Original subtitles

for the 30th year in a row

the United Nations General Assembly

voted concerning the United States

embargo against Cuba

by the way embargo is the old word

nowadays we would call it sanctions

regime or sanctions it's it's United

States did to Cuba

for the last half century what it is now

doing to China and Russia and Iran and

for the 30th year in a row they voted

and typically the vote was just like

this year's get ready

185 to 2

185 countries want the United States to

end the Embargo against Cuba

cool countries voted in in favor of the

Embargo one which will come as no great

surprise is the United States which is

imposing the Embargo and the other one

is Israel I won't make any comment none

is needed

okay

why do I bring this up because the vote

is lopsided well it is every year

because the rest of the world believes

that this is an illegitimate

inappropriate wrong policy yes I think

Americans tend not to want to know if

the rest of the world disapproves of

something the United States does even

though it's very important and probably

more so than ever before that we become

aware of what the world thinks about us

because if it thinks that way about the

Embargo against Cuba guess what you

should not be surprised at that a

majority of the countries in the United

Nations wouldn't support the sanctions

against Russia and China either

partly because those kinds of sanctions

often lead to war and partly because

they are not a way to build a peaceful

world but let's be clear

the United States justifies the

sanctions against Russia on the grounds

that Russia invaded Ukraine

okay but that doesn't really make much

sense because Cuba didn't invade the

United States or anybody else and it's

got sanctions in fact the sanctions

against Cuba began right after the

United States invaded Cuba not the other

way around

when that Bay of Pigs it was called the

Bay of Pigs invasion by American

supported Cuban Exiles took place in

1961 it was followed by this embargo

neither of them achieved their objective

which was to weaken and overthrow the

Castro government

okay well if embargoes sanctions

are done to weaken and overthrow a

government in Cuba

um maybe in Iran

maybe what's going on in Ukraine has

really got less to do about the Russians

invading Ukraine and a lot more to do

about a program that hopes to weaken and

overthrow Mr Putin and so forth in

Russia than anything else and it would

lead me and I hope thinking people

everywhere to ask the honest question

just as the U.N wants to prevent

War

military war

why wouldn't it include that now to in

have also economic Warfare be just as

outrageous

most of the victims in military war are

civilians bystanders

and you know in economic Warfare it's

even more that

it's not the leadership of the country

it's not the government it's not the

people who make the policy it's the mass

of people who are victimized it maybe is

time to be honest about these things

and to go with 185 who are against

embargoes in Cuba probably against them

everywhere else

and take the Bold step of reducing the

risk of War militarily by reducing the

legitimacy of applying sanctions