The more I listen to the <a href="https://blowback.show">Blowback</a> podcast, the more it’s clear that the U.S. has never been ruled by good people---or by smart people. They may be <i>intelligent</i> but their ideology makes them stupid. Or they’re just stupid. Either way, none of them are <i>good</i>. None of them have anything approaching universal principles. They are nearly all at least self-serving hypocrites. They are nearly all raging egos, bastards who don’t take the blame for anything. They are more than occasionally actual monsters. <h>The U.S. Empire hates Cuba</h> In Cuba's case, the institutional memory---the institutional hatred---is both breathtaking and persistent. The U.S. has never forgiven Cuba for its affront in throwing out its businesses. The Cuban Embargo continues, to this day. Cuba's been tenacious for long decades. They repulsed an actual invasion. Neither has the U.S. ever forgiven Iran for its revolution. Both countries will be revenged with eradication, come hell or high water. Iran's time seems to be coming around again. The monsters running the U.S. Empire are getting antsy. They think they see an opportunity for more direct <i>intervention</i>, as they like to call it---such an anodyne term for what is effectively a wholly illegal assault on a sovereign nation. <h>The U.S. Empire hates Iran</h> The demonization of Iran is driven in large part by Israel, which led the charge to demand the U.S. bully Iran over nuclear weapons their neither had nor wanted. It's deeply ironic, of course, that this witch hunt is egged on by Israel, which does have nukes, but shouldn’t. The U.S. applies completely different rules---the definition of hypocrisy. The inchoate hatred for Iran is palpable. Iran is back on the table because of the recent Israeli surge, which is shootings target in Syria and Lebanon. They will pretend that they aren’t instigating a war, then react in shock at the first, tiny response from Iran. This is par for the course. The U.S. media meanwhile describes every disturbed grain of sand in the Middle East as being due to Iran's malign influence. It's only a matter of time before they all convince themselves that they've put enough energy into building the so-called case against Iran to justify a direct assault. I don't know why they bother with all of the rigamarole. Nothing ever happens to the U.S. on an international level, anyway. Nicaragua once took them to an international court---and won!---but the U.S. just ignored the verdict. Israel is following this template by ignoring the recent ICJ decision. U.S. and Israeli athletes will continue to attend international competitions. They will continue to take part in unimpeded international trade. They will take part unhindered in financial markets. <h>The U.S. Empire is not going to help Cuba</h> But let's get back to Cuba. The article <a href="https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/03/u-s-policy-is-exacerbating-cubas-growing-humanitarian-crisis/" source="Scheer Post" author="William M. Leogrande">U.S. Policy is Exacerbating Cuba’s Growing Humanitarian Crisis</a> writes, <bq><b>Since 2022, 442,000 undocumented Cubans have arrived at US borders, more than 50,000 have come as legal immigrants, and tens of thousands more have emigrated elsewhere. Cuba is hemorrhaging its young, best-educated people.</b> Migration is also a blow to the domestic economy. Last year, more than 12,000 doctors left. In Havana alone, there are 17,000 vacant teachers positions. Even Cubans earning good salaries working for foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations are leaving because they cannot envision a future for themselves in their homeland.</bq> <bq>The humanitarian situation on the island cries out for a US response. Washington has offered Cuba humanitarian aid before. In 2008, in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Gustav, George W. Bush’s administration offered Cuba $6.3 million of aid, $5 million directly to the Cuban government without preconditions. <b>Just last year, the Biden administration provided $2 million in the wake of Hurricane Ian to help rebuild housing in the hardest hit communities.</b></bq> $2 million! My goodness. So much money. What will they do with all of that aid? <bq>President Biden could take four simple steps to help ease the crisis:</bq> Spoiler alert: Lifting the blockade is not on the list. <bq>There are moments, John F. Kennedy wrote in Profiles in Courage, when politicians must choose between doing what’s politically expedient and doing what’s right.</bq> F@$k JFK. He only looks less bad relative to the psychos he surrounded himself with. He was an elitist racist. <a href="#kennedy-speech">I don't care what sort of fine words he wrote or said.</a> When he had the chance, he did none of it. He was an anticommunist, sociopath-level capitalist with a bad temper and a chip on his shoulder---just like all of the rest of them. <h>Joe Biden is a jerk</h> <bq>Joe Biden is known for his genuine empathy for others. Right now, he is focused on the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the interminable war in Ukraine. But <b>if the responsible senior officials in the State Department and National Security Council put Cuba on the president’s agenda and briefed him on the depth of the crisis there, maybe he would do the right thing.</b></bq> This is so unmoored from reality that it's barely comprehensible. Joe Biden is not <iq>known for his genuine empathy</iq> (writing <iq>for others</iq> is redundant); Joe Biden is a notorious asshole. He always has been. His sociopathy and mania are directly responsible for the Ukraine and Gaza nightmares. He is president of the United States. He chooses the people to run these policies. He chose to continue forcing Russia into a corner---he completely ignored two proposals from Russia in 2021. He wanted the Ukraine war. His unquestioning support for Netanyahu is directly responsible for Israel's boldness in its most-recent war. He just opened a new war against Yemen---yes, a war. What else do you call attacking another sovereign nation and killing its citizens with missiles? He's not inflicted with those situations---he <i>created</i> them. He <i>likes it this way.</i> He doesn't give a shit about anything other than being reelected. He's a nightmare. Don't hold your breath until he helps Cuba, FFS. You've got to be kidding me. I've finished listening to the bonus episodes for season 2 of the <a href="https://blowback.show/">Blowback Podcast</a>, which is called "Cuba Libre". When you really learn how the U.S. has just <i>shat</i> on that country for almost 65 years, you can't possibly have the absolutely <i>stupid</i> hope that Joe Biden---of all f@$king people---is going to do a good goddamned thing for that island. And JFK! Don't even get me started on that guy. <h>Kennedy's speeches</h> <img attachment="kennedy_moonshot_speech.jpg" align="right">Ok, fine. So I got started. I read one of his speeches. My notes on the <span id="kennedy-speech"><a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610" author="" date="June 10, 1963" source="JFK Library">Commencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C.</a></span> are below. Read through and then see my conclusion to see why I think this is relevant for today. <bq>Second: <b>Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write.</b> It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims--such as the allegation that 'American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] <b>the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars.</b>'</bq> This is all true. He knew it at the time. Also I'm sure that he said the first sentence without noting the irony at all. <bq>it is sad to read these Soviet statements--to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning--<b>a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable</b>, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.</bq> He didn’t follow his own advice. He’s just reading out loud. No-one since has listened either. He literally peppered this speech with statements that belie this one. Like the one about <iq>find[ing] communism [...] repugnant</iq> below. <bq>No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue.</bq> Except Cuba---right, Jack? U.S. elected officials are really quite advanced in their bullshit. They just spew things that have nothing to do with reality. Clinton and Obama would really follow in this guy's footsteps with their lofty rhetoric, almost none of which was true. <bq>As Americans, <b>we find communism profoundly repugnant</b> as a negation of personal freedom and dignity.</bq> This is such a shockingly ignorant and simple-minded thing to say---but people keep pointing me to this speech as indicative of JFK's enlightened mindset. <bq>Almost unique among the major world powers, <b>we have never been at war with each other.</b></bq> Again: so simplistic. He doesn't consider anything other than trading blows on a field to be "war". Demeaning the lives of thousands, possibly millions, just to exact petty revenges on the USSR was nothing to this man. He didn't care about anything but projecting U.S. power. He never made a concession. He considered none of this violence, none of it was war. What an asshole. <bq>For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.</bq> But you and your country did this ten times more than the USSR. You knew how far ahead you were. You lied about it. The USSR was always losing, always behind---there was never a "gap" for the U.S. to fill. Kruschev said that military buildup is good for capitalism whereas it is harmful to socialism. <bq>We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that <b>constructive changes within the Communist bloc</b> might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace.</bq> They are the ones that have to change, of course. The U.S. is so perfect that there is no room for improvement. All concessions and change and growth are for loser countries that haven't yet achieved the enlightenment of the exceptional nation. It's enough to make you want to throw up. <bq>To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. <b>Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self-restraint.</b> Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.</bq> JFC JFK. This has never been the case. You’re high on your own supply. <bq><b>We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people</b>--but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.</bq> Oh f@$k off. This is ridiculous. Going back to before I was born, U.S. presidents were all sociopathic, deluded liars, just utterly unaware of how hypocritical they were---because their prime axiom is always that <i>U.S. Americans are better</i>. Correction: <i>Elite U.S. Americans are better.</i> They deserve to have everything as their noble birthright. Letting anyone else have anything would be a waste because they're all too benighted to appreciate it. Filthy communists. Filthy natives. Filthy poors. <bq>The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, <b>if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured.</b></bq> Methinks he's projecting quite a bit here. Jesus, Kennedy, do you even listen to yourself? Do you even bother to think for a second whether the behavior of the nation <i>under your control</i> exhibited the characteristics you seem to hold so dear? Or did it do literally the exact opposite at every opportunity? News flash, JFK: since your assassination, it has continued to do so---namely, not what you said you wanted. You never did it. And no-one since has, either. This has never been a priority. It's just pretty shit to say when we want to tell the world how we demand it think of us. Judge us by our words, not our actions. Or else. <bq><b>The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's.</b> It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort--to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are.</bq> You mean disarming everyone else, right? Because there was an armaments phase in the 1940s unlike the world has ever seen. The U.S. has never been about disarmament. I have no idea what he's talking about. It's pure fantasy. <bq>To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, <b>I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume.</b> Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.</bq> This is great. Did we end up doing that, though? I'm seriously asking because I don't know. Did we actually stop atmospheric testing? Yup, we did. Two months later with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Nuclear_Test_Ban_Treaty" author="" source="Wikipedia">Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty</a>. Heartfelt congratulations to JFK and the team. <bq>While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. <b>No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion.</b> But it can--if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers--offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.</bq> This never happened, though. It's hard to say whether it would have, had he not been assassinated. He talks pretty sometimes. So did Obama---who also did the opposite of everything he ever said. I’ve learned enough history to know that Kennedy also did other than he said, especially when it counted. <bq><b>The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough--more than enough--of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it.</b> We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on--not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.</bq> <iq>The U.S. will never start a war.</iq>, will only <iq>be prepared if others wish it.</iq> Yeah, sure. That’s not how it worked out. It’s just words. Pretty words, but the world already has enough evidence to know that it was lies. <h>Back to today</h> If you managed to make it through that analysis of Kennedy's long speech, you may have noticed that so many of Kennedy's statements are <i>still the exact same things that U.S. administrations are saying today.</i> The U.S. keeps saying it doesn't want war, as it bombs everyone in sight. It claims it doesn't want conflict---because what it really wants is docile vassals that don't fight back as they U.S. plunders them. The U.S. still demands that everyone else change to satisfy it. The U.S. continues to claim that its military serves only peaceful purposes. The U.S. has the world convinced that NATO is a peaceful, defense-oriented organization. Too few people see this for the bullshit that it is. Too few people see that this mindset is kept up by the massive firehose of propaganda from the largest and most sophisticated media and brainwashing operation in history. Only so can the Empire keep all the balls in the air. Only so can the Empire convince the world that it loves nothing more than peace as it bristles with weapons and pounds everyone that disagrees into sand.