Paris, March 6 (RHC)-- “The U.S. blockade on Cuba is now meaningless and out of date,” said political scientist Robert Malley, who served as special advisor to former U.S. President Barack Obama.

“Cuba is not a threat to the national security of the United States, so the sanctions, the blockade, all that, makes no sense,” he said in response to a question from Prensa Latina news agency, during a meeting with members of the Foreign Press Association in France.

Malley, the current president at the International Crisis Group, said that Obama, using his executive powers and without Congressional consent, tried to ease the economic, commercial and financial siege of the Caribbean state.

'Obama did it in his own way, and he went as far as he thought he could go,' said Malley, adding that Obama acted in that way because he believed it was in Washington's best interests.

The U.S. political scientist recalled that the United States was isolated in the whole continent, regarding its Cuba policy. 'Not a single country in the region supported our Cuba stance, and that situation 'damaged our strategic interests.'

As for the President Trump's new stance on Cuba, Malley said 'we have seen a regression, but not a regression to zero. That is, Trump did not return to the point we were before Obama.'

Upon recognizing that the blockade has not yielded the expected results, Malley expressed hopes that President Trump would not continue to set back Cuba U.S. ties.

He further said: "There are those who are putting pressure on Trump to do more, but I hope he stops there, to at least preserve what has been reached, and then, we will have to wait for a post-Trump era to return to the issue and turn the page.  The blockade policy is truly a shameful page, which did not succeed."

During the last few years of the Obama administration, Robert Malley served as special advisor to the president and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region.