Basically it's a critique of American foreign policy, particularly the habit of the US government in supporting anybody who was anti-communist, including fascist regimes such as that of Pinochet in Chile. Of course, US support for the Mojahadeen in Afghanistan is part of the reason the world is in the mess it's in right now. The lyrics are remarkably prescient.
However, the genius of the song is that it doesn't just attack America, it attacks the USSR for invading Afghanistan and China for invading Tibet. Strummer was against both sides in the cold war, against all human rights abuses, whoever committed them.
The reference to a 'playboy' in the Cuba verse is of course to JFK, who ordered the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Basically it's a critique of American foreign policy, particularly the habit of the US government in supporting anybody who was anti-communist, including fascist regimes such as that of Pinochet in Chile. Of course, US support for the Mojahadeen in Afghanistan is part of the reason the world is in the mess it's in right now. The lyrics are remarkably prescient.
However, the genius of the song is that it doesn't just attack America, it attacks the USSR for invading Afghanistan and China for invading Tibet. Strummer was against both sides in the cold war, against all human rights abuses, whoever committed them.
The reference to a 'playboy' in the Cuba verse is of course to JFK, who ordered the Bay of Pigs fiasco.