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The USA is frequently referred to be the “Champion of Democracy and Human Rights.” But over the past two decades, as it transitioned to a multicultural society, the USA has encountered numerous domestic human rights problems, including institutional racism, hate crimes, and extrajudicial murders by law enforcement. Numerous figures demonstrate the worrisome increase in gun-related violence, including extrajudicial executions and hate crimes, as well as the systemic violation of human rights. Hate crimes, extrajudicial killings, and police violence are daily problems for US society. Additionally, the government is failing to start or enact efficient policies. Additionally, there is a widespread culture of impunity when it comes to extrajudicial killings. The champion appears to be struggling lately at home.
This is not the first occasion that armed men have attacked in the US. A young man from a Bangladeshi community living abroad in the US was shot and killed by police in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Bangladesh Association of New England organized demonstrations against the “brutal killing” of 20-year-old Sayed Faisal, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, outside Cambridge City Hall on Thursday.
They labeled Faisal’s death, the family’s lone fatality, as a “racist act by white police officers.” The association posted on Facebook, saying, “This is not acceptable in any sense.”
Members of the association were to meet with Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqi to seek an explanation, according to the statement. For this young brother, justice must be served. Police brutality must end, the message continued.
It stated that organization members would meet with Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqi to inquire about the matter. For this young brother, justice must be served. The abuse by police must cease.
In this unfortunate sequence of events, Cambridge, Massachusetts police shot and killed a young Bangladeshi-American student on Wednesday. This has sparked protests and enraged the state’s Bangladeshi population.
According to media accounts, the victim is University of Massachusetts Amherst student Arif Sayed Faisal, age 20. His uncle Selim Jahangir revealed that although he was born in the US, his parents are from Chittagong’s Fatikchhari upazila.
According to CBS News, who cited the authorities, Faisal was in possession of a huge knife. Jahangir, a Massachusetts resident, vehemently refuted this claim. Media reports state that they were not handed any videos of Faisal brandishing a sharp object.
Jahangir asserted that Faisal had a tranquil demeanor. He inquired, “We don’t understand why police shot at him.” Moreover, he urged that the incident be fairly investigated and that the police officer who fired first be punished.
Recent years have seen a lot of attention focused on police deaths of unarmed civilians, which has sparked widespread protests. In the US, fatal police shootings continue to be a divisive and ongoing subject, sparking protests and repeated demands for significant enforcement reforms.
AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s foreign minister, said on Friday that his country does not support hate crimes anywhere in the globe in reference to the murder. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen stated on Friday that Bangladesh does not want any hate crimes to occur anywhere in the globe in reference to the assassination of a Bangladeshi in the US.
A Bangladeshi expatriate was killed on Thursday after being shot by US police in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The Bangladeshi community there (US) are alleging it to be a hate crime,” Momen told reporters. Momen stated that the goal was to bring about world peace and put an end to racism and intergroup conflict.
Blood was spilled once more on the campus of the United States on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. With a gun he received as a gift for his 18th birthday, a young man by the name of Salvador Ramos murdered 19 children and two teachers one by one. Ramos, the shooter, targeted Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a small community an hour’s drive from the border with Mexico. As they arrived on the scene, Border Patrol agents shot the young man to death. In other words, there was another extrajudicial killing in the country.
Such occurrences were frequent. Ten people were slain in a shooting at a superstore in Buffalo, New York, just days prior to the shooting event on Tuesday, according to the BBC and AFP. Twenty children and six other people were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012. Last year, there were 26 of these occurrences in the US. In 2020, shootings will outnumber auto accidents as the main cause of death for kids and teenagers.
Shortly after shots were fired at an elementary school in Texas, a shooter was shot and killed by police in the vicinity of a Toronto, Canada, school.
These are an example of extrajudicial executions that have taken place in the United States and Canada, two nations that are known for having advanced human rights laws.
The topic of extrajudicial executions in Bangladesh has received attention from the U.S. Department of Human Rights. It has been asserted, using a number of figures, that Bangladesh’s law enforcement authorities are complicit in these extrajudicial executions.
Let’s examine extrajudicial executions carried out by American law enforcement. Important information concerning the United States leading the world in extrajudicial executions by law enforcement has been provided by the Turkish media channel TRT World. In the seven years between 2013 and 2019, 7,666 persons died in total in police shootings in the United States, according to research released on June 1, 2020. 1,106 of these people were shot by police in 2013, 1,050 in 2014, 1,103 in 2015, 1,071 in 2016, 1,095 in 2017, 1,143 in 2018, and 1,098 in 2019, according to statistics. Of them, 2018 had 1,143 police shooting deaths, which is the most ever. Approximately 1,100 people were killed on average per year between 2013 and 2019. More than 1,200 Black persons were reportedly slain by police shootings in 2015, according to the reports. The deaths in police custody or from other causes are not included in these figures.
In contrast, 13% of Black Americans in the United States—at least three times as many as White Americans—have been killed or injured in police shootings.
According to a story from the Washington Post on February 12, 2019, the number of individuals murdered in police shootings in the US has been close to 1000 for four years running. The study states that 996 persons were killed by police shooting in 2018, 987 in 2017, 963 in 2016, and 995 in 2015.
According to reports from the Associated Press-AP, USA Today, and a team of scholars from North-Eastern University, the United States recorded the most mass murders of any year in 2019.
In the United States in 2020, there were 996 extrajudicial executions. 96% of homicides were the result of police gunfire. Although they make up 13% of the population overall, African-Americans make up 27% of the deaths. In 98.8% of the incidents, no action has been taken against the police, according to the Human Rights Report. However, under the guise of human rights abuses, the United States filed accusations against Bangladesh.
Any extrajudicial execution is wrong. Such extrajudicial killings occur in numerous nations. However, the United States lacks the guts to make such a move there. He said, “The United States does not take such action on its own,” in response to worry.
It is accurate to argue that nations like the United States or Canada should now examine themselves in the light of recent events. It is past time to alter the lenses through which they view Bangladesh’s human rights situation.
Extrajudicial killing is an act of “violations of core human rights,” and it supersedes the “right to justice” and the appropriate legal procedure, in addition to international rules and conventions.
It appears that the U.S. takes questionable national activities that violate human rights and has a propensity to disobey current international laws and standards when it serves its own interests. As a result, the U.S. itself violates human rights, making it ineligible to “lecture” others on the subject. The United States must abandon its infractions, contradictory policies, and “immoral” elements if it wants to be considered the “real” champion of human rights.
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Samina Akhter is a Dhaka, Bangladesh based activist, analyst, writer and columnist.
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The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit held in Washington has placed African-American diaspora at the core for strengthening multifaceted relations with Africa. The White House and African leaders have also stressed the importance of Africa’s voices, advocated for incorporating professional Africans distinctively within the institutional structures to deal with various bilateral issues and for making further inroads into Africa.
Over the years, African leaders have been engaging with their diaspora, especially those excelling in sports, academia, business, science, technology, engineering and other significant fields that the continent needs to optimize its diverse potentials and to meet development priorities. These professionals primarily leverage into various sectors, act as bridges between the United States and Africa.
As explicitly reiterated at the mid-December African leaders’ gathering, the overarching message was to focus on “deepening and expanding the long-term U.S.-Africa partnership and advancing shared priorities, amplifying African voices to collaboratively meet this era’s defining challenges.”
Corporate Council on Africa is the leading U.S. business association focused on connecting business interests between the United States and Africa. The United States has helped close more than 800 two-way trade and investment deals across 47 African countries for a total estimated value of over $18 billion, and the American private sector has closed investment deals in the continent valued at $8.6 billion since 2021, the White House said.
The United States is not only the undisputed leader of the free world, but also home to the most dynamic African diaspora. The African diaspora ranks amongst the most educated immigrant group and is found excelling and making invaluable contributions in all sectors of life-business, medicine, healthcare, engineering, transportation and more. The contribution of the African diaspora is not negligible, we see more of them appointed to senior government positions by President Biden like Wally Adeyemo, US Deputy Treasury Secretary, and Dr John Nkengasong Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy.
Beyond engagement with Biden administration, African leaders express the vision, dynamism and humility to engage with their diaspora. They are excelling in sports, academia, business, science, technology, engineering and all those other sectors that the continent needs to beef up to optimize its potential and meet development priorities. In addition, it is in Africa’s high interest to embrace them.
Since its inception more than two decades ago, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has offered Africans the opportunity to engage and establish business networks from Africa to the United States and vice versa. It has been one surest way working towards an integrated relations, and in uplifting relations unto a higher appreciable stage.
Speaking at a U.S. Export-Import Bank conference, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told the gathering there that they needed more investment in addition to market access. The duty-free access for nearly 40 African countries has boosted development, fostered more equitable and sustainable growth in Africa.
The AGOA offered promise as a “stepping stone to address regional and global challenges,” especially with Africa’s young and entrepreneurial population. The future is Africa, and engaging with this continent is the key to prosperity for all of us,” Tai said.
According to World Bank Statistics, remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa soared 14.1 percent to $49 billion in 2021 following an 8.1 percent decline in the previous year due coronavirus pandemic. Beyond remittances, Africa stands to benefit largely from the input of its diaspora considered as progressive in the United States.
Welcoming African entrepreneurs, Africa-American and African leaders for a reception, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was guided by the principle of close overwhelming partnership with Africa.
“We can’t solve any of the really big challenges we face if we don’t work together. So it’s about what we can do with African nations and its people,” Blinken said. “We welcome all other members of the international community, including the United States, to join us in the global efforts to help Africa.”
In featuring prominently integrative aspects and cultural familiarity within the African diaspora, New York Mayor Eric Adams said that the success of African Americans showed the need for Africans to “walk differently.”
On disapora came Greg Meeks, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The main strategy was rooted in one key word – partnership – and in recognition of shared priorities and working together. There were also many African and American youth leaders, students in the United States and Africa who are tuning in virtually – most spoke vividly on strengthening the bonds between African countries and the United States.
The strategy recognizes the immense role that the African diaspora members and young people will play in shaping and strengthening that partnership. One young leader, who has mobilized climate finance to make the water sector more resilient in South Africa, is now sharing the lessons that she learned at a U.S. government agency. Another, fresh off her experience fighting infectious disease in Malawi, was sharing her insights with nonprofits and businesses in the United States.
Others were expanding educational opportunities for children, conducting environmental research, creating job opportunities for youth in both African countries and the United States, and demonstrating exactly why the diaspora is such an unparalleled asset for people on both continents. It’s these interconnections, the back and forth, and the benefits that flow to Africa and the United States alike that is so incredibly powerful.
The United States practically is committed to ensuring that young people continue to bring their talents and hard work to the tremendous benefit of people across the continent and to the benefit of people in the United States. The Times Higher Education index indicated that approximately 43,000 Africans have currently enrolled into and are studying in American universities.
In addition, Barack Obama started the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) which brings every year a group of young Africans to the White House. Until today, YALI continues to run various educational and training programs including short professional courses, conferences and seminars for Africans. It has a number of other economic development programs, like the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs program. Now, since its inception in 2019, this program has provided more than 5,400 women throughout Africa with the training and networks that they need to start and to scale small businesses.
Late December, additional investments were announced to make it easier for students to participate in exchange programs from African countries, to increase trade opportunities for members of the African diaspora, and to support African entrepreneurs and small businesses. Each of these investments is guided by one overarching goal: to continue building partnership in order to better address the shared challenges facing Africa.
The adopted strategy reflects diversity, its influence, and the ingenuity of its young people. There are also training programs to attract young African talents to research, tech-innovation and development in the United States. Those youth are a growing part of the continent’s population – and also the world’s. Today, more than 60 percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25.
By 2030, two in every five people on this planet will be African. These rising generations are powering dynamic economic growth in their countries and far beyond. 2016 – just a few years ago – African startups raised $350 million dollars in investment; last year, they raised $5 billion in investment – and that’s a curve that’s going to keep going up and up and up.
An African-American Yvonne Orji once wrote that, “Nigeria made me. America raised me.” It is often said that one of America’s greatest strengths is cultural diversity – there are few greater testaments to that than the immense contributions of the African diaspora community.
The United States is investing in the infrastructure that provides the foundation for African entrepreneurship. That means creating more pathways for the free flow of ideas, of information, of investment, which in the 21st century requires one thing: digital connectivity.
Interesting to note that Africa has around twice as many internet users as the United States, yet the continent has only a fraction of our data center space. What does that mean? Slower, less reliable connectivity. That’s why U.S. Development Finance Corporation is investing $300 million in building data centers across the continent – because there is the need for networks that can keep up with the lightening pace of new ideas.
Second, investing in rising enthusiastic leaders. Since President Barack Obama created the Young African Leaders Initiative, nearly 5,800 trailblazers from every country in sub-Saharan Africa have come to the United States for academic and leadership training – developing skills, career guidance, and education relationships that are going to last for a lifetime and to the benefit of their communities.
Many of the Mandela Washington Fellows are entrepreneurs, and has until today thousands of graduates. For example, Abel Hailegiorgis from Ethiopia has a company building bicycles and wheelchairs from bamboo, which is stronger than steel – sustaining the planet, supporting local farmers and local manufacturers. The forthcoming years will involve frequent exchanges directed at contributing substantially to the network of professionals from African countries.
After the U.S.-Africa leaders summit, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has signed agreements to open branches and further expand American sports across Africa. With its African headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010, additional offices are planned in Dakar, Lagos, Accra, Nairobi and Cairo in 2023. The league is committed to expanding efforts to make the game of basketball and the NBA more accessible across the continent.
With the dynamic team headed by Amadou Gallo Fall, sports diplomacy and the Basketball Africa League will become a strong contender as a success story for its bridge-building role between the United States and Africa.
The biggest takeaway is to stage a world-class events in Africa, have the talents and certainly the fan interest especially now that the NBA and FIBA coming together to launch the Basketball Africa League. Amadou Gallo Fall, from a business standpoint, noted to continue drawing world-class partners who are interested in supporting the league because what they would be doing is bigger than basketball. The feedback is very tremendous, an indication that the future is extremely bright.
“The African Diaspora continues expressing high interest in engaging with the league. We want to be drivers of this positive social change. For us, basketball has been the catalyst and our work on the continent has been focused on building the capacity and empowering youth. We think by engaging with young people and inspiring young people, we are going to elevate their communities. We have already seen the increasing interest among the youth across Africa,” he underlined.
Sports and brands promotion are indivisible part of the game. The National Basketball Association (NBA) Africa and the Basketball Africa League (BAL) continue to attract world class marketing partners, including the BAL Foundational Partners Rwanda Development Board (RDB), NIKE, Jordan Brand, and Wilson, alongside NBA Africa’s recent collaborations with ESPN Africa, Afrosport, KFC Africa (Pan-Africa), Africell (Angola), Stanbic Bank (South Sudan), and Maven Developments (Egypt).
Perhaps that’s not all. In September, the U.S. African Development Foundation teamed up with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to create a new program to provide financing, technical assistance, and mentorship to emerging young innovators in Africa. He recently launched another initiative to connect up-and-coming climate entrepreneurs with American companies.
Third, there is a program for fostering greater engagement by American companies. The U.S. private sector already invests more than $4 in Africa for every dollar that the government allocates to the region in foreign assistance – and it wants to do more. That’s the objective of the Office of Global Partnerships, which will take a U.S. private sector delegation to Ghana in February. It’s the goal of the Prosper Africa initiative – which is marshalling agencies from across the government to help more U.S. companies and inventors – investors to do business in Africa, and do it in a way that promotes inclusive growth – growth that’s sustainable for the planet.
Prosper Africa’s institutional investor delegation invests more than $85 million in an African fund that will provide financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Through a partnership with Prosper Africa, Pierre’s company – Yolélé – is distributing fonio and other products made by small farmers in the region to markets in the United States. In a region where it’s getting harder to grow crops due to a warming climate, fonio’s deep roots make it virtually drought-resistant. Now, in West Africa, it’s said that “Fonio never embarrasses the cook” which is good news.
Despite some negative criticisms, African leaders continue sourcing different kinds of economic assistance and support provided by the United States. It explicitly shows the United States remains an indispensable power and will, by and large, play its appreciable role in the emerging the new world order. It has the structures, mechanism, experience and confidence to influence the future.
The African diapora leaders are mostly western-oriented, support the global status quo, admire the incomparable never-failing practical soft-power of the United States and in turn, maintain long-term geopolitical interest with the West. Within the context of the geopolitical realities, the United States and its leadership still have strong sustainable political, economic and cultural ties with African countries.
President Joe Biden has signed an executive order for the creation of African Diaspora Advisory Council as part of the presidency. According reports, the post-summit large-scale projects and programs will be coordinated, monitored and implemented jointly by the president administration, the White House, State Dept of African Affairs and the African Diaspora Advisory Council. It will also engage non-government corporate business organizations such Africa House and the Corporate Council on Africa.
With emerging challenges and geopolitical changes in the multipolar world, it is certainly true that U.S.-Africa inter-connectivity has become more important as it opens new opportunities for building relationships, and this requires working closely together to deepen and fortify America’s strategic partnerships with African diaspora – partnership that has shaped the past, is shaping present, and will shape future multi-dimensional relations, in the interests of sustaining a meaningful stability between Africa and the United States.
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Since the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016, there has been a relentless obsession by the US government and federal agencies to remove and eliminate both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin from the world’s political landscape.
If the orchestrated failure to obfuscate Trump’s win in 2016 as Russian collusion was not enough to conjure a contrived attempt by plotters in the CIA, FBI, Congress, Big Tech, and a willing news media to illicitly remove a sitting president, we are now much deeper in the latter chapters of a bestselling Tom Clancy espionage novel of an ideological cabal willing to do whatever it takes -including risking a nuclear war.
The design became more intriguing when a trifecta of hit jobs critical of the two despised foes took place over a 24-hour period. On December 21, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stated Russia’s war against Ukraine will not end unless Putin is taken out. Graham, who has a history for foreign military intervention said, “How does the war end? When Russia breaks and they take out Putin. We are in it to win it”. Did Graham place assassination on the table?
Later that same evening, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed victory as he backed the truck up for another $38 billion in US aid and military weapons during a televised appeal to the American people before Congress. US President Joe Biden, with support of Senate Republicans, complied by committing to arm Ukraine with Patriot Missiles. Make no mistake, this latest escalation will require American boots on the ground.
The following day, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee released an 845 page politically damning report lamenting Trump as a criminal. The committee voted to refer Trump to the Department of justice for prosecution. There prime objective is to seek a mechanism to bar Trump from holding any federal office in the future due to unsubstantiated violations of the constitution while engaging in an alleged insurrection.
The committee was a sham from the onset with Republicans barred from participating in the hearings and only allied witnesses called to testify with no cross-examinations. On the referral, the DOJ must decide to prosecute Trump who has declared his intention to run for president in 2024 or simply maintain a cooked-up consensus in the headlines to wear down his polling numbers. A trial might be the best news for Trump where the persecuted can justly defend himself in the court of public opinion and expose the machination.
Question alternative intentions behind the American funding of the war in Ukraine, demonstrate or raise concerns over the unconstitutional changes to electoral process across several states, or balk at the allegations and legal proceedings against Trump; and be prepared to be squashed in the media or worst, risk a raid by the FBI and locked up in the hellacious top-security prison in Washington alongside the Jan. 6 defendants.
Who would have fathomed the much heralded and clean-cut non-partisan US federal law and spy agencies could fall so rapidly into political corruption. Elon Musk, since taking over Twitter, was asked if there was a part of the files that really shocked him. Musk said, “The FBI stuff is pretty intense. To be totally frank, almost every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true.” The revealed files contained documents detailing the company’s censoring of tweets from conservatives and suppressed information on Hunter Biden’s laptop that would have exposed Joe Biden and potentially altered the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Mission accomplished -the spy network thwarted Trump’s re-election.
On Dec. 21, the same day the media covered the trifecta, there was little to no mainstream breaking news that Twitter aided the Pentagon’s covert online psyop campaign aimed to sway opinions throughout several Middle East countries. Apparently, the network provided cover and protection to the US military’s social media accounts while whitewashing several accounts including US drone strikes killing people.
The political arena has always been vicious with backroom payoffs; however, the volume of the in-your-face do whatever it takes as long as the end is justified by any means has become the norm. Outright lies misleading an ingenuous public that is force-fed through multi-channels of coordinated talking points has become a prime method of deception. The fear of being exposed or embarrassed by some astute members of the media is simply swept under the bed by doubling down on the narrative.
The distressed condition Trump has encountered are thousand-cut slashes and clashes following two bogus impeachments leading to his vindication over the Hillary Clinton campaign-funded Russian hoax. The plot thickens with a faucet-dripping catalogue of civil and criminal investigations against a political leader vying for the presidency. The attempted decapitation of Trump before 2024 is obvious and attuned to a despot country, but who will care and risk a subpoena.
If there are any non-partisan scruples remaining in the DOJ and FBI, a probe into the collusion between government and the tech industry to determine if the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and Google did the bidding of the FBI and other government entities. Who will investigate the cross-pollination of employees where techies joined the FBI and ex-intel were hired by tech companies as a means to be evasive yet very connected with their former employers.
A starting point may be the Foreign Influence Task Force, originally charged with combating foreign governments attempts to fuel discord in the elections, however in a classic-Clancy fashion, the FITF turned it politically infected claws inward to domestic operations that targeted Americans by building liaisons with big tech companies. The embedded amalgamation breeched the constitution with one side flagging the politically damaging reporting and tweets, and the other side suppressing and censoring on behalf of the hidden underbelly.
Biden said he is not walking back his statement that Putin must be removed. In a speech earlier this year in Poland, the US president claimed, “We will have a different future…for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power”. Biden is on the same page as Lindsey Graham.
With $105.5 billion spent and committed in US aid and weapons to Ukraine, more than all other countries combined, the US is certainly not intent on advancing a brokered resolution to end the conflict but rather all in for how ever long it takes to crush Russia. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, made it quite clear there is no rational to end the conflict when his party endorsed the gargantuan spend, “Providing assistance to Ukrainians to defeat Russia is the number one priority for America”. Hundreds of billions of dollars to secure Ukraine’s border is the top priority and not America’s borders. Huh?
Moving to the climax of the espionage novel, Putin has raised the stakes when he announced Russia’s preparation to deploy the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles – nicknamed Satan-2. With what is considered by some to be the most advanced missile traveling at 16,000mph and reportedly carrying 15 independently targeted nuclear warheads, it could annihilate England in just six minutes. There is no defending against it if, or perhaps when, Putin unleashes this world-ending monster.
How far will America go to chance a Putin bluff? Anything short of Russia retaining Crimea and its Black Sea fleet, NATO expansion into Ukraine, or a devastating attack on Moscow; and the redline will have been crossed with no turning back from the brink of a nuclear holocaust. America’s investment is not about solutions, peace, or preserving Ukrainian democracy. For some, this is a personal score to put a dagger into Putin.
The last chapter is yet to be written. Will Trump and Putin survive, or will they be taken out? Will we all go down? To be clear, this is not fiction.
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Relations between Russia and countries such as Cuba cannot be built according to the general patterns of “nothing personal, just business” although we generally take such an approach with great difficulty. In this case, of course, we will observe that Havana’s choice not to unwillingness to interfere in Moscow’s internal affairs or force us to act to our detriment is combined with an understanding of the commonality of strategic interests that have been preserved despite the changes in the international arena. In any case, the secret to the survival of the Cuban state in its current form lies in understanding the catastrophic nature of the alternative in the form of a virtual takeover by the United States. Since the new Russian foreign policy, first of all, is based on the interests of our partners, and not selfishness, promoting the independence of the island remains the most rational choice for Moscow.
Russia has no shortage of states that would seek to establish or maintain friendly relations and business relationships despite the military-political crisis in relations between Moscow and the collective West. This is one of the most convincing proofs that, within the framework of the restructuring of the international order, of which the armed conflict in Eastern Europe is only a part, Russia is a member of a broad informal coalition of powers looking to the future, and not striving to preserve the old order. The main reason for the ability to be attractive in such difficult conditions is the pragmatism of Russian politics itself, for which the division of the world along ideological grounds conjures unpleasant memories of the Soviet era.
Modern Russia is attractive not because it represents a truly powerful alternative to the monopoly of the West. China is much more powerful economically. Russia simply does not try to get others to serve its interests in matters of a material nature or when it comes to values or internal ideas about justice. It is not difficult to be a friend of Russia now – for this you just need not to initiate hostile activity. However, among the countries that are friendly to Russia there are those with which fraternal relations have a longer history, often fanned by common romantic memories. Among those, in the first place, of course, is Cuba, whose president Miguel Diaz-Canel has just visited Moscow.
From a historical point of view, Russia and Cuba are really “comrades-in-arms” who are connected by a military and political experience which many consider the height of the Cold War – the Cuban Missile crisis, which so often pops up in journalists’ discussions about the current situation in the world. In this regard, only the relations between Russia and North Korea or Vietnam are comparable in terms of the strength of the common historical experience, but the Cuban case is truly exceptional. For all the seriousness of the involvement of the USSR in the Korean or Vietnamese conflicts, it was precisely the consolidation of Moscow in Cuba that became an existential challenge for their common enemy, the United States. Moreover, the support of China has traditionally been no less important for North Korea, and Vietnam never owed its survival to Moscow; it achieved its victory over the Americans by itself.
After the USSR was defeated in the competition of socio-economic systems and was forced to unilaterally end the Cold War, several small and medium-sized states close to it were left to fend for themselves. Each of them looked for and found independent ways to survive in a world where, for more than for two decades, only the United States created and violated the rules. At the same time, the political regimes that emerged during the Cold War did not collapse anywhere except in the countries of Eastern Europe – in extreme cases, they went through mild internal transformations, as happened in Angola, Mongolia or Cambodia.
The leading “fighters” of the socialist camp – the DPRK, Cuba and Vietnam, were generally able to maintain their political systems almost completely intact. Cuba, unlike North Korea, and like Vietnam, has chosen the path of gradual internal economic restructuring and liberalisation in terms of civil rights and freedoms. However, socialist Vietnam could take advantage of its geopolitical position – the growth of Chinese power pushed the smaller countries of Southeast Asia to forget about past grievances and integrate this country into ASEAN.
Cuba’s geopolitical position is much more complicated. Its proximity to the US mainland and remoteness from other great powers leaves no room for any serious reconciliation with the Americans. Objective economic data and other development indicators show that the neighbourhood with the United States is a guarantee of chronic internal instability and no chance for prosperity. The only exception here is Canada, inhabited by white Anglo-Saxons, but even in this case, doubts may arise if you look at the modern Canadian government and its prime minister.
At the same time, Cuba’s remoteness from Russia or China does not create even a hypothetical possibility that the United States would help its development in order to create a foothold against Moscow or Beijing. In other words, only one place can be assigned to Cuba in the palette of American foreign policy interests – a return to the situation before the 1959 revolution. It is no coincidence that the Cuban issue is one of the subjects which divides the United States and the European Union. The EU countries are trying to somehow develop economic cooperation with Havana, while Washington does not like any scenario there that could lead to an improvement of the internal situation.
Thus, Cuba’s unique geopolitical position is such that the alternative to a political system that supports independence and, moreover, a tough standoff with the US, is a truly nightmarish scenario. It is so uncomfortable that, compared with Cuba, even the northern regions of Mexico bordering America would seem like a paradise. But this is precisely what became the basis for the survival of Cuban sovereignty and its ability to resolve basic problems, even after the loss of support from the USSR or Russia. Now Russia is returning to the world stage and it has something to offer Cuba.
However, it would be wrong to expect from these countries the desire to recreate the atmosphere of the Cold War in full. Mutual interest is objective, and in the case of Cuba it is supported by the main task for each state: to survive in an extremely hostile environment. But an equally important role is played by the understanding that the modern world is much more flexible and opens up opportunities beyond gruelling military-political confrontation. Moreover, modern Cuban society, as far as one can judge, is not so dogmatic in terms of the personal freedoms of citizens, although it values its independence. Russia is also quite liberal with regard to individual human rights, but it keeps a close eye on factors that could lead to the erosion of statehood.
Therefore, in reality, Russia and Cuba have many common values when it comes to their picture of the world and their place in the current balance of power. These common values, all the more, rest on a solid historical basis, which we, with all pragmatism, should not ignore. The Cuban-Russian partnership is reinforced by the position of Havana during the voting of the UN General Assembly on issues related to the Ukrainian problem. But this is also not an expression of loyal feelings towards Moscow. The anti-Americanism of Cuban foreign policy is a product of its own assessment of its geopolitical position and the associated features of participation in world affairs. Trying to use Cuba for tactical purposes is not only immoral (Moscow is well aware of this), but also pointless. But where our approaches coincide, and this is, in fact, the main issue of modern world politics, one can be calm about the fate of bilateral relations.
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