THE GREATEST THREAT FOR WORLD
PEACE.
In
some parts of the world the United States ranks even higher as a perceived
menace to world peace, notably in the Middle East where overwhelming majorities
regard the US and its close ally Israel as the major threats they face, not the
US – Israeli favorite; Iran. Few Latin Americans are likely to question the judgment
of Cuban nationalist hero. The further they draw away from the United States the freer and
more prosperous the Latin American people will be Marti’s judgment has been
confirmed in recent years, once again by an analysis of poverty by the UN economic
commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
According
to the UN surveys it is indicated that far reaching performs have sharply
reduced poverty in Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela and some other countries where US
influence is slight but that it remains abysmal in others-namely those that
have long been under US domination, like Guatemala and Honduras. Even in relatively
wealthy Mexico, under the umbrella of the North American Free Trade agreement
poverty is severe, with one million added to the numbers of the poor in 2013. Sometimes
the reasons for the world’s concerns are obliquely recognized in the United
States, as when former CIA director Michael Hayden, discussing Obama’s drone
murder campaign, conceded that Right now there is not a government on the
planet that agrees with our legal rationale for these operations except for Afghanistan
and maybe Israel.
A normal country would be concerned by how it
is viewed in the world. Certainly that would be true of a country committed to
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind, to quote the Founding Fathers. But
the United States is far from a normal country. It has had the most powerful
economy in the world for a century, and has had no real challenge to its global
hegemony since World War II, despite some decline partly self-administered. The
US conscious of soft power, undertakes major campaigns of public diplomacy (aka
propaganda) to create a favourable image, sometimes accompanied by worthwhile
policies that are welcomed.
When
the world persists in believing that the United States is by far the greatest
threat to peace, the American press scarcely reports the fact. The ability to
ignore unwanted facts is one of the prerogatives of unchallenged power.
A
current example can be seen in the laments about the escalating Sunni-Shiite
conflict that is tearing apart the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
The prevailing theme of US commentary is that this strife is a terrible
consequence of the withdrawal of American forces from the region a lesson in
the dangers of isolationism. The opposite is more nearly correct. The roots of
the conflict within Islam are many and varied, but is cannot be seriously
denied that the split was significantly exacerbated by the American and British
led invasion of Iraq. And it can not be too often repeated that aggression was
defined at the Nuremberg Trials as the supreme international crime, differing
from others in that it encompasses all the evil that follows, including the
current catastrophe.
When
Mandela at last obtained his freedom, he declared that during all my years in
prison, Cuba was an inspiration and Fidel Castro a tower of strength. What other
country can point to a record of greater selflessness than Cuba has displayed
in its relations to Africa? Today the names of Cubans who died defending Angola
from US-backed South African aggression, defying American demands that they
leave the country are inscribed on the Wall of Names in Pretoria’s Freedom
Park. The thousands of Cuban aid workers who sustained Angola largely at Cuban expenses
are also not forgotten.
The
US approved version is quite different. From the first days after South Africa
agreed to withdraw from illegally occupied Namibia in 1988 paving the way for
the end of apartheid, the outcome was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a
splendid achievement of American diplomacy one of the most significant foreign
policy achievements of the Reagan administration. The reasons why Mandela and
South Africans perceive a radically different picture are spelled out in PieroGleijeses masterful
scholarly inquiry visions of Freedom. Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the
Struggle for Southern Africa 1976-1991.
South
Africa’s aggression and terrorism in Angola and its occupation of Namibia were
ended by Cuban military might accompanied by fierce black resistance within
South Africa and the courage of Namibian guerrillas. The Namibian liberation
forces easily won fair elections as soon as these were possible. Similarly in
elections in Angola the Cuban backed government prevailed while the United
States continued to support vicious opposition terrorists there even after
South Africa was compelled to back away. To the end the Reignites remained
virtually alone in their strong support for the apartheid regime and its
murderous depredations in neighboring countries. Though these shameful episodes
may be wiped out of internal US history others are likely to understand Mandela’s
words. In these and all too many other cases supreme power does provide
protection against reality to a point.
