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.
