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Related: About this forumThe USA as Judge, Jury and Executioner: The Punishment of Cuba
Weekend Edition November 21-23, 2014
The USA as Judge, Jury and Executioner
The Punishment of Cuba
by WILLIAM BLUM
For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling Cuba an international pariah. We havent heard that for a very long time. 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 Washingtons policy may be subject to even more criticism than usual due to the widespread recognition of Cubas response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Each fall 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.
Speaking before the General Assembly before last years vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez declared: The economic damages accumulated after half a century as a result of the implementation of the blockade amount to $1.126 trillion. He added that the blockade has been further tightened under President Obamas administration, some 30 US and foreign entities being hit with $2.446 billion in fines due to their interaction with Cuba.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/21/the-punishment-of-cuba/
Zorro
(15,749 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,623 posts)Osama Bin Laden, Bradley Manning and Me
by WILLIAM BLUM
Bradley Manning has the charge of Aiding the enemy hanging over his head. This could lead to a sentence of life in prison. As far as can be deduced, the government believes that the documents and videos that Manning gave to Wikileaks, which Wikileaks then widely distributed to international media, aided the enemy because it put US foreign policy in a very bad light.
Mannings attorneys have asked the prosecution more than once for specific examples of how the enemy (whoever that may refer to in a world full of people bitterly angry at the United States because of any of many terrible acts carried out by the US government) has been aided by the Wikileaks disclosures. Just how has the enemy made use of the released material to harm the United States? The government has not provided any such examples, probably because what really bothers Washington officials is the embarrassment they have experienced before the world resulting from the documents and videos; which indeed are highly embarrassing even to genuine war criminals; filled with violations of international law, atrocities, multiple lies to everyone, revelations of gross hypocrisy, and much more.
So our splendid officials are considering putting Bradley Manning in prison forever simply because theyre embarrassed. Hard to find much fault with that.
But now the prosecutors have announced that a Navy Seal involved in the killing of Osama bin Laden is going to testify at the court martial that bin Laden possessed articles about the Wikileaks documents that Manning leaked. Well, there must be a hundred million other people in the world who have Americas-Deadliest-Export-cover-191x300similar material on their computers. The question remains: What use did the enemy make of that?
The Iraqi government made use of the material, inducing them to refuse immunity to US troops for crimes committed in Iraq, such as the cold-blooded murders revealed by the Wilileaks videos; this in turn led the US to announce that it was ending its military engagement in Iraq. However, Manning was indicted in May 2010, well before the Iraqi decision to end the immunity.
In January, 2006 bin Laden, in an audio tape, declared: If Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book Rogue State [by William Blum], which states in its introduction
He then went on to quote the opening of a paragraph I wrote (which appears actually in the Foreword of the British edition only, that was later translated to Arabic), which in full reads:
If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize very publicly and very sincerely to all the widows and the orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. I would then announce that Americas global interventions including the awful bombings have come to an end. And I would inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but oddly enough a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings and invasions. There would be more than enough money. Do you know what one year of the US military budget is equal to? One year. Its equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born.
Thats what Id do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, Id be assassinated.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/13/osama-bin-laden-bradley-manning-and-me/
Zorro
(15,749 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)If so, could you provide some other credible source that contradicts the numbers provided in the OP?
It's astonishing how unpopular our policies are all over the world. Our only friend appears to be Israel. But they're not very popular either.
Btw, Uzbekistan, is that the same Uzbekistan whose leader is one of the world's most notorious, genocidal Dictators, Karamov I believe?
Nice company we keep, no?