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Posts Tagged ‘embargo’

Cuba In From the Cold

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015
July 21, 2015

On July 20, 2015, longtime foes Cuba and the United States resumed formal diplomatic relations. After decades of open hostility, the landmark event signaled a new era in U.S.-Cuban relations. The Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., reopened with a flag-raising ceremony, while an event in August will mark the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The neighbor countries broke off ties after the 1959 Communist takeover of Cuba and had been largely at odds—even close to war—ever since.

A street scene in Havana, Cuba’s capital, features colorful buildings and cars from before Cuba’s revolution. A trade embargo with the United States meant that for many years Cubans have not been able to buy newer cars. © Shutterstock

In the 1950’s, Fidel Castro, a young lawyer, led a revolution against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista—a U.S. ally. After years of struggle, Castro’s rebels forced Batista from power, and Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba in 1959. Castro’s new government seized lucrative U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba and developed strong ties with the Soviet Union. This was at the peak of the Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union were competing for global dominance. In October 1960, the United States placed an economic embargo on Cuba, and, three months later, ended diplomatic relations.

In April 1961, Cuban exiles sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast. Castro’s forces crushed the invasion. Cuba, however, feared further U.S. meddling and began accepting Soviet military aid, including nuclear missiles. In October 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to halt further arms shipments into Cuba. Kennedy demanded that the Soviet Union remove all missiles from the island and dismantle the remaining missile bases. For days, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. Finally, the Soviet Union removed the weapons after Kennedy privately agreed not to invade Cuba.

After the Bay of Pigs incident, relations between Cuba and the United States remained strained. Partial diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored in 1977, but the U.S. trade embargo remained. After the fall of many Communist governments—including that of the Soviet Union in 1991—the Cuban government undertook limited reforms that loosened state control over parts of the economy. The government also began improving relations with Canada and with European and Latin American nations. A host of problems prevented a U.S.-Cuban rapprochement (renewal of friendly relations), however, including the trade embargo, economic and political differences, and the political clout of Cuban exiles in the United States.

In 2008, two events catalyzed a fast-moving diplomatic thaw. In Cuba, Raúl Castro took over for his ailing elder brother and announced a number of economic reforms. In the United States, the election of Barack Obama as president marked a sharp change in that nation’s approach to foreign policy. In 2009 and 2011, the U.S. government eased rules about traveling to and sending money to Cuba and allowed U.S. telecommunications companies to operate there. In 2013, Cuba’s government removed the requirement for costly exit visas, so Cubans could leave the country with only a passport. In 2014, Raúl Castro and Barack Obama announced that the United States and Cuba would soon restore full diplomatic relations—a huge step in solving the many problems that still exist between the neighbor countries.

Other World Book articles: 

  • The Cold War’s Last Front: The United States and Cuba (2000-a Special report)
  • Cuba (1958-a Back in time article)
  • Cuba (1959-a Back in time article)
  • Cuba (1962-a Back in time article)
  • Cuban missile crisis
  • Diplomacy

Tags: cuba, embargo, united states
Posted in Current Events, Government & Politics, History | Comments Off

Russia, Israel, and European Union at Odds Over Syria

Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

May 28, 2013

The Russian government announced today that it is going ahead with deliveries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declared that the missiles are a “stabilizing factor” that will discourage “hotheads” from entering the Syrian civil war. At a press conference in Moscow, Ryabkov suggested that the European Union’s (EU) decision to lift its arms embargo on Syria has endangered the prospects for a peace conference next month. The conference is backed by both Russia and the United States. Lifting the embargo could allow weapons to flow to Syrian rebel forces.

Israel responded to Russia’s announcement by declaring that it is prepared to launch missile strikes against any shipments of advanced Russian weapons to Syria. Israeli officials fear that the Russian weapons could upset the current balance in the Middle East, which involves the Lebanon-based radical Islamist organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, fired thousands of missiles into northern Israel in 2006. Hezbollah relies on Syria to provide a conduit for arms from Iran. Preserving that flow is a matter of life or death for Hezbollah. Stemming the flow is of primary importance to Israel.

Syria has been an important Middle Eastern ally of Russia, Iran, and the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced yesterday that the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition would be lifted after June 1. All EU sanctions against the Assad regime will remain in place. Hague stated that lifting the embargo “sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime.” France and the United Kingdom have pushed to allow European governments to deliver arms to the rebels.

The rebellion against the Assad regime began in March 2011 and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the destruction of World Heritage sites in the ancient city of Aleppo. The BBC reported today that Assad’s forces massacred more than 200 civilians earlier this month after entering the towns of al-Bayda and Baniyas in western Syria.

Russia has long been an ally of Syria and the ruling Assad family. According to international affairs experts, Russian officials fear that if President Assad is pushed out, radical Islamists could take his place. They regard a radical Islamist regime in Syria as a threat to the internal security of Russia, which spent years putting down an Islamist rebellion in Chechnya. In addition, the Russian navy’s sole foothold in the Mediterranean Sea is the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia has leased the Tartus facility as part of a multibillion-dollar debt write-off brokered in 1971.

Additional World Book articles:

  • Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
  • The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
  • Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
  • Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)

Tags: bashar al-assad, embargo, european union, missiles, russia, syria, syrian civil war
Posted in Current Events, Government & Politics, History, Military, People, Religion | Comments Off

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