The cases of Alan Gross and the Cuban Five

By SALIM LAMRANI with contributions from WAYNE SMITH, Center for International Policy, Cuba Report, January 17, 2012

THE WAY may be opening for increased U.S.-Cuban ties. The United States has removed all restrictions on Cuban-American travel from the U.S. to Cuba and all limitations on Cuban-American remittances to families on the island. Coming at a time when the Cuban government is encouraging the establishment of small private enterprises, this opens the way for importantly increased ties between the two communities – as one observer put it: “for an inflow of capital from the U.S. to Cuba.”

There is, however, the proverbial “fly in the ointment” and that is the case of Alan Gross, arrested on December 3 of 2009 and since then representing a major obstacle to improved relations – along with the case of the Cuban Five on the other side (but more on that later).

Obama Doctrine or the Asia Pivot: Control over strategic sea lanes to China

By VADIM VIKHROV (Edited by Rick Rozoff), Strategic Culture Foundation

THE PROGRAM MANIFESTO US President Barack Obama voiced in the Australian parliament on November 17 and his statements on January 5 make it clear to everyone that Washington has outlined a new strategy of its foreign policy.

“After a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly, the US is turning its attention to the vast potential of the Asia-Pacific”, the president said. The decision of commander of US military forces Obama to deploy 2,500 marines in the Northern Territories (an administrative district in Australia, which borders Southern Asia) became the first concrete manifestation of the new course.