The United States are doing me a massive favour. They keep giving me things to write about. So before I start having a go at them, I want to say thank you. I enjoy taking the piss out of you lot and you make it so, so easy so thank you. Ok, onto the issue at hand, what has the United States been doing? Well President Obama has attempted to normalise relations with Cuba. Now when Obama does anything, Republicans will find a way to get pissed off about it. Now if I wanted to be fair to Republicans I would say that criticising Cuba's human rights record is a valid criticism, but I don't want to be fair so I'll say this: The pot shouldn't call the kettle black (I'm talking to you Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio).
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio both think that the United States having normal relations with Cuba would be like having normal relations with North Korea. That's a bit of a stretch, but both countries have been known to abuse human rights and the United States cannot be seen to have good relations with human rights abusers... except Saudi Arabia. The Saudis enforce a brand of Islam that is extremely radical. The only difference between Saudi Arabia and Islamic State is that Saudi Arabia is an established state that isn't seeking to expand its borders. You might claim that IS beheads infidels. So do the Saudis, in fact were I in Saudi Arabia, I would be put to death as atheism is punishable by death. Saudi Arabia is also one of six absolute monarchies left in the world (another one being Qatar who the US are also friendly with). Does that count as being run by a tyrant? Cuba has kept power within one family, North Korea has too. Why are they evil tyrants, but Saudis are good tyrants? What does Saudi Arabia have that Cuba and North Korea doesn't? (Oil)
So apart from Saudi Arabia, America does not associate with countries that abuse human rights... except Israel. Israel is a country that is literally occupying other countries. The West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights are Syrian. So how does Israel treat the citizens of the occupied territories? Well they recently massacred over 2000 civilians in Gaza because three Israelis was killed and Israel blamed Hamas (Hamas denied this and it has since been proven that they didn't do it). Like America, I don't want to be fair to Israel so I'll also point out that Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party actually isn't interested in peace with Palestine. They want peace without Palestine. It's literally part of their manifesto. So why would American politicians fall over themselves to defend Israel's actions? (AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies)
So apart from Saudi Arabia and Israel, what human rights abusing countries do the United States have normalised relations with? China, Qatar, Russia (to an extent), Egypt, Pakistan (that's a complicated relationship), Bahrain and those are the current ones. The United States also had relations with pre-revolution Iran (Under the Shah), Pinochet's Chile, Mobutu's Zaire, South Vietnam, Armas' Guatemala, Gaddafi's Libya (it was an on-off relationship) Rhee's South Korea, Saddam's Iraq (There was a nasty break-up though), the list goes on. Here's a fun fact: All those human-rights abusing dictators were all American backed, with many of them replacing democratically elected leaders! But how could I forget this last one? Fulgencio Batista who ran a small island about 90 miles off the coast of Florida. I believe it's called CUBA! In fact American influence in Cuba was so great under Batista that while he was the most powerful man in Cuba, the second most powerful man was the American ambassador. What happened to Fulgencio Batista anyway? He was overthrown in a revolution led by one Fidel Castro. Oh I'm beginning to see that this whole thing is merely a petty act of spite.
I'll end with this. The United States doesn't want relations with countries that abuse human rights. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio say America must be the standard-bearer. This the same week that a report came out detailing how America tortures prisoners. Not to mention the things we already know like how they spy on their citizens, overthrow governments and wage war based on false pretences. This isn't the pot calling the kettle black. This is the emptiness of space calling the kettle and the pot black.
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