The deep, historical-roots of Cuban anti-imperialism

Colonialism, imperialism and anti-imperialism have been decisive in shaping Cuban political identity for 150 years. US determination to control Cuba, consistent with the Monroe Doctrine, had a strong economic rationale even before Spain was defeated in the War of Independence in 1898. Debate raged between Cubans who aspired to true independence and an annexationalist minority, who favoured union with the US. The Platt Amendment imposed on Cuba by the US in 1903 ‘reduced the independence and sovereignty of the Cuban republic to a myth’. Between then and the Revolution of 1959 Cuba was effectively first a protectorate and then neo-colony of the US, which dominated the Cuban economy, politics and foreign policy. Tackling the terrible socioeconomic and political effects of Cuba’s subjugation under the Spanish empire and then US imperialism necessitated a radical transformation of the Cuban economy, political institutions and power structures. The transition to socialism inevitably meant confronting US imperialism – and vice versa. Since 1959, US imperialism, with its powerful allies in the right-wing exile community based in Miami, have relentlessly tried to destroy the Revolution and Cuban socialism. The issue of imperialism remains key today, in the post-Fidel, President Trump era

European Union Approaches to Human Rights Violations in Kosovo before and after Independence

This article examines European Union (EU) approaches to the question of human rights violations in Kosovo before and after its proclamation of independence, in February 2008. While the 1999 NATO-led humanitarian intervention in the region was often justified as necessary due to the continuous abuses of human rights, perpetrated by the Serbian forces against the ethic Kosovo Albanians, the post-interventionist period has witnessed a dramatic reversal of roles, with the rights of the remaining Serbian minority being regularly abused by the dominant Albanian population. However, in contrast to the former scenario, the Brussels administration has remained quite salient about the post-independence context – a grey zone of unviable political and social components, capable of generating new confrontations and human rights abuses within the borders of Kosovo. Aware of this dynamic and the existing EU official rhetoric, it is possible to conclude that the embedded human rights concerns in Kosovo are not likely to disappear, but even more importantly, their relevance has been significantly eroded

The Use of Force in the Clinton Era: Continuity or Discontinuity?

A striking characteristic of the Clinton era has been an increased American propensity to employ military power as an adjunct of foreign policy. Since ordering a cruise missile attack on an Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in June 1993 in retaliation for an alleged plot to assassinate former President George Bush, President Bill Clinton has employed US forces with striking frequency in a remarkable array of circumstances. In 1993, Clinton fought and lost a minor war in Somalia. In 1994, he dispatched US troops to occupy Haiti and reinstall President Jean Bertrand Aristide to power. In 1995, American aircraft provided the preponderance of the combat power for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) bombing campaign that paved a way for the Dayton peace accords ending (or at least suspending) the Bosnian civil war. When NATO peacekeepers entered Bosnia in December of that year, American ground troops were in the vanguard. On a reduced scale, they have remained ever since. That was not all. In 1998, to lend substance to its so-called war on terrorism, the Clinton administration launched cruise missile attacks on suspected terrorist base camps in Afghanistan. In Sudan, US missiles also leveled a pharmaceutical plant alleged-incorrectly as it would turn out-to have been used to manufacture materials essential to the production of nerve gas. In the Persian Gulf, Clinton on two occasions directed the Pentagon to mount a show of force, deploying contingents of combat troops to Kuwait on short notice. He has maintained and expanded the air patrols in the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, ordered air strikes from time to time to express displeasure with Saddam Hussein, and in December 1998 launched Operation Desert Fox to punish Iraq for refusing to cooperate with United Nations ( UN ) weapons inspections. Since Desert Fox, the United States and Great Britain have continued a desultory bombing campaign against Iraq, attacking targets every two or three days for the ostensible purpose of enforcing UN resolutions dating back to the Gulf War of 1990-1991. And, of course, a year ago the United States was once again in the forefront of NATO\u27s efforts to bring Slobodan Milosevic\u27s Yugoslavia to heel, an initiative that resulted in a massive 78-day air war and another open-ended commitment of American troops as peacekeepers -this time to Kosovo. [CONT