Loved this opinion piece on Cuba & US reconciling their differences after decades. It essentially explains, in a short summary, how Cuba will end up being a loser, once again, with the thawing of its relationship with business-minded imperialist America.
Couple of paragraphs beautifully summarize American control, direct & indirect, of other so-called sovereign nations, & how American foreign policy is geared towards causing internal strife, if & when, a particular country tries to not toe the American line.
First of these paragraphs is the 4th one in the article below that how Cuba's gangster past & violent history were a product of US government policies, to help make sure that Cuba was continually beset by violence. This feature of American foreign policy can easily be attributed to it when considering violence in Middle Eastern, African, South Asian, South East Asian, & Latin American countries. As I have pointed out in my blog posts multiple times that this violence helps Western developed countries (North American & European) with getting cheap labour (immigration), exorbitant debt loads on developing countries (hence, no investment in education, infrastructure, technology, healthcare etc.), arms & weapons exports (also helps in increasing debt load on developing countries), & of course, keeping the western developed countries as the patrons with whom developing countries will always look towards for any help.
On top of all that, foreign American, Canadian, & European companies get access to the inordinate amounts of riches developing countries have under them; namely, precious metals (diamonds, copper, gold etc.) & fossil fuels (oil & gas). Since, the developing countries are constantly involved in internal & external strife (as explained above & in the 4th paragraph in the article below), they are unable to invest in the development of infrastructure to fully exploit their own riches for their national advantage, & hence, these foreign companies come in & strike deals, which deprive the host nation of its riches for mere pennies in return. Human rights abuses by these companies in their host nations are another matter, which I won't discuss here, but a mere mention should be sufficient for now.
Another paragraph (last one in the article below) is essentially the summary of the opinion piece. It very nicely summarizes that the system of neoliberal plunder that has become the American trademark all over the world could easily be described as organised crime. The aggressive military policies of America ensures that this "system of neoliberal plunder" or "wealth" remains in the hands of a few elites at the top, who in turn, not only listen & follow their American masters, but keep their citizens in line, with the help of strict internal controls.
Countries, which decide to take the route of non-compliance with American demands are relegated to the Stone Age, with the help of American might (political, military, or media) & American friend, the UN. The recent history of past few decades is littered with countries which tried to defy America & how American media (which is pretty much all over the world) successfully did a smear campaign against those countries; Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Soviet Union, North Korea, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile & of course, Cuba. One after another, each of these countries either fell to American might or will in the near future, & when the dust settled, the civilian population of each of these countries, suffered the most. Millions died or have been displaced in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Chile, Vietnam, North Korea, & even in Cuba. So, as the opinion piece correctly surmises that Cuba, & its people, will end up being the loser after it becomes another conquest of America.
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In a recent blog post for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a prominent American membership organisation & think-tank, research associate Valerie Wirtschafter assesses the course of the "Cuban Renaissance" that is apparently now under way thanks to domestic reforms & the diplomatic thaw with the US.
Based on her own mid-Renaissance visit to Cuba earlier this year, Wirtschafter remarks on some counterintuitive aspects of the expanding tourism industry on the born-again island.
"The hotel industry in particular - including the State run Hotel Nacional in Havana - seems to glorify the country's gangster past, a violent history that partially spurred popular support for Fidel Castro's Revolution."
...
Nowhere does the article mention a certain - perhaps far more bewildering - fact: that Cuba's "gangster past" & "violent history" were largely a product of US government policies & machinations by the American Mafia. In the wake of Castro's triumph, both entities continued to help ensure that Cuba was continually beset by counter-revolutionary violence.
Gambling colony, gangster state
Historian Jack Colhoun documented the evolution of the nexus between the American state & organised crime in his exhaustively researched book "Gangsterismo: The United States, Cuba and the Mafia, 1933 to 1966".
Cuba's debut as what Colhoun called a "neocolony" of the US took place at the end of the 19th century when the latter intervened in the Cuban war of independence from Spain, effectively nipping the whole "independence" option in the bud & appointing itself Cuba's new master.
The arrangement led to the US appropriation of Cuban territory for a naval base-cum-future-torture-centre at Guantanamo Bay, along with other goodies. By the mid-20th century, Colhoun wrote, Cuba had become "a virtual economic appendage" of the US, with Americans controlling many of its sugar mills, railways, & utilities, & inundating the island with US brands.
The author detailed how the establishment of a "mafia gambling colony" in Cuba starting in the 1930s was facilitated by a special relationship between North American mobsters & Fulgencio Batista, two-time Cuban ruler & one-time dictator. Batista received a cut of the profits from mafia operations & oversaw the conversion of Cuba into a "full-fledged gangster state".
The casinos provided money-laundering opportunities for other lucrative businesses, as well. In 1946, the mafia-run Hotel Nacional hosted a summit of US underworld leaders to lay the foundations for converting the island into a heroin trafficking hub.
No beard, no revolution
When the Cuban revolution brought down the curtain on the gangster state, Colhoun explained, the mobsters regrouped with their corrupt political allies in the Cuban exile movement in the US, where they "squared the circle of gangsterismo" by plotting with the CIA to assassinate Castro.
The CIA also considered less terminal methods for dealing with the Cuban leader ... .
Both the CIA & the mafia sponsored commando raids & sabotage operations in Cuba, the 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion being merely one of the better known efforts on account of its grandiose failure.
As Colhoun demonstrated, the US joint chiefs of staff even pondered the option of shooting down a civilian airliner & blaming Cuba to serve as a pretext for military intervention. Another proposal entailed staging a "terror campaign" against Cuban exiles, for the same purpose.
Who needs conspiracy theorists when you've got the US government?
Of course, the US could not come right out & say what the real problem with Cuba was: that the revolution had killed the cash cow.
In order to justify its hostile approach to the island, the US instead cast it as an existential threat - over which it was apparently worth risking nuclear armageddon.
Towards a reconquest?
When the two nations finally began patching things up in December of last year, the BBC News observed that, "in Cuba, limited economic reforms carried out by [President] Raul Castro have begun to relax the tight grip of the state and pique the interest of American business".
But while the neoliberals salivate away about business prospects in Cuba, what are the prospects for the average Cuban?
For starters, as Wirtschafter acknowledged in her CFR post, Cuba's current healthcare system "actually provides for the people". That's one thing that can only go downhill in the event of a US economic reconquest of the island. After all, there are loads of profits to be made off of sick people. Ditto for education.
And while the White House claims that its efforts in Cuba are "aimed at promoting the independence of the Cuban people so they do not need to rely on the Cuban state", it is difficult to see how popular independence might be achieved via imperial meddling in a country that already offers universal access to food, shelter, medicine, & other basic rights.
Wirtschafter also noted that opening up the private sector in Cuba "has increased inequality" & that "as Cuban Americans begin to buy properties in Havana and elsewhere in the coming years, they will further exacerbate [socioeconomic] divisions." In other words, we'll be back to where we started.
All of this would no doubt be music to the ears of the American Mafia bosses who connived for years to terminate the Cuban revolution & its leaders.
But the gangsters aren't the only ones deserving flak. The system of neoliberal plunder that has become the US trademark worldwide - requiring aggressive military policies to ensure that the wealth remains in the hands of a few at the expense of the rest - could just as easily be described as organised crime.
Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine.
Couple of paragraphs beautifully summarize American control, direct & indirect, of other so-called sovereign nations, & how American foreign policy is geared towards causing internal strife, if & when, a particular country tries to not toe the American line.
First of these paragraphs is the 4th one in the article below that how Cuba's gangster past & violent history were a product of US government policies, to help make sure that Cuba was continually beset by violence. This feature of American foreign policy can easily be attributed to it when considering violence in Middle Eastern, African, South Asian, South East Asian, & Latin American countries. As I have pointed out in my blog posts multiple times that this violence helps Western developed countries (North American & European) with getting cheap labour (immigration), exorbitant debt loads on developing countries (hence, no investment in education, infrastructure, technology, healthcare etc.), arms & weapons exports (also helps in increasing debt load on developing countries), & of course, keeping the western developed countries as the patrons with whom developing countries will always look towards for any help.
On top of all that, foreign American, Canadian, & European companies get access to the inordinate amounts of riches developing countries have under them; namely, precious metals (diamonds, copper, gold etc.) & fossil fuels (oil & gas). Since, the developing countries are constantly involved in internal & external strife (as explained above & in the 4th paragraph in the article below), they are unable to invest in the development of infrastructure to fully exploit their own riches for their national advantage, & hence, these foreign companies come in & strike deals, which deprive the host nation of its riches for mere pennies in return. Human rights abuses by these companies in their host nations are another matter, which I won't discuss here, but a mere mention should be sufficient for now.
Another paragraph (last one in the article below) is essentially the summary of the opinion piece. It very nicely summarizes that the system of neoliberal plunder that has become the American trademark all over the world could easily be described as organised crime. The aggressive military policies of America ensures that this "system of neoliberal plunder" or "wealth" remains in the hands of a few elites at the top, who in turn, not only listen & follow their American masters, but keep their citizens in line, with the help of strict internal controls.
Countries, which decide to take the route of non-compliance with American demands are relegated to the Stone Age, with the help of American might (political, military, or media) & American friend, the UN. The recent history of past few decades is littered with countries which tried to defy America & how American media (which is pretty much all over the world) successfully did a smear campaign against those countries; Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Soviet Union, North Korea, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile & of course, Cuba. One after another, each of these countries either fell to American might or will in the near future, & when the dust settled, the civilian population of each of these countries, suffered the most. Millions died or have been displaced in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Chile, Vietnam, North Korea, & even in Cuba. So, as the opinion piece correctly surmises that Cuba, & its people, will end up being the loser after it becomes another conquest of America.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a recent blog post for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a prominent American membership organisation & think-tank, research associate Valerie Wirtschafter assesses the course of the "Cuban Renaissance" that is apparently now under way thanks to domestic reforms & the diplomatic thaw with the US.
Based on her own mid-Renaissance visit to Cuba earlier this year, Wirtschafter remarks on some counterintuitive aspects of the expanding tourism industry on the born-again island.
"The hotel industry in particular - including the State run Hotel Nacional in Havana - seems to glorify the country's gangster past, a violent history that partially spurred popular support for Fidel Castro's Revolution."
...
Nowhere does the article mention a certain - perhaps far more bewildering - fact: that Cuba's "gangster past" & "violent history" were largely a product of US government policies & machinations by the American Mafia. In the wake of Castro's triumph, both entities continued to help ensure that Cuba was continually beset by counter-revolutionary violence.
Gambling colony, gangster state
Historian Jack Colhoun documented the evolution of the nexus between the American state & organised crime in his exhaustively researched book "Gangsterismo: The United States, Cuba and the Mafia, 1933 to 1966".
Cuba's debut as what Colhoun called a "neocolony" of the US took place at the end of the 19th century when the latter intervened in the Cuban war of independence from Spain, effectively nipping the whole "independence" option in the bud & appointing itself Cuba's new master.
The arrangement led to the US appropriation of Cuban territory for a naval base-cum-future-torture-centre at Guantanamo Bay, along with other goodies. By the mid-20th century, Colhoun wrote, Cuba had become "a virtual economic appendage" of the US, with Americans controlling many of its sugar mills, railways, & utilities, & inundating the island with US brands.
The author detailed how the establishment of a "mafia gambling colony" in Cuba starting in the 1930s was facilitated by a special relationship between North American mobsters & Fulgencio Batista, two-time Cuban ruler & one-time dictator. Batista received a cut of the profits from mafia operations & oversaw the conversion of Cuba into a "full-fledged gangster state".
The casinos provided money-laundering opportunities for other lucrative businesses, as well. In 1946, the mafia-run Hotel Nacional hosted a summit of US underworld leaders to lay the foundations for converting the island into a heroin trafficking hub.
No beard, no revolution
When the Cuban revolution brought down the curtain on the gangster state, Colhoun explained, the mobsters regrouped with their corrupt political allies in the Cuban exile movement in the US, where they "squared the circle of gangsterismo" by plotting with the CIA to assassinate Castro.
The CIA also considered less terminal methods for dealing with the Cuban leader ... .
Both the CIA & the mafia sponsored commando raids & sabotage operations in Cuba, the 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion being merely one of the better known efforts on account of its grandiose failure.
As Colhoun demonstrated, the US joint chiefs of staff even pondered the option of shooting down a civilian airliner & blaming Cuba to serve as a pretext for military intervention. Another proposal entailed staging a "terror campaign" against Cuban exiles, for the same purpose.
Who needs conspiracy theorists when you've got the US government?
Of course, the US could not come right out & say what the real problem with Cuba was: that the revolution had killed the cash cow.
In order to justify its hostile approach to the island, the US instead cast it as an existential threat - over which it was apparently worth risking nuclear armageddon.
Towards a reconquest?
When the two nations finally began patching things up in December of last year, the BBC News observed that, "in Cuba, limited economic reforms carried out by [President] Raul Castro have begun to relax the tight grip of the state and pique the interest of American business".
But while the neoliberals salivate away about business prospects in Cuba, what are the prospects for the average Cuban?
For starters, as Wirtschafter acknowledged in her CFR post, Cuba's current healthcare system "actually provides for the people". That's one thing that can only go downhill in the event of a US economic reconquest of the island. After all, there are loads of profits to be made off of sick people. Ditto for education.
And while the White House claims that its efforts in Cuba are "aimed at promoting the independence of the Cuban people so they do not need to rely on the Cuban state", it is difficult to see how popular independence might be achieved via imperial meddling in a country that already offers universal access to food, shelter, medicine, & other basic rights.
Wirtschafter also noted that opening up the private sector in Cuba "has increased inequality" & that "as Cuban Americans begin to buy properties in Havana and elsewhere in the coming years, they will further exacerbate [socioeconomic] divisions." In other words, we'll be back to where we started.
All of this would no doubt be music to the ears of the American Mafia bosses who connived for years to terminate the Cuban revolution & its leaders.
But the gangsters aren't the only ones deserving flak. The system of neoliberal plunder that has become the US trademark worldwide - requiring aggressive military policies to ensure that the wealth remains in the hands of a few at the expense of the rest - could just as easily be described as organised crime.
Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine.
