BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. cruise ship began a historic journey by sailing from Miami to Cuba on Sunday for the first time in 38 years, as a symbol of the thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba after U.S.President Barack Obama's visit in March.
During his visit, Obama announced that his government would ease trade and travel restrictions for Cuba as a goodwill gesture of the U.S. administration to restore ties with its long-time foe.
However, the more important thing for the United States to ease, or abandon altogther, is its Cold War mentality.
As Henry Kissinger said in his book "Diplomacy," there is no other country like the United States stuck in the conviction that its institutions are universally viable. Thus other cultures and ideologies should be altered.
Seeing itself as the beacon of the so-called free world, Washington has long been meddling in countries and regions with different cultures and on-the-ground conditions, including Latin America, the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula, Eurasia, and the Asia Pacific.
After years of interfering around the world, we are now left with a torn-apart Latin America between leftists and rightists, a war-torn Middle East, a restive Korean Peninsula, a crisis-stricken Ukraine, just to name a few.
Globalization continues to bring prosperity and development to the world, and to be a greater part of this grand trend requires adaptation.
However, certain individuals and countries cherish clinging to a Cold War mode of thought in a bid to hold onto power. Although the Berlin Wall fell decades ago, and the Soviet Union became obsolete, a Cold War mindset lingers on. Its believers still think that in this world power is a zero-sum game.
Over the past four decades, the Asia Pacific region has been the fastest-growing region economically as well as the most peaceful region in the world. But the pillars of peace and cooperation have been challenged by a Cold War thinking characterized by alignment, restraint and confrontation.
Amid prosperity and development, the world is also facing unprecedented challenges -- a sluggish world economy, a turbulent global market, terrorism and a refugee crisis, among others. If the world is to succeed in resolving these seemingly intractable problems, certain global players must abandon a way of thinking that holds no relevance in today's world.
RAMALLAH Mattias Ekholm Jersey , Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Malki said on Thursday that the Palestinian leadership would not accept any U.S.-backed peace arrangement that would undermine the rights of the Palestinian people.
Malki made the remarks ahead of a meeting between the U.S. President Peace Envoy Jason Greenblatt and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in West Bank city of Ramallah.
"We are waiting to receive from the U.S. side an official formula, after which we will respond upon the meeting of the leadership and consultations Colton Sissons Jersey ," he said.
He told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the United States is "well aware of" the Palestinian position and that Palestinian leadership would not accept any peace arrangement that would "undermine the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people or the principles of international legitimacy acknowledged over the long years of conflict with Israel."
Trump informed both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during separate meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York earlier in September that the U.S. administration was working on a new peace initiative, but still needs time to formalize it.
Greenblatt arrived in the region Tuesday to hold talks with the Palestinian and Israeli sides in an attempt to revive the peace process that had been stalled since 2014 for multiple reasons Ryan Johansen Jersey Sale , including the Israeli settlement activity.
Malki criticized statements Netanyahu made last Tuesday during a visit to Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank, celebrating the 50 years of the beginning of the settlement projects in which he said that settlements were made to stay and continue and that Israel would not remove any settlement in the future.
The Palestinian foreign minister said that Netanyahu "challenges the international law that asserts that the territories Israel occupied in 1967 Pekka Rinne Jersey Sale , including East Jerusalem, are Palestinian territory."
He added that Netanyahu "ignores international law and tries to override it and to tell the international community that it has to deal with the status quo Filip Forsberg Jersey Sale , disregarding history, facts and international resolutions."
"We refuse all that totally and urge the international community to have a clearer and more courageous position and to untie itself from the phenomena of fear in facing this austerity and breach of international law P.K Subban Jersey Sale ," he said.