The Western world is hiding in the corner, averting its gaze as the US moves ever-closer to yet another war of aggression this time against the small, impoverished island nation of Cuba, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio signalling that a US war on Cuba is almost inevitable.
The US indictment of the 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro last week is a classic pre-invasion propaganda manoeuvre. Another recent example is the US charade about fighting for democracy in Iran before killing hundreds of Iranian children on the first day of the war, and thousands of other civilians in the days that followed.
Luis Ernesto Morejón Rodríguez, Cuba’s ambassador to New Zealand, told me this week: “Cuba maintains that this accusation forms part of a broader escalation of political pressure and efforts to criminalise its historic leadership.”
It’s impossible to tell for sure – but it is hard not to wonder if the US is trying to create a distraction from its disastrous war of aggression against Iran, by launching a war of aggression against Cuba.
The long US strangulation of Cuba started the year I was born – 1959 – and has continued my entire life. The crime Cuba committed – an assertion of sovereignty and refusal of US domination. That determination was on full display recently – on May Day – when over 500,000 people marched in Havana to condemn the US pressure campaign and to celebrate Cuban sovereignty.
Shame on the men and women who stand back and watch this latest American crime. Shame on Canadian PM Mark Carney, for his fine speeches about international law, that are now ringing hollow. Shame on all those Western leaders, who have, for decades, turned a blind eye every time the Americans went abroad and did their evil work.
Marco Rubio says Cuba is a “national security threat” to the US. This would be laughable, if it weren’t the prelude to a crime. The reflexively mendacious Rubio said this week that the chances of a diplomatic outcome were slim: “I’m just being honest with you, you know, the likelihood of that happening, given who we’re dealing with right now, is not high.”
At the UN this year the overwhelming majority of nations, including my own (New Zealand), voted to support the resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
The United Nations Charter is the document we should all turn to and respect in moments like these. As Ambassador Rodriguez told me: “Any threat or use of force against Cuba would constitute a direct violation of fundamental principles of international law.” He made specific reference to core articles of the Charter, specifically:
- the sovereign equality of State
- non-interference in internal affairs
- the prohibition of the threat or use of force
- respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of State
- the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination.
Nowhere in the Charter does it say that our media should uncritically parrot whatever lies come out of Washington – suggesting Cuba somehow poses a clear and present danger to the country that has its knee on its neck. f political pressure and efforts to criminalise its historic leadership.”
Israel, according to global polling, is the most loathed country on the planet. The United States has seen its own standing in the world community of nations fall through the floor. Of the 68 countries surveyed in the Global Country Perceptions 2026 ranking, the US is 64th just four above Israel. Nira Data Global Pulse surveys show that globally people identify the United States as the main threat to humanity.
There is something creepy about the US, something to be shunned, feared and loathed by the global majority. Machiavelli may have said, “It is better to be feared than loved,” but he added “if you cannot be both.” Hatred, he warned, can lead to resistance.
The people of the earth are sick of the insanity, the incoherence, the endless cruelty and violence, the brute stupidity of the American empire. Enough, already!
I weep for Palestine, I weep for Iran and for so many other countries that have suffered from American power. I fear for Cuba and the long-suffering Cuban people. I stand with the people of Cuba. I stand for the United Nations Charter and, above all, for respect for the territorial integrity of states.
The UN Charter tells us that the Cuban people, not the US, should determine the social, political and economic systems of their country.
Cuba Libre!
Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz.