Left I on the News

Last year:

It's getting harder and harder, but the United Nations General Assembly just set another record in voted to condemn the U.S. "embargo" (blockade) of Cuba. Last year the vote was 183-4 with 1 abstention; this year it inched up to 184-4.

And amazingly, this year the vote increased again:

The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to urge the United States to lift its 46-year-old embargo against Cuba in a resolution adopted for the 17th consecutive year.

The resolution entitled "necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" was passed with 185 votes in favor, three against and two abstentions.

No details yet on who was #185 (although it may well have been Iraq - we shall see shortly), but I'm sure we can all have a good guess about the three against. Although actually, with only 3 against, since we know one of them was Israel, that means either the Marshall Islands or Palau refused to succumb to U.S. pressure and abstained.

Sadly, the giant middle finger of the United States remains firmly raised in the direction of the rest of the world, with both Barack Obama and John McCain committed to keeping it there.

Quick update: The abstainers were Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. That still leaves my guess standing that Iraq joined the rest of the world as the 185th country to vote to condemn the blockade.

Update: I was wrong, the addition was Albania!