During the signing of the Versailles treaty in 1919,
it is said that a delegate left the conference muttering: “What on
earth will the historians say about all this?” When the remark was
reported to the French prime minister,
Georges Clemenceau produced a characteristically good retort – Clemenceau was, after all, a journalist. “Well, one thing they won’t say is that Belgium invaded Germany.”
This week’s move undoubtedly involves risk for Cuba and its ageing authoritarian government. But it is Barack Obama who has made the big concession to reality by simply recognising that Cuba is now an independent nation. It has taken Washington an unconscionable time to reach this point.
More than 50 years ago, one of the key consequences of the ending of the Cuban missile crisis was an implicit concession on the part of President Kennedy that Washington would have to co-exist with the Cuban revolution. That concession has held good for half a century. But it is only this week that de facto recognition of Cuba has become de jure recognition.
It is therefore only partly true to say that the rapprochement between Washington and Havana represents the tidying up of a bit of outstanding business left behind by the cold war, leaving North Korea the cold war’s last lonely outpost.
Read more: It’s not Cuba that has just decided to rejoin the modern world – it’s the US | Martin Kettle | Comment is free | The Guardian
Georges Clemenceau produced a characteristically good retort – Clemenceau was, after all, a journalist. “Well, one thing they won’t say is that Belgium invaded Germany.”
This week’s move undoubtedly involves risk for Cuba and its ageing authoritarian government. But it is Barack Obama who has made the big concession to reality by simply recognising that Cuba is now an independent nation. It has taken Washington an unconscionable time to reach this point.
More than 50 years ago, one of the key consequences of the ending of the Cuban missile crisis was an implicit concession on the part of President Kennedy that Washington would have to co-exist with the Cuban revolution. That concession has held good for half a century. But it is only this week that de facto recognition of Cuba has become de jure recognition.
It is therefore only partly true to say that the rapprochement between Washington and Havana represents the tidying up of a bit of outstanding business left behind by the cold war, leaving North Korea the cold war’s last lonely outpost.
Read more: It’s not Cuba that has just decided to rejoin the modern world – it’s the US | Martin Kettle | Comment is free | The Guardian
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