide that killed at least 800,000 people. In September 2023, Israel delivered drones, rockets, and mortars to Azerbaijan for its campaign to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and displace 100,000 Armenians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not just a matter of arms exports. Since its inception, Israel has supported a whole series of right-wing regimes and military dictatorships<\/a>. The Israeli military put its accumulated experience and expertise at the disposal of the most brutal regimes in the last century: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bloodiest participation took place in Guatemala. Israel participated behind the scenes in one of the most violent counterrevolutionary campaigns that the western hemisphere has experienced since the colonization of the American continent. More than 200,000 people, mostly indigenous Guatemalans, died in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Syrian proxy war, Israel collaborated with jihadist fighters from both Al Qaeda<\/a> and Islamic State<\/a>. Among other things, the terrorists could count on medical treatment in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why are the West and Israel such close friends? In 1989, the US granted Israel the status of \u201cmajor non-NATO ally<\/a>,\u201d which gave it access to extensive weapons systems. Israel was the first country to receive a US-made F-35\u00a0fighter jets,<\/a>\u00a0the most advanced in the world. The US also helped fund and produce Iron Dome, Israel\u2019s missile defense system.<\/p>\n\n\n If the US exerts any political pressure on Israel, for example, to allow more humanitarian aid, it is purely for Biden\u2019s electoral reasons and to save face as far as possible in the eyes of world public opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s ties with Europe are also strong. Israel has an economic partnership agreement with the European Union, which is also its largest trading partner. Scientific collaboration is intense. \u201cHorizon Europe\u201d is the European Union\u2019s main funding program for research and innovation in Israel, with a budget of \u20ac95.5 billion<\/a> over a seven-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, Europe is also a major supplier of arms to Israel. Nearly a quarter of all weapons imported by Israel come from Germany and Italy. After the 1956 Suez War, France provided nuclear assistance<\/a> to Israel, enabling it to become a nuclear power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the murder of 224<\/a> aid workers, some 100 journalists<\/a>, over 13,000<\/a> children, and 8,400 women, and the starvation of more than two million civilians, there is still no sign of sanctions from Europe. What other atrocities will Israel have to commit before Europe takes action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much ado about nothing from Europe continues. Weapons continue to leave European ports for Israel and the Zionist state can participate in the Eurovision Music Contest without any problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question then arises as to why the United States and the West continue to unconditionally support a terrorist regime. The main reason is not far to seek and has to do with Israel\u2019s highly strategic location. Israel is situated in the Middle East, a region where 48% of the world\u2019s oil reserves<\/a> and 40% of its gas reserves are located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This region also connects Europe with Asia and is crucial for international trade. Around 30%<\/a> of all the world\u2019s maritime containers pass through the nearby Suez Canal. The region is also crucial for China\u2019s New Silk Roads<\/a> or its counterpart, the so-called India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel can be considered a US military base with a very reliable partner, helping to keep this strategic region under control. Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a>, nephew of President John F. Kennedy, put it sharply: \u201cIsrael\u2026 is almost like having an aircraft carrier in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel is the policeman of the region. Since its creation, Israel has successfully fought several wars against neighboring Arab states. The Israeli army regularly carries out raids or attacks against countries or groups unaligned to the West: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past, Washington could rely on three other allies (Iran, Saudi Arabia, and T\u00fcrkiye) for its geopolitical agenda in the region. Since 1979, it has lost Iran\u2019s support. And in recent years, Saudi Arabia and even T\u00fcrkiye have followed an increasingly independent path. This leaves Israel as the only irreplaceable US ally left in this pivotal region. It should be remembered that Israel is also the only country with nuclear weapons in the Middle East. That explains why it can indulge in almost anything and act with almost total impunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Farce In light of how the United States and Europe treat Israel and Cuba, this is a farce. The so-called \u201crules-based international order\u201d is a smokescreen to hide the reality: pure economic and geostrategic interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/resumen-english.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/4-24-marc-x.jpg?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1\")
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<\/strong>Is that also why Cuba is in the spotlight so much? In any case, the US government itself declares<\/a> the blockade against Cuba as \u201cone of the most comprehensive US sanctions against any country.\u201d The objective is to economically isolate the island from the rest of the world as much as possible and, thus, harm it as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>While Cuba has been in the US crosshairs for more than 60 years and is suffering the longest economic blockade in history, Israel can afford almost anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>This mass slaughter is not an excess, but the offspring and perhaps the culmination of the ancient Zionist dream of ruling the region from \u201cthe sea to the Jordan valley,\u201d as stated in Netanyahu\u2019s party charter<\/a>. This Zionist dream<\/a> can only be realized through racism and militarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>For all this disrepute, one would expect the United States and the West to treat Israel as a pariah state. But, in fact, it does just the opposite. Since its inception, Israel has been the largest recipient<\/a> of US foreign aid. In total, it has received some $300 billion in economic and military aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/resumen-english.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/4-24-mv.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
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In any case, Washington\u2019s extremely generous support has made Israel the strongest military power in the region, hands down. Not even genocide and one war crime after another stops the money coming in. On the contrary, after the war on Gaza, the White House approved a massive $14.5 billion<\/a> aid package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>If we are to believe Western leaders, their policies are based on values and good intentions. In his own words, Biden<\/a> bases his foreign relations on \u201cupholding universal rights, respecting the rule of law, and treating every person with dignity.\u201d The Treaty of the European Union states<\/a> that the Union is based on values such as \u201crespect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n