"It is impossible to maintain a safe and effective health-care system under conditions of siege that have been in place now since June 2007."

VOA: standard.2010.06.01

It has allowed the Castros to maintain a siege mentality.

ECONOMIST: Cubans on the other side of the water are slowly changing too

Two Iranian revolutionary guards describe organising the takeover of the American embassy and confirm what others maintain, that, contrary to rumour, the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, refused to be involved in the siege.

ECONOMIST: Iran and the West