Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dead at 90

[markjay]

Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader of revolution, dies at 90

 

[219]

Cigar dealers everywhere will be mourning .

 

[markjay]

Cigar dealers everywhere will be mourning .

Apparently, in Miami, they are cheering......

 

[Druk]

The breakfast telly is touting him as having been singly in power whilst so many US Presidents have come and gone.

And their point is?

 

[markjay]

The breakfast telly is touting him as having been singly in power whilst so many US Presidents have come and gone.

And their point is?

That he was a Dictator, that handed power to a family member in the great tradition of North Korea and Syria and other beacons of human rights and democracy around the world...... I hardly think that was meant to be a compliment.

 

[nick mercedes]

The breakfast telly is touting him as having been singly in power whilst so many US Presidents have come and gone.

And their point is?

Beacon of democracy America tried to kill him 600 times?

 

[Druk]

The breakfast telly is touting him as having been singly in power whilst so many US Presidents have come and gone.

And their point is?

That he was a Dictator, that handed power to a family member in the great tradition of North Korea and Syria and other beacons of human rights and democracy around the world...... I hardly think that was meant to be a compliment.

Well I know that, and you know that. The point I was making was that the Beeb were "touting" it as A GOOD THING! as if he was cleverer than them by so doing.

 

[nick mercedes]

That he was a Dictator, that handed power to a family member in the great tradition of North Korea and Syria and other beacons of human rights and democracy around the world...... I hardly think that was meant to be a compliment.

"The momentum for the Mafia’s golden years in Cuba was conditioned by Batista’s rise from sergeant and Army stenographer to, as colonel, chief of the armed forces in 1933, later as constitutional president in 1940 and, after a coup d’état in 1952, dictator of Cuba. But Batista was nothing more nor less than a mafia associate. Cuba was for sale, not only to the industrial and financial monopolies of the time, but also to criminals."

"It is a welcome reminder for those with nothing but hatred for Cuba's current, declining dictator, that the US government and the Mafia frantically and farcically collaborated to get rid of Castro to restore their own vision of paradise."

 

[markjay]

Well I know that, and you know that. The point I was making was that the Beeb were "touting" it as A GOOD THING! as if he was cleverer than them by so doing.

Well he may have been clever, but someone should tell the BBC that most con men are very clever, yet I am very happy that I am not one of them.

 

[markjay]

Beacon of democracy America tried to kill him 600 times?

I guess that makes America Beacon of Incompetence then....?

 

[nick mercedes]

I guess that makes America Beacon of Incompetence then....?

So it would seem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/638_Ways_to_Kill_Castro

Although botched state sponsored terrorism can only be a good thing surely?

 

[markjay]

"The momentum for the Mafia’s golden years in Cuba was conditioned by Batista’s rise from sergeant and Army stenographer to, as colonel, chief of the armed forces in 1933, later as constitutional president in 1940 and, after a coup d’état in 1952, dictator of Cuba. But Batista was nothing more nor less than a mafia associate. Cuba was for sale, not only to the industrial and financial monopolies of the time, but also to criminals."

"It is a welcome reminder for those with nothing but hatred for Cuba's current, declining dictator, that the US government and the Mafia frantically and farcically collaborated to get rid of Castro to restore their own vision of paradise."

What you are saying is that he was the lesser of two evils.

If so, then sadly this means the Cuban people are not yet ready to become a Democratic society, and that the only way to achieve stability in Cuba is by having a strong dictator, much like in most Middle Eastern countries.

If this is the case then we can only hope that Raul's successor will be able to keep the Dictatorship going and prevent Cuba from collapsing into lawlessness.

The other view would be that Cubans deserve to take a shot at Democracy.

 

[grober]

Fidel Castro---- whatever people may say about him will go down in 20th century history as the man who brought us to the brink of Nuclear War between Russia and the USA when Russia constructed missile launching sites on America's doorstep altering the balance of power in the process . Ships bearing said missiles turned back at the last moment and a nuclear confrontation was averted.

America was later to withdraw similar tactical weaponry from Turkey.
The USA continued to wage war against Cuba with punishing economic sanctions over many years and it may have been this that contributed to Cuba's inevitable decline in its later years rather than it political ideology which naturally gets the blame. Many of its citizens escaped to the nearest Florida USA mainland where in the true entrepreneurial spirit of their adopted homeland became successful drug runners and people trafficers.
In recent years with Fidels brother now in charge and Obama in the White House there has been a degree of rapprochment, whether that will continue with Donald Trump in charge remains to be seen. In shades of the Batista regime he may already be eyeing up Havana real estate for casino or condominium development.

 

[grober]

dup

 

[markjay]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...death-sparks-celebrations-on-streets-of-miami

 

[Red C220]

The world is changing. I'm not entirely sure if it's for better or worse, I don't think anyone does to be honest.

We'll only know in 30 or 40 years when we look back and see the results. I'll have done well if I'm still around then to see it.

 

[markjay]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/26/the-old-man-is-dead-fidel-castros-death-sparks-celebrations-on-streets-of-miami

And that's coming from the Guardian... it seems that even left-leaning people found Fidel Castro's version of Communism hard to stomach.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Amusing that he died on Black Friday, the saint's day of contemporary hyper capitalism...

 

[grober]

And that's coming from the Guardian... it seems that even left-leaning people found Fidel Castro's version of Communism hard to stomach.

Would that life was so black and white.

Plundering America: The Cuban Criminal Pipeline ? SunSentinel.com

 

[GLK]

It was mildly entertaining to hear him being routinely referred to as Fedya Kastrov by Russians (well, Soviets to be precise - it was in 1987 Leningrad, where I spent a couple of rather wild years as a post-grad exchange student), basically implying he was a KGB plant ... I don't think they were joking.