Word: embargoing
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What remained of that mindless optimism-inflation had already eroded it badly-was exploded by the Arab oil embargo and energy crisis of 1973. Almost overnight, opinion swung to the blackest pessimism: the industrial West would be permanently crippled by oil shortages, while Middle Eastern sheiks and emirs raked in -well, just about all the money in the world. One economist, who has since become one of the most respected and powerful in the country, prophesied that in a few years motorists on the New Jersey Turnpike would see oil refineries adorned with signs written in Arabic and pictures...
Originally, the American embargo had a strategic purpose. When the Cubans were a Soviet proxy whose territory could hold Soviet missiles and whose troops served as Soviet cannon fodder in hotspots from Latin America to Africa, keeping the Cuban economy weak made some sense. With the Cold War rationale gone, and Soviet subsidies to Cuba gone with it, the embargo theory no longer holds water...
...even more compelling argument runs along political lines. The embargo may actually be helping Castro remain in power. By keeping the population near the sustenance level, the embargo may very well be draining what political activism might really be there. How can adults who must worry about their children's next meal be expected to demonstrate on the streets? The history of revolutions (from the French to the Iranian) give strong support to the argument that political activism often follows a rise in income. And political activism--in the form of opposition to Castro--is what the Cuban-American community...
Nevertheless, the strong political pull of the Cuban-American community has kept the antiquated embargo as American policy. No administration has yet had the courage to say enough is enough. President Clinton, who needs every last vote, seems to have neither the leverage nor the inclination to challenge the policy...
...goes, with the U.S. complicit in hurting the Cuban people for at best uncertain gains. By ending the embargo, the U.S. could alleviate a humanitarian situation that has become progressively worse in recent years, and we may even help achieve what everyone wants: the end of Castro's reign...