Yeah. No. Like, I’m not a fan of the embargo, I don’t see any purpose to it.
That being said, it is patently idiotic to say that it’s illegal for the US to not want to trade with Cuba. Brazil can trade with whoever they want and embargo whoever they want. Same with the US. It’s called national sovereignty. If the US was interdicting shipping going to Cuba, or blocking air traffic, or whatever, then he might have a point, but that’s not happening.
US trade policy with Cuba might be unproductive and ill advised, but it is dishonest to say that it is an illegal policy. It’s never illegal to not trade with a certain country. Cuba doesn’t have a right under international law to sell their exports to American consumers.
I don’t think you understand the extent of this “embargo”. It goes far beyond simply not trading with them.
It’s not a direct blockade, but the US has in the past threatened to cut off financial aid to any country that trades with Cuba, disallows foreign subsidiaries of US companies to trade, and even threatens sanctions upon foreign companies that do any trade in or with the US that also trade in Cuba. They’ve also begun attempting to strangle their tourism, by disqualifying any person who visits the island from ESTA - which lets citizens from countries like those in the EU visit the US visa-free. This makes travel extremely difficult, requiring a costly and time consuming visa application which could be denied.
The UN has voted to condemn it every year for many years, with usually only the US and Israel voting against. They say it is a violation of international law and the UN charter. (https://www.un.org/en/ga/62/plenary/cuba/bkg.shtml)
It is abhorrent and unjustifiable, and has a real cost in human lives and suffering.
That’s all legal actions the US can take.
You and I agree that they’re unwise and unjustified. But they’re legal.
The UN says it’s in violation of international law, he literally gave you a link…
The UN is a political organization and says whatever countries vote it to say. It’s also not a legislative organization, it’s basically a big political club of people who like to write strongly worded letters about things. Only the UNSC has teeth, and that hasn’t declared it illegal for obvious reasons.
The USA is a political organisation.
Okay, I suppose, but it’s also a sovereign nation, whole the UN is not
The UN is like 198 sovereign nations
As someone who just lost their ESTA, this whole thing is bullshit.
I’m a citizen of an European country, left Cuba when I was a minor and have zero interest in going to Cuba.
Yet I can’t go see my daughter in the USA without a visa.
Literally last week I was at the US Embassy requesting the visa, they gave me a 10 year pass (thank fuck).
But my whole family has to go through the same process. It’s all bullshit. I had to wait in line for two hours, in a city that’s far away from where I live, just to get the visa.
Edit: not to mention that this whole process takes hundreds of euros, around 150€ just for filling their online form, then add travel and accommodation expenses.
I mean I get it. We were trying to rebuild ties with Cuba but then wasn’t it Obama as well as Cheeto Mussolini also fuckin it up? I remember we open up to them a few years back.
Obama is the one that reopened the embassy and tried to re-establish relations. Trump immediately reversed it and re-sanctioned.
It’s unacceptable that this embargo continues, and it’s even more unacceptable that the US threatens countries for not respecting it. This is an old carryover from the cold war, and we’d be better off ending the embargo entirely. If that’s not politically feasible in the US, then at the very least remove any threats against countries which do trade with Cuba.
It’s hard to not draw comparisons to sanctions on Russia, but they’re completely different situations. Russia is actively invading another country this moment. That geopolitical issue is ongoing. The geopolitical issue with Cuba is not.
And rightfully so. The US isn’t the world police and doesn’t have the right to block entire countries just because they feel like it. Just imagine China or Russia doing the same to some random European country. The double standards speak volumes. This is not the way.
Well Russia is currently bombing a European country which I personally consider much worse than an embargo.
Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t see how two wrongs makes a right. This is some massive whataboutism. Both an embargo on Cuba and Russia bombing other countries are horrendous activities.
Sure, but the comment I was replying to made a direct comparison with Russia.
First and foremost, that was my comment. Secondly, it still doesn’t make it okay. It’s not a real argument. If the US can pull this shit off, why can’t Russia or China. I’m not excusing their actions, but just look at it from the perspective of someone from one of those countries. They see the US invading countries, putting embargos on others, and a bunch of other crap. Why shouldn’t they do the same? The invasion of Iraq was just as justified as the invasion of Ukraine. Same shit based on bullshit arguments. Yet somehow one is more acceptable than the other. I’d rather not have any of them. And I’m from Eastern Europe just for context :)
And yet Biden keeps the sanctions, and additional things Trump added like the terrorist list.
And people wonder why the left keeps saying Dems and Republicans are the same. They’re a bit further apart on a small amount of domestic issues, but geopolitically? They’re just as evil and determined to keep/expand American domination and exploitation across the globe to the detriment of billions in the global south.
