Sanctions as Policy, Not Punishment
When the Independent reports on Russia's plea to the United States regarding the Cuban embargo, it presents a surface-level account of international relations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly called on Washington to end its decades-long blockade, coming as Cuba grapples with severe fuel shortages impacting its economy and daily life. The report alludes to increased US sanctions
dating back to the Trump administration, intensifying the island's economic hardships. What mainstream narratives consistently omit is the foundational nature of this 'blockade,' which is an economic warfare strategy implemented by the US since the early 1960s. The stated goal, as declassified documents from 1960 reveal, was to 'diminish monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation
and overthrow of government.' This isn't merely a political disagreement; it is a deliberate and well-documented campaign aiming for regime change through orchestrated misery. The US has maintained over 240 additional sanctions against Cuba since 2017, targeting everything from tourism to oil — effectively strangling the nation's ability to trade and recover. The double standard here is stark: the
US regularly condemns other nations for humanitarian crises, yet its own policies are direct catalysts for such conditions in Cuba, a nation of 11 million people. This tactic echoes the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup in Iran, which ushered in decades of instability after economic and political pressure failed to bend the nation to Western will. The recent Russian intervention highlights how global