Author: Doug Bandow

U.S. policy is succeeding brilliantly … in making more enemies in Pakistan. Reports McClatchy Newspapers:

For weeks now, the Pakistani media have portrayed America, its military and defense contractors in the darkest of lights, all part of an apparent campaign of anti-American vilification that is sweeping the country and, according to some, is putting American lives at risk.

Pakistanis are reacting to what many here see as an “imperial” American presence, echoing Iraq and Afghanistan, with Washington dictating to the Pakistani military and the government. Polls show that Pakistanis regard the U.S., formally a close ally and the country’s biggest donor, as a hostile power.

U.S. officials have either denied the allegations or moved to blunt the criticism, but suspicions remain and relations between the two countries are getting more strained.

The great flaw in the Neocon vision of the world, in which the U.S. bombs anyone who gets in the way of America’s designs and then everyone else quickly genuflects as Washington’s representatives walk by, is that other peoples typically respond to U.S. diktats with the same nationalistic obstreperousness that long has characterized Americans. In short, just as Americans don’t want foreigners telling them what to do, foreigners don’t want Americans to tell them what to do. So maybe it’s time to stop trying to impose the U.S. government’s will on everyone else around the globe.

Doug Bandow, American Conservative Defense Alliance

This blog post is reprinted from Campaign for Liberty with permission.

President Barack Obama has relaxed controls over contact with Cuba. Reports the Washington Post:

The Treasury Department formally lifted nearly all U.S. restrictions on family travel to Cuba on Thursday, along with limits on how much money families can send to relatives on the island.

The department also eased regulations prohibiting U.S. telecommunications and satellite linkages between the United States and Cuba and licensing requirements for visitors engaged in agricultural and medical sales.

President Obama first announced most of the changes in April as part of a general opening that he said would allow Americans to reach out to the Cuban people, and he ordered Cabinet departments to take steps to implement the changes. Since then, the administration has also resumed a regular dialogue with the Cuban government on immigration issues and said it would move toward a resumption of direct mail service between the two countries.

This is a good first step, but only a first step.

The Castro Brothers & Co. are a nasty lot, but the U.S. has been trying for nearly 50 years to starve the regime into submission. The Castros’ dictatorship survived the end of the Soviet Union and Soviet subsidies, and appears to be in no danger of collapsing in the near future.

It’s time to try an alternative approach: eliminating travel, trade, and investment restrictions. The Europeans, Canadians, and Latin Americans are all active in Cuba. When I visited Cuba (legally) a few years ago, I stayed at a Dutch hotel. U.S. sanctions have no impact other than to eliminate any chance for Americans to promote change through dialogue and contact. Liberalizing relations might not be likely to result in democracy. But current policy is an abject failure. Indeed, the embargo actually has aided the regime by allowing it to blame its failure on outsiders.

President Obama ran for president promising “change.” This is one issue where he should deliver on his promise.

Doug Bandow, American Conservative Defense Alliance

This blog post is reprinted from Campaign for Liberty with permission.