Three unfortunate comments

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The U.S. Ambassador for the Obama Administration should think before offering his comments or, perhaps to give him the benefit of the doubt, he should ensure that their transcriptions and translations are accurate, because in recent statements, among other more fortunate observations, he said the following:

1) "We still haven’t seen any fundamental changes in Cuba...". The country of the never-ending embargo, of constant pressure on the island and, above all, the country of the Guantanamo prisoners during the Bush Administration shouldn’t analyze with such disdain the impact that the Cuban government’s recently-adopted measures may have in a nation that, despite intense duress from its colossal neighbor, has never claudicated.

He answered another question –and he answered it well, quoting President Obama himself- saying that the world’s problems are too important for the U.S. to solve them alone, but that no important problem can be solved without the U.S. Great! Come on, and for once and for all help Cuba after 50 years of boycotting and stifling any possible improvement.

2) "We ask all countries to recognize Kosovo". In 1999, before invading Iraq, against the Security Council and without the support of the United Nations, NATO invaded Kosovo. As the Director General of UNESCO at that time, on several occasions I denounced that act of war, which was a discretional act that once again ignored the UN... But the process of globalization was in full swing, and it was the G-8 plutocrats who, led by the U.S., directed the world. The results are there for all to see: force always breeds suffering, deep wounds that don’t heal, divisions that can only widen, absurd situations and discriminatory treatment....

If actions are taken with impunity in the Balkans, the same will happen in the Caucasus. The desired results will not be achieved by force. Unless, of course, the intended results include deaths, injuries, displaced persons, humiliation... which don’t seem to count when assessing situations of this nature.

3) "Obama will evaluate the real situation before withdrawing troops from Afghanistan"

We didn’t expect less. But the problems of Afghanistan (and I will comment on this topic shortly) cannot be solved exclusively with military measures. The Afghans must be provided with much “personal” aid, opium crops must be replaced, the people must especially benefit from their great mining resources, particularly lithium. I do not doubt that President Obama, who understands the problem well, will endeavor to confront the inertia of the immense war machine establishment, which drops bombs at a distance from unmanned aircraft... The solution lies precisely in the “human face”, including those that are hidden behind burkas.

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