For more than three decades the world has voted overwhelmingly to end the US embargo on Cuba. Washington ignores the law, the UN, and the humanitarian cost – and its allies look away.

Ignoring a stinging rebuke from the UN, the USA is pressing ahead with its illegal siege and equally illegal secondary sanctions to crush Cuba and take control of one of the last truly sovereign nations in the Caribbean. Cuba Libre – Free Cuba – was the rallying cry of patriots in the 19th century as they sought to end Spanish rule, and is the cry again today in the face of Washington’s determination to force capitulation and impose US hegemony.

I think one of the most ludicrous and self-demeaning things I’ve seen this year was the attendees at the Munich Security Conference giving US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a standing ovation after he literally celebrated 500 years of Western imperialism and called for Europe and the US to unite to resume its expansionism. The hypocrisy of the Europeans was deafening, coming as it did less than a month after many of the same people gave a standing ovation to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at Davos calling for a return to international law and the need to stand united against powerful bullies.

Cuba is a small country which has been bullied since 1959. It gets scant love from New Zealand, Australia or........

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